Round-up of the weekly news and developments from the global (re)insurance market with stories from Vibe, CNA Hardy, Axis and more.
Milner takes helm of Vibe Re
Former Axis Re executive Richard Milner has been appointed CEO of Vibe’s newly established reinsurance division, Vibe Re.
In this newly created position, Milner will lead the new unit, which Syndicate Holding Corp (SHC) - the holding company of Vibe Syndicate Management - said was dedicated to strengthening and developing its reinsurance business and to providing further support and solutions for our customers.
He will also serve as a member of the group executive committee and will report to recently instated Vibe group CEO, Joe England.
Milner joins Vibe from Axis Re where he has spent the past twelve years, most recently as president and chief underwriting officer of Axis Re London & Asia Pacific. During his time with the Bermudian carrier, he was also a member of the Axis Re leadership group and held a number of senior roles at Axis Re across Bermuda, Singapore and London, including head of global business development.
Prior to Axis Re, Milner was vice president of international treaty at PXRE in Bermuda, before which he was with Faraday Syndicate at Lloyd’s.
England said: “We are delighted that Rich has joined the executive team of Syndicate Holding Corp and the Vibe businesses.”
“Rich brings exceptional reinsurance relationships, depth and quality to Vibe that will drive our vision for the future of the company and this further reflects our resolve to build Vibe into a truly leading insurance and reinsurance business in the London market,”he added.
Milner commented: “I am excited to join SHC and Vibe and look forward to working with the team to deliver an enhanced value proposition to our customers and brokers as we work towards building a leading reinsurance platform at Vibe Re.”
Milner joins fellow Axis alumni Dan Draper (group chief risk and actuarial officer), Jack Gressier (non-executive chairman) and England, who have all joined Vibe this year.
CNA Hardy names Day as Lloyd’s active underwriter
CNA Hardy has appointed Carl Day as active underwriter of its Lloyd’s Syndicate 382.
Day will begin his new role on 1 January 2019, which he will assume alongside his current position as head of property, marine and energy.
He succeeds Patrick Gage, who, as previously announced, has decided to leave the company.
Day joined CNA Hardy just over three years ago from Hiscox to build out the Lloyd’s carrier’s marine and energy capabilities across both company and syndicate platforms.
In his role as active underwriter for Syndicate 382, he will be responsible for liaison with Lloyd’s and the focal point for the Lloyd’s underwriting performance team.
CNA Hardy CEO Dave Brosnan commented: “We are poised for growth across our chosen products and segments. Carl’s appointment as Lloyd’s active underwriter will help us do just that as he brings a wealth of experience and a fresh perspective to the role.”
Axis consolidates cyber and technology teams
Axis Insurance has created a unified global cyber and technology unit in a bid to leverage the full scope of its cyber and technology insurance capabilities, underwriting expertise and claims services.
As part of the restructure, Axis is merging its US cyber, technology, media and miscellaneous professional liability businesses into single unified global cyber and technology unit, led by Dan Trueman, global head of cyber and technology.
Trueman will continue to report to John Van Decker, president of North American professional lines and global lead of professional lines for Axis’ Insurance segment.
The global cyber and technology unit is part of Axis Insurance’s professional lines division.
In conjunction with the change, Axis also announced the promotion of Drew Walter to the newly created role of head of cyber and technology underwriting delivery.
In his new role, Walter will be responsible for ensuring that Axis further grows its cyber and technology insurance underwriting capabilities to best fulfil client and broker needs. He previously served as a senior vice president for Axis Pro. He will report to Trueman.
Commenting on the new unit, Trueman said: “We are launching this consolidated unit to ensure we effectively and efficiently deliver one single global approach to cyber and technology risks and thus increase the value that we provide to our clients and partners,
“Both cyber and technology are borderless risks and with this global unit, we can utilize the international lens we have, and the wide Axis international footprint, to leverage the full scope of our underwriting expertise and claims services.”
Axis added that these changes further reinforce the commitment it has made to expand its leadership in the global cyber and technology insurance market.
Earlier this year, the company launched the Axis Cyber Centre of Excellence as a global resource that provides mentorship, education, consulting services and solutions to help improve brokers’ and insureds’ understanding of cyber risk.
AIG appoints Lyons as CFO
AIG has appointed Mark Lyons as chief financial officer and executive vice president.
He replaces Sid Sankaran, who will remain with the US insurance giant in an advisory capacity through the year-end reporting process for fiscal year 2018.
Lyons will also form part of the carrier’s executive leadership team and will report directly to AIG president and CEO, Brian Duperreault.
AIG said that Lyons will retain his role as chief actuary of general insurance until a successor is found.
Lyons joined AIG earlier this year from Arch where he served as executive vice president, CFO and treasurer since 2012. He joined Arch in 2002 and served in various capacities within Arch Insurance US operations, eventually rising to chairman and CEO of Arch Worldwide Insurance Group.
During his career, Lyons has also held various positions at Zurich US, Berkshire Hathaway and AIG.
Duperreault said: “Since his arrival at AIG, Mark has made an immediate and positive impact on our company. With his proven track record as a public company CFO and his deep actuarial expertise, we are confident that he will further strengthen our financial processes and forecasting capabilities, as well as build on the progress we have made to restore AIG’s position as a growing, profitable leader in the insurance industry.”
Lyons commented: “Since joining AIG this past summer, I have spent considerable time understanding the breadth and depth of our general insurance business and continue to be highly optimistic regarding AIG’s strong path ahead. I look forward to working closely with Brian, the senior executive team and the finance organization to further enhance our financial operations, including our planning and analysis capabilities.”
Barbican hires Watson from CNA Hardy
Barbican has tapped Emma Watson as class underwriter for property treaty.
Watson joins the Lloyd’s carrier from CNA Hardy where she most recently served as senior underwriter for property treaty, writing catastrophe XL, risk XL and proportional treaty business on a worldwide basis.
She will report to Tom Gwynn, underwriting manager for property treaty.
Commenting on the appointment, Gwynn said: “Emma is a great addition to the property treaty team and brings considerable market knowledge across multiple territories to the role of class underwriter. I am certain that she will play a central part in our ongoing work to boost our market standing and advance our capabilities in this demanding sector.”
Watson added: “I am excited to be joining Tom and the property treaty team. They are known for their agile and service driven approach and I am keen to explore ways in which we can further strengthen that position and our overall market proposition.”
Lloyd’s Lab begins search for second InsurTech cohort
Lloyd’s Lab, the innovator accelerator launched by the Corporation last September, has begun its global search for the wave of InsurTech innovators.
The programme targets entrepreneurs and start-ups able to develop products, platforms and processes that offer technology driven solutions to some of the challenges faced by Lloyd’s.
Following a consultation with the market, Lloyd’s Lab is looking for applicants that can address four key areas of focus: powering data-driven underwriting with new insights; enhancing customer experience; enabling back-office efficiencies; and creating next-gen insurance products or services.
Led by L Marks, an applied corporate innovation and early-stage investors specialist, the search for applications will close on 3 February 2019 with the most compelling invited to pitch their ideas on 20 March. Representatives across the market will be tasked to choose the ten final start-ups that will be part of the second Lloyd’s Lab cohort.
Beginning in April next year, the second Lloyd’s Lab cohort will have ten weeks to develop their ideas, with access to a dynamic co-working space located in the Lloyd’s building in London, potential investment and the chance to develop products, platforms and processes that will help shape the future of Lloyd’s.
Teams will be supported by world-leading experts in the Lloyd’s market who will offer advice and insight to help develop the ideas for their unique needs.
Lloyd’s head of innovation, Trevor Maynard, said: “The Lloyd’s Lab’s first global talent search drew in almost 220 applications from 36 different countries. Start-ups, entrepreneurs and businesses presented ideas ranging from live-streaming drones for fast risk and disaster assessment, to harnessing the Internet of Things for live cargo tracking, to on-demand insurance for the gig economy.
“The fact that Lloyd’s can attract such a high calibre of tech talent and ideas shows that we are well placed to lead the way in terms of insurance innovation. We are excited to see what the next cohort will bring us.”
The inaugural Lloyd’s Lab cohort’s programme began last October and will conclude on 12 December when the teams will have the opportunity to showcase their products to potential investors.
Decisions on investment and/or other potential collaborations between the founding cohort teams and the Lloyd’s market will be made in January 2019.
Lucas joins ArgoGlobal as international chief actuary
ArgoGlobal has named Paul Lucas as chief actuary of its international business with immediate effect.
Lucas moves over to the carrier following a near 12-year stint at Aspen, where he was most recently global insurance chief actuary having joined the company in 2007 as a casualty reinsurance pricing actuary. He began his career as a pricing actuary at Converium (now Scor) in 2001.
In his new role, he will report to Bob Katzman, chief actuary of Argo Group.
Katzman remarked: “We are pleased to welcome Paul to the team. He has a long track record of leading global teams to identify growth opportunities and improve underwriting performance,
“In addition, his analytical capabilities in pricing and reserving, as well as his knowledge of key markets like Lloyd’s, will help ArgoGlobal execute its strategic plans successfully.”
Verisk to acquire Rulebook
Verisk has struck an $87mn cash deal to acquire Rulebook, a provider of business intelligence and software solutions for the London Insurance Market.
Rulebook’s pricing engine can be used for internal pricing and underwriting as well as external distribution for the specialty insurance market. It also has a data analytics offering that develops business intelligence solutions for clients to enable historical, current, and predictive views of business operations.
Verisk said the deal will be funded by cash on hand and existing bank facilities, subject to typical closing adjustments, adding that the deal is expected to be accretive to 2019 adjusted EPS.
Sequel CEO Ian Summers remarked: “The acquisition will expand Verisk’s existing offerings to the specialty insurance market by adding Rulebook’s proprietary pricing and management information engines to Sequel’s specialized software suite,
“These enhanced offerings will provide our customers with more efficient methods of distribution and significantly improved data analytics capabilities. The complementary applications give us a unique opportunity in our sector to complete the value chain, driving data through the process from broker to underwriter and quote through to claims settlement.”
Rulebook managing director Andy Galli commented: “We’re very excited to join Verisk, as this will accelerate our growing business by providing greater access to global markets and Verisk’s existing international customers,
“We offer a unique value proposition that will be further enhanced by leveraging synergies and collaborating with other Verisk businesses and their data analytics.”
Mark Anquillare, Verisk COO, added: “Rulebook is a Verisk-like business that furthers our goal of providing leading solutions to the global insurance market, including a comprehensive chain of solutions to specialty insurers for mitigating risk and optimizing total cost of operations.”
The transaction is slated to close in the fourth quarter of 2018, subject to the completion of customary closing conditions.