We, Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Company Limited, Tokyo, Japan (President & CEO: Toshiaki Egashira), are pleased to announce our plans to expand our group's global reinsurance operations, and increase the capital base of our reinsurance subsidiary MS Frontier Reinsurance Limited (based in Hamilton, Bermuda) from US$ 200 million to US$ 300 million.

Following the last year's record-breaking hurricane landfalls in the US and the substantial reviews in catastrophe modeling as a consequence, the natural catastrophe reinsurance market is turning around and there would seem to be encouraging signs that the demand of highly-secured reinsurance capacity would remain very strong.  In view of this upturn in the market, we decided to further strengthen MS Frontier Re's capital base to permit the company to react in a more agile and flexible manner.

MS Frontier Re, established in 1997, carries an insurer’s financial strength rating of AA- of Standard & Poor’s. Through its prudent underwriting based on catastrophe modeling assessments, MS Frontier Re writes property catastrophe reinsurance worldwide in order to establish geographical portfolio optimization and risk diversification for the Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Group.

MS Frontier Re is positioned as one of the most strategically important units within the Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Group. Through in-depth expertise, a strong physical presence in Bermuda and worldwide network, and a highly respected history of client commitment under a globally known brand-name, we are positioning ourselves to provide an even more client-oriented service