Australian insurance company Ensurance has announced that its managing general agency (MGA), Ensurance UK, has received Lloyd’s coverholder status and has formed partnerships with Swiss Re Corporate Solutions and XL Catlin as part of its global growth strategy.

Ensurance UK will initially specialise in construction and engineering insurance.

Through its new partnership with Swiss Re Corporate Solutions, the commercial and specialty arm of Swiss Re, Ensurance will offer a variety of construction and engineering insurance products in the UK and certain parts of the EU, with Ensurance targeting to insure construction and engineering contracts up to £100mn.

"'Not only has the company successfully expanded from the Australian market into the UK market in a short period, but by partnering with Swiss Re Corporate Solutions we will now receive significant exposure globally,” remarked Ensurance managing director Stefan Hicks.

"Swiss Re Corporate Solutions have very few partnerships of this nature globally, and this exclusive agreement has been achieved due to the experienced Ensurance UK team, headed by CEO Tim James, a former director at one of the world's largest insurers specialising in construction and engineering,” he added.

The company has also partnered with XL Catlin. As part of the agreement, Ensurance UK will initially provide a bespoke construction insurance product to high net worth UK domestic clients.

“This product, whilst niche, provides Ensurance UK with the ability to expand its clientele from the broker market to the insurer market, essentially attracting insurers as clients,” remarked Hicks.

“It’s a significant opportunity to sell Ensurance products through existing and established large books of business operated by some of the largest insurers in the UK,” he continued.

In addition, Ensurance UK has gained the Lloyd's coverholder status allowing it to issue insurance documents on behalf of Lloyd’s syndicates, a status it now has in both Australia and the UK.

Hicks said: “This allows the company flexibility to use different Ensurance centres to expand our footprint wider, using our Lloyds bespoke products, into global regions.”

“Pleasingly we achieved the coverholder status for Ensurance UK after only nine months, which again speaks volumes for the calibre of the team driving the Ensurance UK business.”