HCC Has Limited Exposure to Hurricane Charley

Business Wire, August 19, 2004

HOUSTON -- HCC Insurance Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:HCC) announced today that the Company has limited exposure to Hurricane Charley and did not expect its net loss after reinsurance to exceed more than $10 million, or approximately $0.10 per share after tax in the third quarter of 2004.

SLW, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, said, "We do not appear to have a large number of claims as we do not write homeowners or automobiles. Most of our exposure would likely come from damage to small, privately owned aircraft written by our insurance company subsidiary, Avemco."

Avemco (www.avemco.com), based in Frederick, Maryland is the largest writer of privately owned aircraft in the USA.

HCC is an international insurance holding company and a leading specialty insurance group since 1974, based in Houston, Texas with offices across the USA and in Bermuda, England and Spain. HCC has assets of more than $5 billion, shareholders' equity of over $1 billion and is rated AA (Very Strong) by Standard & Poor's and A+ (Superior) by A.M. Best Company.

For more information, visit our website at www.hcch.com.

Forward-looking statements contained in this press release are made under "safe harbor" provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and involve a number of risks and uncertainties. The types of risks and uncertainties which may affect the Company are set forth in its periodic reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.