AXIS Capital Holdings Limited (“AXIS Capital”) (NYSE: AXS) today announced that its AXIS Insurance segment has formed a Design Professionals & Environmental Liability unit that will specialize in providing coverage for architects, engineers, contractors, consultants and other firms. The new unit will be led by Richard Zarandona who has recently joined AXIS Insurance as Executive Vice President, AXIS Design Professionals & Environmental based in Berkeley Heights, N.J.

Commenting on the appointment, AXIS Insurance Chairman Jack Gressier said, “Rich shares our commitment to quality and our disciplined underwriting approach. With demonstrated ability building Design Professional & Environmental Liability businesses successfully over the years, he is establishing a team of highly experienced specialists and working to develop the products and strategies that we will need to grow profitably in these selected niche markets over time.”

Mr. Zarandona has nearly 30 years of industry experience and most recently served as head of Arch Insurance Group’s Environmental and Design Professional division for eight years. Prior to joining Arch, he had been Vice President and Director of Zurich North America’s Architects and Engineers and Environmental Consultants liability lines of business. He also formerly held senior management and technical positions within the risk management, engineering and construction fields.

AXIS Capital is a Bermuda-based global provider of specialty lines insurance and treaty reinsurance with shareholders’ equity at March 31, 2010 of $5.4 billion and locations in Bermuda, the United States, Europe, Singapore, Canada and Australia. Its operating subsidiaries have been assigned a rating of “A+” (“Strong”) by Standard & Poor’s and “A” (“Excellent”) by A.M. Best. AXIS Capital and AXIS Specialty Finance LLC have been assigned senior unsecured debt ratings of A- (stable) by Standard & Poor’s and Baa1 (stable) by Moody’s Investors Service. For more information about AXIS Capital, visit our website at www.axiscapital.com.