Corporate round-up
Allied World Europe appoints new head of European casualty
Allied World Europe has appointed Darren Jacobs as senior vice-president of general casualty.
Mr Jacobs will lead the company’s primary and excess casualty operation in London.
He joins Allied World from Zurich, where he was head of global corporate/chief underwriting officer, Middle East, based in Dubai. Prior to that he held roles at AIG, Allianz and Starr Companies.
hide
Mr Jacobs has worked in the insurance industry for almost 25 years, with experience in both company and Lloyd’s markets in London, western Europe, Scandinavia and the Middle East.
Julian James, president, global markets at Allied World, said: “We have made great strides in enhancing our primary casualty offering, and Darren’s arrival will further increase our expertise. He will have responsibility for building out our international book of business across a complex portfolio of public and employer’s liability risks, and will help ensure that we are designing the right products to meet our clients’ needs.”
Chubb develops technology and cyber offering in UK and Ireland
Chubb has enhanced its cover for technology companies in the UK and Ireland, while also expanding its cyber liability team that serves the two countries.
The insurer has improved its MasterPackage, a single insurance contract solution for technology companies in the UK and Ireland. MasterPackage provides first- and third-party liability cover for businesses of all sizes with domestic and/or international operations in the technology sector.
The policy now provides cover on an any one claim basis. Its full liability limits are payable for each claim rather than being available in aggregate for the entire policy period.
According to Chubb, other key benefits include: enhanced cyber covers and capabilities; a no warranties, no conditions precedent and no basis clause; flexibility to tailor terms, conditions and limits to meet specific client needs; and finally, the policy is Insurance Act compliant.
Chubb has also expanded its cyber underwriting team for London, UK and Ireland markets with the appointment of two dedicated underwriters.
Lauren Webb, formerly senior professional indemnity and cyber underwriter for Chubb, has been appointed to the role of cyber underwriting manager, London market.
She will be responsible for underwriting US, UK and international risks placed via Lloyd’s and London company market brokers into Chubb, and the development of London broker relationships.
In her new role she will continue to be based in London, reporting to Grant Cairns, financial lines manager for Chubb in the UK and Ireland, and Trevor Ormes, financial lines product head, Chubb Global Markets.
Chris McMurray, previously senior financial lines underwriter, Scotland at Chubb, has been appointed to the new role of senior cyber underwriter, UK and Ireland regions. He will be responsible for underwriting and profitable growth of Chubb’s regional cyber portfolio outside of London.
He will continue to be based in Glasgow, reporting to Tim Jones, PI and cyber manager for Chubb in the UK and Ireland.
The expanded team will also benefit from the support of Nick Bellamy, senior info tech specialist, UK and Ireland. His role has been expanded to provide cyber risk engineering support to Chubb’s London and regional UK and Ireland clients. This includes full on-site survey capability to help clients evaluate their cyber-related activities, exposures and controls.
Mr Bellamy will continue to be based in London. He will report to Tom Newark, property and casualty risk engineering services manager, UK and Ireland.
Chubb said the appointments are the latest phase of its cyber investment in Europe. They follow the recent launch of Cyber Enterprise Risk Management, an end-to-end risk management solution for clients; a new cyber incident response partnership with Crawford & Company; and a Global Cyber Facility that provides up to $100m of primary capacity for larger companies.
David Robinson, executive vice-president, Europe and president, UK and Ireland at Chubb, said: “The appointment of Lauren and Chris, two underwriting experts in their field, highlights our commitment to providing our UK and Ireland-based clients with superior underwriting solutions and easy access to decision makers. Supported by our risk engineering capabilities and end-to-end risk management solutions, I am confident their skills and experience will ensure we offer an exceptional service as we take our cyber risk proposition into its next phase.”
XL Catlin creates new reinsurance unit to focus on African risk
XL Catlin has established a new unit to provide facultative and treaty reinsurance across Africa.
Alex St James, who has been named head of Africa for XL Catlin’s Reinsurance operations, will lead the team.
He joins from One Re and brings more than 20 years’ experience in the risk transfer industry. Prior to joining One Re, Mr St James fulfilled a variety of senior managerial underwriting roles. He has worked across Africa with the Global Alliance group of companies.
XL Catlin has also appointed Matthew Gillies as an actuarial underwriter. He also joins XL Catlin from One Re.
Mr St James and Mr Gillies will both be based in London.
Commenting on the appointments and XL Catlin’s push into Africa, David Watson, XL Catlin’s chief executive, EMEA, reinsurance, said: “Africa is a varied and complex collection of frontier and developing markets, generally rich in resources and increasingly home to international companies.
“Traditionally, there has been a lack of insurance penetration across the continent but this is changing and we believe we have a part to play, as reinsurance capacity will further drive the development and growth of the primary insurance market.”
London market’s electronic placing platform bounds first risk
The London market’s new electronic placing platform, called PPL, went live last week and began trading terrorism risk.
PPL allows brokers and underwriters to exchange information electronically in order to place and bound risks.
Standalone terrorism is the first class of business to go live on the system. The first terrorism risk was bound on PPL within the first hour of trading early last week, brokered by Marsh and underwritten by Chaucer.
Directors’ and officers’, financial institutions and professional indemnity risks are next in line for use on the system.
David Ledger, chairman of the PPL board, said: “We are delighted that the system is up and running. We expect there to be a steady build-up of use as brokers and carriers move their processes onto the system, pass more information and ultimately transact business. This is just the first step in ensuring that our market is fit for purpose in the 21st century.”
He said that PPL does not mean the end of face-to-face market discussion. In fact, he hopes it will leave more time for such crucial meetings by removing duplication of effort.
“It [PPL] is about ridding the market of duplication and administration, leaving more time for the value-added activities. It’s about everyone having one set of correct information when they talk about a risk and data being entered once, and once only,” he explained.
AIR launches new global resilience practice
Catastrophe modeling firm AIR Worldwide (AIR) has created a global resilience practice to help reduce catastrophe risk and build resilience across the globe.
AIR has hired Dr Daniel Kaniewski, a former presidential adviser to, and management consulting executive of, the US Department of Homeland Security, to lead the new practice.
AIR’s global resilience practice aims to deliver on several fronts.
It will develop solutions that aid society’s efforts to better prepare for catastrophes. It will assist organisations in applying catastrophe modeling to disaster risk financing. It also aims to establish alliances with organisations that can provide data for AIR model development and strengthen relationships with regulatory bodies and rating agencies globally.
“I look forward to assisting organisations in applying catastrophe modeling to financing disaster risk and to expanding AIR’s already strong collaborations with the United Nations, the World Bank, the US National Flood Insurance Program, insurance regulatory bodies across the globe and distinguished research groups,” said Dr Kaniewski.
Rob Newbold, executive vice-president, AIR Worldwide, added that AIR’s capabilities can be harnessed to inform public disaster financing, risk pooling and other risk mitigation activities.
“We’re pleased to have Dr Kaniewski lead our global resilience practice, which will be critical in advancing AIR’s position as a foremost authority in developing solutions that aid society’s efforts to better understand and prepare for catastrophes,” he said.