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EC News (7 May 2020)

  • Publish Date: Posted almost 4 years ago
  • Author:by Alan Jarque

Round-up of the weekly news and developments from the global (re)insurance market with stories from Chubb, BHSI, RenaissanceRe and more.

Chubb names Robert Wilson as deputy chief underwriting officer

Global insurer Chubb has appointed Robert Wilson as deputy chief underwriting officer and head of underwriting operations for Chubb Global Markets (CGM), effective immediately.

Based in London he will report to Jason Keen, division president, Chubb Global Markets.

In his new role, Wilson will have responsibility for growing the business and to further enhance the operational resilience and underwriting of CGM, which comprises Chubb's London Market wholesale and specialty business including the company's Lloyd's platform.

Wilson was previously a business development manager for CGM and first joined Chubb in 2009 as part of its Overseas General Ceded Re team.

Prior to that, he worked as a reinsurance treaty broker with Marsh, JLT and Aon.

Keen, division president, Chubb Global Markets, said: "One of Chubb's many strengths is our ability to develop and promote from within and acknowledge talent across the company. Robert's appointment is testament to this and reflects the enormous contribution he has made already to the success of CGM. I am delighted to appoint Robert to his new role and look forward to working closely with him to navigate the wholesale market's challenging headwinds and trading conditions, while ensuring we continue to deliver for our clients and producer partners."

BHSI adds Jean-François Leandri to Property team in France

Berkshire Hathaway Specialty Insurance Company (BHSI), has announced the expansion of its property team with the appointments of Jean-François Leandri as risk control consultant.

Leandri brings nearly 25 years of engineering experience and has spent the last 17 years as district manager at Global Risk Consultants, where he led a Paris-based technical team responsible for risk consulting on a range of occupancies across parts of Europe and Africa.

He is also trained as both a boiler & machinery and fire prevention consultant, having begun his career as Field Engineer at UAP Kemper HPR Company.

François-Xavier d’Huart, country head for France at BHSI: “Jean François’s extensive risk control consulting expertise significantly enhances our property underwriting and service for customers across France and Belux. We are pleased to welcome him to our team, while we continue to expand both our local underwriting and services in the region.”

RenRe appoints Cruttenden as active underwriter & Dalton to CUO Europe

Bermuda based reinsurer RenaissanceRe has named Ed Cruttenden active underwriter of its Syndicate 1458 at Lloyd’s and Bryan Dalton as chief underwriting officer (CUO) – Europe, effective 1 May 2020.


Cruttenden brings more than 25 years (re)insurance experience to the role. In addition to his position as active underwriter he will also be responsible for underwriting RenaissanceRe’s worldwide Casualty insurance book and managing the company’s Casualty portfolio in London.

Bryan Dalton, the previous active underwriter for Syndicate 1458, will assume responsibility for underwriting across the company’s European platform.

Ross Curtis, group chief underwriting officer, said: “Ed is a talented underwriter with deep experience managing risks within Lloyd’s and across RenRe. He has been with RenaissanceRe’s Syndicate 1458 for ten years in positions of increasing responsibility and his appointment to Active Underwriter reflects his disciplined approach to underwriting and proven leadership.”

“Bryan has done a superb job leading the underwriting of Syndicate 1458, significantly growing our business at Lloyd’s. I look forward to working with both Bryan and Ed in their new roles.”

THB appoints Matthew Crane as new CEO

Specialist (re)insurance broker names Matthew Crane as chief executive officer of THB Group and President of the International division of AmWINS Group, Inc.

Crane succeeds Frank Murphy, who has served as CEO of THB Group since 2009, who is in his 45th year in the insurance industry. Murphy will transition into a new role as strategic advisor to AmWINS while remaining on AmWINS executive committee.

Throughout his tenure, he has held multiple senior management positions at QBE Insurance Group Plc and most recently served as executive director, market management for QBE. He started his career at Ensign Syndicate 980 serving in varied roles, including deputy underwriter.

THB is the specialist global (re)insurance broking and risk management firm of AmWINS. Since their partnership in 2012, THB has doubled its annual premium placed to more than $2bn and is now the largest independent wholesale broker in the London marketplace.

Crane shared: “In my prior role, I was always impressed with THB and AmWINS’ focus on building great business over short-term gains. I am proud to be joining the AmWINS family and the THB leadership team and feel fortunate to be part of this entrepreneurial firm with such enormous potential for a long-term successful future.”

Scott Purviance, CEO of AmWINS, commented: “THB has experienced incredible growth over the last eight years, and although the world is still reeling from the effects of Covid-19 I am proud that as an AmWINS Group company, THB has the resources, drive and financial strength to continue its expansion.

“Based on his vast underwriting expertise, established industry relationships, and extensive experience in the London and European markets, we believe that Matt is the ideal candidate to lead THB and our International division. Matt will continue our journey of building the best independent London platform and specialty (re)insurance businesses in key markets worldwide.”

Matthew Shaw joins Tokio Marine Kiln as new CUO

Tokio Marine Kiln has announced the appointment of Matthew Shaw as its new chief underwriting officer (CUO), subject to regulatory approval.

Shaw joins TMK from (re)insurer Chubb, where he most recently served as divisional president of global markets. He joined ACE (now Chubb) in 2002 having begun his insurance career as a Lloyd’s underwriter in the 1980’s.

Brad Irick, TMK chief executive officer, said: “I’m thrilled to welcome Matthew to the Tokio Marine Kiln family. He brings a wealth of experience in the specialist markets in which we operate within Lloyd’s and the broader London market. As insurers and reinsurers, our role in supporting people, businesses and economies as they come back online has never been more important. Following a strong year for TMK, our underwriting teams are energised by a refreshed strategy and new opportunities to further our purpose, support our clients and develop their businesses under Matthew’s leadership.”

Shaw added: “I’m hugely excited to be joining TMK, an organisation with a long history as a great underwriting company and one at the forefront of innovation in the Lloyd’s market.  This is a transformational time for TMK and for the London market, and this role offers a great opportunity to be part of its continued development and success.”

Capsicum Re appoints trio in Property & Specialty team

Specialist reinsurance broker Capsicum Re has expanded its Property & Speciality team with the appointments of Neil Bramley, Tom Regan and Tom Hipperson.

Bramley joins as specialty account executive and will be based in the Specialty area of the business and have a particular focus on capital efficiency and property catastrophe-related products, working closely with Capsicum Re’s analytics team to further build out its modelling capabilities.

He brings two decades of industry experience and expertise in data solutions and catastrophe modelling analytics, having previously worked for Price Forbes.

Meanwhile, Regan has joined the London-based team as US casualty account executive from Prospect Brokers.

He brings a particular specialism in fronted reinsurance programmes, with widespread expertise in contractors and trucking business.

Additionally, Hipperson joins the business as senior account manager and brings extensive experience in Japanese treaty and facultative reinsurance, having previously worked at Aon Benfield for nearly two decades, and will support clients across the different business areas.

Matt FitzGerald, managing partner of the Property & Specialty division, said: “Capsicum Re is a business built on talent and shared culture – for the past six years we’ve focused on attracting the best client advocates in the market and building the foremost broking teams in our chosen areas of specialism.”

“Individually, Tom, Neil and Tom bring distinct and diverse expertise into our team, but they share the all-important entrepreneurial spirit, a thirst for continued learning and innovation on behalf of clients, and a determination to put relationships at the heart of everything they do.”

MS Amlin appoints new COO of its reinsurance operations

Specialty (re)insurer MS Amlin has named Grégoire Mauchamp as chief operating officer (COO) of its reinsurance company operations, MS Amlin AG (MS AAG), effective 11 May 2020.

Based in Zurich, Mauchamp re-joins the business after spending time working in advisory roles in the (re)insurance and ILS industry. He joined MS Amlin in 2010, holding a variety of executive roles withing MS AAG before leaving in 2019. During this time, he played a pivotal role in the start-up and management of the Zurich headquartered platform and was a key member of the group executive and reinsurance leadership team.

Mauchamp has also held senior positions within the banking and insurance industries at companies such as Citigroup, Credit Suisse and Swiss Re.

Chris Beazley, CEO of MS Amlin AG, said: “I am delighted to welcome back Grégoire to the business. His deep understanding of our organisation and strategic objectives, combined with his strong track-record of execution and leadership in roles across the banking and insurance sectors, will be invaluable to us as we continue to focus on repositioning the business as we build for the future. We look forward to him re-joining the team.”

AEGIS London promotes Gemma Burns to head of digital underwriting

Lloyd’s managing agency AEGIS London has announced the promotion of Gemma Burns to head of digital underwriting.

Burns has worked with the firm for the past 20 years and has been promoted into this role on her return from maternity leave.

Commenting on her appointment, Burns commented: “Returning to work after maternity leave into a new role two weeks after lockdown began has been a significant adjustment. However, the combination of amazing team spirit, efficient and seamless technology support and a shared ambition to take our digital trading capability to the next level are strong foundations on which to build. I look forward to developing the strengths in the team and building our digital capability further.”

Tom Squires, head of digital trading, added: “We are thrilled to have Gemma back and welcome her into this new role where her experience will add weight and depth to the team.

“This is an exciting and challenging time for our digital team with a full pipeline of products ready to roll out onto our Opal online quote-and-bind platform. We’re also investigating new distribution channels for our growing portfolio of digital products aimed at the SME market.”

Launched last year, OPAL works alongside AEGIS London’s underwriting teams to develop digital products and new ways of distributing them to the international market.