Tom Currie has left his post as director of new assets with Standard & Poor's to join XL Financial Assurance, the Bermuda-based financial guarantor, as chief underwriting officer. The position had been open since last year, when Jim McNichols was promoted to chief financial officer. XL Financial Assurance is a re-insurer and an affiliated company of XL Capital Assurance, a triple-A rated monoline financial guarantor. Both companies are subsidiaries of XL Capital Ltd. based in Bermuda. Currie did not return calls. Roger Scotton, director of communications with XL Financial Assurance, says Currie reports directly to McNichols and that his new function consists of overseeing the underwriting process of financial guaranteed asset-backed securities. Currie joined earlier this month.
At S&P Currie reported to Ellen Welsher, managing director and head of the ratings agency's new asset group. Welsher says she is definitely interviewing candidates, both internally and externally, in order to replace Currie, but she declined to elaborate. "Tom is from Canada and my guess is that his move was partly justified by the pursuit of warmer weather," she says.