Roundup of the weekly news and developments from the global insurance market with stories from Cooper Gay, Towergate, Antares and more.
Cooper Gay has rebranded and renamed itself Ed
Cooper Gay has rebranded to call itself "Ed". In a press release titled "Introducing Ed", the intermediary said it had launched to "redefine broking". Steve Hearn, chief executive said, "We’d like to introduce ourselves. We are Ed. You may recognise our people, we used to be called Cooper Gay." Under its new Ed banner, the broker heralded a "renaissance of a declining business". Ed called itself an independent broker for independent producers of independent business, there to serve its client chain, never to compete with them and bring expertise, global presence, a technology focus and a borderless business model. Hearn continued saying, "All around us, the world is changing. Ed is the embodiment of that change in the world of wholesale broking. The industry must evolve and Ed has the vision to lead the way. The birth of Ed is the most obvious representation of our journey to redefine broking. It will not happen overnight, but we’ve already made significant achievements." Hearn said to the team at Ed that although its heart was located in London its brain and future was elsewhere and the rebrand needed to recognise this change.
Towergate Insurance creates London underwriting centre
Towergate has unveiled the creation of a London underwriting centre. The centre, headed by David Leathem as London director of underwriting, will work on creating and developing specialist London market product lines providing a unique opportunity for the best underwriting capability. Leathem joins the centre from The Channel Syndicate, where he was a founding partner. He will establish a direct and facultative international property unit, which will operate alongside the casualty and liability operation following the appointments of John Marshall and Glenn Murphy, with further lines to be added. CEO of underwriting at Towergate, Adrian Brown said, “The creation of a London Underwriting Centre represents a genuine opportunity for us to build a leading position in the market, one which our broking customers are telling us is increasingly crucial to their own businesses. David is the first choice candidate to lead this charge and brings unrivalled market experience to the table.” CEO David Ross mirrors Brown’s positivity for the appointment describing Leathem as “one of the most charismatic and formidable traders of his generation.”
New A&H division launched by Antares
Antares, a member of QIC Group, has launched its accident and health division with the appointments of Roger Perry as accident and health manager and Paul Beggy as an underwriter, both effective immediately. Perry brings more than 25 years of industry experience to the role and will be responsible for leading the team and the development of the new A&H business. Beggy began underwriting the A&H class at ProSight from scratch, writing the majority of the initial business and quickly developing the company's A&H revenue. He has 15 years' experience in the industry and began his underwriting career at Sompo Canopius having previously served as a broker at UIB.
PartnerRe hires Beedle from Willis Re to head Asia-Pac
James Beedle will be appointed to the position of head of Asia-Pacific & CEO of Partner Reinsurance Asia Pte. Ltd. to lead PartnerRe’s business operations in the region. He assumes his position on January 1, 2017 replacing outgoing Head of Asia-Pacific, Alain Flandrin, who will leave the company following a short transition period to pursue other personal and professional interests. Beedle will be responsible for running PartnerRe’s business in Asia-Pacific, responding to the requirements of clients and furthering the organisations strategic goals. He will report to Tad Walker, CEO of PartnerRe’s property and casualty segment and group executive committee member. Commenting on Beedle’s appointment, Walker said, “We are delighted to welcome James to PartnerRe. James has an impressive track record in the Asia-Pacific region. His established client relationships, his understanding of the challenges our clients face, and his proven success in building teams and franchises will all be extremely helpful to PartnerRe as we further develop our business in this strategically important region. At the same time, we would like to thank Alain for his immense contribution to PartnerRe over the years and wish him all the best in his future endeavors. During his 14 years at PartnerRe, Alain has played an important leadership role in our organisation globally, as Head of P&C Global and more recently in Asia-Pacific, developing PartnerRe’s presence and building relationships in this strategically important area.”
Jon Hanckock hired by Lloyds
Lloyd’s of London has announced that Jon Hancock has been appointed their new director of performance management. Formally managing director UK commercial and global broker relationship director at RSA, he will take up the role on 1 December 2016. Lloyd’s CEO Inga Beale, said: “This is a tremendous appointment for Lloyd’s and for the market. Jon is a man who has lived and breathed insurance his entire working life and understands instinctively the challenges facing the market and how we should respond to them. It says everything about the attractiveness of the Lloyd’s brand that Jon wanted to come here after a career at RSA where he has held senior positions in the UK, Asia and the Middle East. I look forward to working with him. I would also like to place on record my sincere thanks to Theresa Froehlich as our Interim Performance Director. She has done and will continue to do a tremendous job in this important role for the corporation.”
Aon’s Project Marlin to start operating
Project Marlin, the $600mn facility owned by Aon Benfield will start operations after it won backing from six Lloyd’s insurers. Insurers who have expressed support in Project Marlin include Travelers, Barbican, Neon, Hiscox and StarStone. The operation is run by MS Amlin and will contribute 15% to Aon Benfield’s Latin American business. The launch of the operation has been hit by delays as it was initially planned to go live in January of this year. Subject premium has also been reduced from $700mn to $600mn as the deal with the Lloyd’s insurers excludes aviation, fidelity, surety, life and personal accident.
Owner of ProSight weigh up sale
Goldman Sachs owns a controlling 50.1% share in the ProSight operations and is understood to be considering a sale of the business. Past offers are thought to have been made for the operation without anything materialising from the interest and Goldman Sachs is thought to be more serious about parting with the company this time around. There has been mixed opinion regarding ProSight as an operation with some demonstrating interest in speciality insurers assets with others expressing concern that ProSight has had a mixed past especially over the last 18 months where it has moved into the red. Bidding is thought to begin for the operation in 2017 when Goldman Sachs is thought to bring the operation to market.
