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Michael Butt, former chairman of Axis Capital Ltd. and a longtime London and Bermuda market leader, died Wednesday.
Mr. Butt, 80, worked as a broker, insurer and reinsurer, headed several public companies over his career and was a major figure in the establishment of the modern Bermuda reinsurance market.
In an email posted to social media Thursday, Albert Benchimol, president and CEO of Axis, called Mr. Butt “a towering figure and a trailblazer in our industry.”
Mr. Butt began his career in London and was chairman of Sedgwick Ltd., a brokerage later bought by Marsh & McLennan Cos. Inc., from 1982 to 1986. He then moved to multiline insurer Eagle Star Holdings Ltd., where he was chairman and CEO from 1987 until 1992.
After Hurricane Andrew hit Florida in 1992, he became president and CEO of Bermuda-based Mid Ocean Ltd., the first specialist property catastrophe reinsurer that formed on the island after the storm.
In an interview with Business Insurance last year, Mr. Butt reflected on how the property cat reinsurers transformed the Bermuda market after Andrew.
Mid-Ocean was acquired by XL Capital Ltd. in 1998 and Mr. Butt served as a director of XL until he joined Axis in 2002. He retired as chairman of Axis in 2020.
Among numerous directorships and honors, Mr. Butt was a member of the Geneva Association, was chairman of the Association of Bermuda Insurers and Reinsurers, was awarded a lifetime achievement award by the Bermuda Insurance Institute, and was a member of the board of INSEAD.
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