QBE Insurance is hoping to shake off the last vestiges of a decade-long but ill-fated grab at the North American market with the closure of its middle-market business, ten years after first placing the division on the market with a strategic review.

The business, which wrote premiums totalling some $500 million in the last financial year, provides packages for small and medium-size firms, insuring property, commercial vehicles and offering general liability and workers compensation cover.