Pen Underwriting has named Himir Patel as its new head of Cyber succeeding Adrian Scott, who was appointed as managing director of International & Financial Lines in February.

Patel is currently head of Insight & Reserving which is part of Pen's core capabilities as a virtual insurer. He joined the company four years ago having served at Deloitte, Allianz and AIG. He will report into Adrian Scott in his new role.

Adrian Scott said: “During his time with Pen, Hamir has shown himself to be a strong leader, excellent communicator and first-class manager of people. These qualities, alongside his technical insurance expertise and commercial acumen, stand him in great stead for taking the reins in what remains a key growth area for Pen.

Adding: “Our dedicated cyber practice – where the speed, efficiency and flexibility of our instant, intuitive, online quote & bind facility on Pen Central is driven and underpinned by our team of experienced specialist underwriters – continues to see strong broker demand. Hamir’s analytical mind and management strengths will ensure Pen presses on with devising and delivering cutting-edge developments to protect the fast-evolving digital risks of businesses. And it’s great to be able to once again turn to our internal ranks of talent to fill a strategic leadership position.”

Hamir Patel said: “When it comes to innovation in underwriting, it’s hard to think of an area more dynamic than cyber risk, with so much opportunity and challenge. I’m really looking forward to building on the fantastic foundations laid by Adrian with our team of cyber specialists, who are firmly focused on finding solutions and ways to transfer risk for our broker partners on behalf of their clients, whilst ensuring a strong underwriting result for our capacity partners.”