Argo Group has named former Travelers active underwriter Steve Eccles as chief underwriting officer of its international business.

Eccles will begin his new role upon completing his notice period and will report to Argo head of international Jose Hernandez.

Eccles’ hire comes as Argo also revealed that Bruno Ritchie, director of underwriting and active underwriter for Argo Syndicate 1200, has announced plans to leave the company.

Eccles joins Argo from Travelers, where he most recently served as active underwriter of Syndicate 5000 and a director on both the carrier’s company market entity and its Lloyd's managing agency. During his time in these positions, he was responsible for driving syndicate performance and serving as a member and chairman of various management committees.

Eccles is also on the board of the Lloyd's Market Association and leads its underwriting committee.

Commenting on the appointment, Hernandez said: “Argo Group continues to build an impressive international platform with a growing bench of top-tier talent, and I’m pleased to have Steve join the team,”

“His strong leadership experience and deep knowledge of the industry will serve us well in this newly created, cornerstone role. Steve’s expertise will be valuable as he works with the team to further establish our footprint as we strive to be a leading specialty lines insurer internationally.”

Eccles’ appointment follows the recent completion of Argo’s $235mn acquisition of Ariel Re and a series of strategic organisational updates and new international leadership hires in Latin America, Europe and Asia.