Round-up of the weekly news and developments from the global (re)insurance market with stories from HDI Global, ArgoGlobal Assicurazioni, GMBC and more.
HDI Global names new head of branch for Switzerland
Industrial lines insurer, HDI Global has announced the appointment of Michael Rüsch as the new representative and head of the Switzerland branch, effective 1 August 2019.
Rüsch will replace Jürgen Decker who has been an interim appointment to this post over the past few months.
He brings two decades of experience in the industrial insurance sector and over recent years has held various underwriting and management positions at AXA XL having joined XL Catlin in 2002.
Most recently, he worked as country manager for Switzerland, and went on to become responsible for the European region as head of financial lines.
Commenting on the appointment, Board Member Edgar Puls, who is responsible for the European region at HDI Global said: “On the back of his experience and international perspective, his enthusiasm for industrial insurance business and his dynamic approach, Michael Rüsch will ensure that HDI continues to expand its major presence and closeness to customers and sales partners in the Swiss market.”
ArgoGlobal Assicurazioni appoints new chief underwriting officer
ArgoGlobal Assicurazioni S.p.A, a member of Argo Group International Holdings LTD., has named Marco Serra as chief underwriting officer (CUO), effective immediately.
Serra will be based in Rome and will report to ArgoGlobal Assicurazioni chief executive officer, Giovanni Tucci.
He brings more than 20 years of insurance industry experience within broking and underwriting. Serra joins from Navigators, where he was based in Milan as underwriting manager for professional and management liability.
More recently, he has also held roles with Gruppo GPA and AIG in London and Milan, and also ANV in Barcelona.
Tucci, ArgoGlobal Assicurazioni CEO said: “Marco is a consummate insurance professional who will strengthen our growing team and presence here in Italy. As an agile and insurtech-friendly insurer with an innovative culture and an unswerving focus on the needs of insureds, we see huge potential for growth in this market. Marco’s experience both in Italy and at Lloyd’s will be key to our strategic plans for expansion.”
GMBC launches a new MGA platform for the European market
GMBC, a Germany based insurtech company has recently launched a new master managing general agent platform (MGA), Ekkore.
This has a focus for the European market and its objective is to connect underwriting agencies to insurers and reinsurers for non-life business in the European Economic Area.
Ekkore is a next generation platform that takes charge of data management, cash, administration, reporting, regulatory, portfolio performance monitoring and compliance.
Co-founder and managing partner of GMBC, Sergey Grazhdankin, commented: “Ekkore is a well-thought-out product that addresses an increased interest for the MGA business model we have seen in the market during recent years, both on the insurance capacity demand and supply sides. One of the pivotal features is its multi-dimensional character. By reliably tackling the operational complexity, Ekkore serves as a key success factor for any party involved into an MGA project, an underwriting agency itself, a broker, an insurer or a reinsurer.”
AXIS capital hires Tony Jordan as new group chief actuary
Axis Capital holdings has announced the appointment of Tony Jordan as its group chief actuary, reporting to Peter Vogt, AXIS Capital’s group chief financial officer (CFO).
Based in the London office, Jordan will be responsible for overseeing the company’s corporate actuarial function including reserving functions, capital modeling and investment risk, which will include integrating the information, insights and analytics across these functional responsibilities to provide guidance to the firms business units. Jordan will also oversee the Company’s Group Reserve Committee.
Jordan brings with him over three decades of actuarial experience and prior to joining AXIS he spent more than 10 years with (re)insurer Chubb, where he most recently served as chief actuary, Europe, Eurasia and Africa. He also previously held senior roles with Aon, Endurance & ACE.
Vogt, CFO, said: “Tony brings a proven record of performance and the experience and perspective of having held lead actuarial roles across a number of world-class (re)insurance organizations. With a reputation as a collaborative leader, Tony will partner with our business leaders to introduce best practices, tools and processes that will help us advance our enterprise-wide portfolio optimization efforts and drive profitable growth.”
Mclarens appoints David Pigot to strengthen Global leadership team
Mclarens announced the appointment of David Pigot to the newly created role as director of London markets & global head of specialty and will report to chief executive officer Gary Brown.
In his new position, Pigot will be responsible for developing expanded solutions for the London market and driving growth in McLarens’ specialty divisions, including aviation, construction and engineering, crisis management, marine, natural resources, and FAJ & Specie.
Pigot brings over 3 decades of experience in the insurance industry and has managed large organisations across Europe, Middle East and Africa, as well as completing several international assignments in the US and Latin America.
Prior to joining McLarens, Pigot held key leadership positions at international insurance services firms, including executive roles at both Cunningham Lindsey and Marsh.
Pigot holds several industry credentials, including Associate of the Chartered Insurance Institute, Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Loss Adjusters, European Loss Adjusting Expert and Chartered Insurance Practitioner.
Brown, CEO, said: “We are delighted to welcome David to McLarens. He not only brings the right combination of industry skills and technical expertise, but he also shares our client-centric approach, which is one of McLarens’ fundamental operating principles. As McLarens continues to evolve and expand our global capabilities, David is the ideal choice for this role. We designed it to provide centralised strategic leadership and operational oversight for aspects of our business requiring specific technical expertise and international business acumen,”
Adding: “The London Market and our specialty practice areas will benefit from David’s considerable loss adjusting experience, including both adjuster and broker roles, as well as his expansive global management experience. As our specialty lines business spans the globe, David’s proven leadership capabilities will provide valuable visionary direction to our international team.”
Chris DeMuth joins BMS Capital Advisory as senior vice president
Specialist (re)insurance broker BMS Group have named Chris DeMuth as new senior vice president (SVP) at the company’s investment banking division, BMS Capital Advisory. DeMuth will report to Romula Braga, CEO of BMS Capital Advisory.
Prior to joining BMS he most recently served as SVP at JLT Capital Markets where he provided M&A, capital raise and advisory services to the re/insurance industry in North America, Bermuda and the UK.
Additionally, DeMuth has held senior positions at Jackson Valley Fund, Guy Carpenter and has also previously served as an analyst at Chanin Capital Partners and Merrill Lynch.
Braga, CEO, comments: “BMS Capital Advisory and the BMS Group as a whole are relentlessly dedicated to providing the very best in client care and service to our partners. A strong, effective and focussed Capital Advisory team is key to providing that capability. Chris has the in-depth knowledge and understanding of both capital management and the re/insurance market needed to provide the very best advice on even the most complex transactions. He will be a great addition to our team and will add value to BMS and our clients as we look to grow our capital advisory expertise.”