DUAL harnesses the collective power of its global underwriting operations under one unified brand
DUAL Group, one of the world’s largest managing general agents (MGAs) with $3.5bn GWP, has unveiled its distinctive new brand. This marks a significant milestone in DUAL’s extraordinary journey since 1998, reflecting its unique collective global reach and strength – now across 21 countries – and its special culture.
By unifying its brand, DUAL aims to enhance the experience for all of its partners and clients and simplify access to expanding capabilities across a broad range of products and services, which in turn, will reinforce DUAL’s position as a market leading MGA.
Richard Clapham, CEO, DUAL Group said: “Our ambition is to be the world’s best underwriting business, and this vibrant new brand truly reflects the innovative forward-thinking approach that makes DUAL different among MGAs. As a leading MGA and a significant player in the insurance sector we partner with more than 70 leading (re)insurers worldwide and have an exceptional distribution network of more than 11,000 brokers and agents.
“We take our relationships very seriously and aim to be a trusted partner of choice. This is why we continuously improve every aspect of our business to help our brokers, our carrier partners and our people do more. We have put this commitment into practice with our new brand, by reviewing every touchpoint to drive improvement, including launching one seamless global website to give easier access to the breadth of our products and services.”
David Howden, CEO and Founder, Howden said: “Back in 1998, we set out to build a different kind of underwriting business. One built with talented, creative underwriters who have greater authority to follow their commercial instincts. Looking at DUAL today, I couldn’t be prouder of the unique business that we have built together. Although we’re only just getting started and there is an exciting journey ahead, DUAL’s founding vision will always guide us – putting trust in our talent to grow our business and helping the people we work with do more.”
Swiss Re launches Swiss Re Life Guide Scout, a Generative AI-powered underwriting assistant
Swiss Re launches an augmented version of its market-leading underwriting manual, Life Guide
The new version comes equipped with Swiss Re Life Guide Scout, a Generative AI-powered underwriting assistant that aims to help increase efficiency and quality of underwriting
Swiss Re launches an augmented version of its Life & Health underwriting manual Life Guide. The new version comes equipped with Swiss Re Life Guide Scout, a Generative AI-powered underwriting assistant, developed by Swiss Re, that integrates Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service. Swiss Re Life Guide Scout aims to help increase the efficiency and quality of underwriting by generating swift answers compiled from curated expert knowledge in response to questions asked by the underwriter in natural language.
Life & Health insurance underwriting is a complex process that requires accurate and up-to-date information to assess an insurance applicant’s risk. To make the right decisions, underwriters invest a significant amount of time to search and review information using standard search tools to identify relevant sources and facts.
Life Guide, the world’s number one Life & Health underwriting manual, helps clients understand current and future risks, so they can make informed decisions, and build strong, sustainable portfolios.
The augmented version of Life Guide is now equipped with Swiss Re Life Guide Scout, a new functionality powered by Generative AI, that supports underwriters in speeding up risk assessment. Swiss Re Life Guide Scout allows underwriters to make professional queries, receiving an AI-generated answer and the source of information, within seconds. This facilitates them to make faster, more precise decisions and improves knowledge transfer. With a solid data foundation and advanced analytics capabilities, the integration of Azure OpenAI Service unlocks deeper insights for improved human decision making.
Swiss Re Life Guide Scout is launched as a pilot programme in English. A wider roll-out is planned for later this year.
Julien Descombes, Swiss Re’s Chief Underwriting Officer L&H Re, said: “We are excited to bring Generative AI to our clients who can now leverage this new feature to improve their underwriting process. Our ambition is to provide insurers access to the risk perspective we have built into Life Guide in an even more efficient and user-friendly way to help them continue to write sustainable business and deliver on their promises.”
Catrin Hinkel, CEO Microsoft Switzerland, said: “By integrating Microsoft Azure OpenAI, Swiss Re can unlock the power of advanced analytics and Generative AI to provide new capabilities to the insurance market through a secure, compliant, and reliable cloud environment. This powerful combination empowers Swiss Re to share their risk insights with clients, transforming the way they manage risk.”
Pacific Life Re welcomes Sujin Park as head of underwriting and claims, Asia markets
Pacific Life Re, a leader in the life and health reinsurance industry, announced the appointment of Sujin Park as the new head of underwriting and claims for its Asia business, underscoring Pacific Life Re’s commitment to excellence in serving its valued clients in the Asia markets.
With more than 20 years of extensive experience in life and health underwriting and claims, Sujin brings a wealth of knowledge and expertise to this role, having held key positions at insurance and reinsurance firms across South Korea and other Asian markets. She will be based in Pacific Life Re’s Singapore office.
Andrew Doran, global chief underwriting officer, commented, “We are delighted to welcome Sujin to our team. Her experience and deep understanding of the Asian market dynamics and regulations will undoubtedly enhance our underwriting and claims capabilities. We look forward to her contributions in driving our growth and innovation.”
Sujin stated, “I am excited to be a part of the Pacific Life Re team and to lead the underwriting and claims efforts in Asia. With the company’s strong commitment to excellence and innovation, I’m confident that we will continue to provide our clients with top-tier reinsurance solutions and exceptional service.”
Sujin’s appointment reflects Pacific Life Re’s strategic ambition to grow in the region and provide the highest reinsurance expertise and service standards to its clients.
UK P&I Club announces new underwriting appointment for Singapore
The UK P&I Club, one of the world’s leading mutual insurers of third-party liabilities for ocean-going merchant ships has announced that it has appointed Peter Jones to the newly-created role of Underwriting Director at the Club’s long-established Singapore branch.
Peter has worked for the UK P&I Club for 12 years developing his experience across a number of claims and underwriting roles.
The Asia-Pacific region represents a significant proportion of the Club’s membership. Peter’s appointment recognises the Club’s presence in the region and commitment to deliver continued exceptional levels of support for members and brokers alike.
Peter is transferring to Singapore from the Club’s London office and, working in close collaboration with the Club’s London underwriting department, will ensure an enhanced level of local service to the region’s ship owners and their brokers.
Chief Underwriting Officer for the UK P&I Club, William Beveridge commented on the appointment:
“Singapore is one of the world’s top maritime hubs, and it’s vital that we have underwriting and claims specialists in the country to support our members and insurance brokers with an industry-leading loss prevention and claims service.
Peter’s appointment comes at an exciting time for Thomas Miller’s Singapore branch. Our sister mutual, TT Club has this week welcomed Kamel Tlili as its Regional General Manager for the Asia-Pacific region. The new appointments combine to strengthen Thomas Miller’s presence and resources in Singapore.”
Berkshire Hathaway Specialty Insurance Names Hilary Browne & Cameron Holmes to Global Underwriting Leadership Posts
Berkshire Hathaway Specialty Insurance (BHSI) announced two leadership promotions: Hilary Browne has been promoted to the role of Deputy Global Chief Underwriting Officer, and Cameron Holmes is now Global Underwriting Officer, Property for Energy and Construction.Hilary, who has nearly 25 years of global insurance industry experience, joined BHSI in 2019 as Country Manager, Ireland, and Head of Casualty for Europe, and most recently served as Global Chief Underwriting Officer, Casualty and Healthcare, and Deputy Head of Europe. As she assumes her new role, her Europe region responsibilities will transition to Alessandro Cerase, newly named Head of BHSI Europe Region, while she retains responsibility for global casualty and healthcare underwriting. Additionally, in her new role Hilary will provide executive oversight for BHSI’s global A&H underwriting, multinational underwriting and support, and underwriting affairs. Hilary will continue to be based in Dublin and will report to David Fields, Global Chief Underwriting Officer, BHSI.“Hilary has made exceptional contributions to BHSI, both as a member of our Europe leadership team, as well as in her global casualty and healthcare underwriting officer capacity,” said David Fields. “With the growth of BHSI’s global underwriting portfolio, the time is right to strengthen our global underwriting leadership, and Hilary’s contributions at BHSI and in the industry make her ideal for this role.”Cameron has been Head of Property Technical Lines at BHSI in Australia since 2018. He joined BHSI in 2015 as Property Energy and Construction Manager and has more than 20 years of experience in engineering and technical lines property insurance. As he assumes his new role, he will continue to be based in Sydney and will report to Dean LaPierre, BHSI’s Global Chief Underwriting Officer, Property and Marine.“Cam has played a key role in growing our property and technical lines business in Australia,” said Dean LaPierre. “As a member of our global underwriting leadership team, he will make a broader contribution to our business working with our regional underwriting teams as they provide customers and brokers worldwide with the stability of BHSI’s financially strong capacity, our long-term market commitment, and our underwriting expertise.”Berkshire Hathaway Specialty Insurance (www.bhspecialty.com) provides commercial property, casualty, healthcare professional liability, executive and professional lines, transactional liability, surety, marine, travel, programs, accident and health, medical stop loss, homeowners, and multinational insurance. The actual and final terms of coverage for all product lines may vary. It underwrites on the paper of Berkshire Hathaway’s National Indemnity group of insurance companies, which hold financial strength ratings of A++ from AM Best and AA+ from Standard & Poor’s. Based in Boston, Berkshire Hathaway Specialty Insurance has offices in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Columbia, Dallas, Houston, Indianapolis, Irvine, Los Angeles, New York, Plymouth Meeting, San Francisco, San Ramon, Seattle, Stevens Point, Adelaide, Auckland, Barcelona, Brisbane, Brussels, Cologne, Dubai, Dublin, Frankfurt, Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur, London, Lyon, Macau, Madrid, Manchester, Melbourne, Munich, Paris, Perth, Singapore, Sydney, Toronto, and Zurich.
Three key appointments for DUAL North America in Underwriting Leadership Roles
DUAL North America, Inc. (“DUAL”), has appointed three industry veterans to leadership and key underwriting roles through promotion and new hires. Jim Jinhong was promoted to Head of Capacity and Product Development, D.J. Postles joined as Executive Vice President of Underwriting for NBIS, and John Kopach joined as Executive Vice President of Excess Liability.
In his role as DUAL Head of Capacity and Product Development, Jinhong’s responsibilities include leading a strategic and balanced deployment of partner capacity across the enterprise and developing new products in support of an ever-changing marketplace. Prior, he served as Executive Vice President of Underwriting & Business Development at NationsBuilders Insurance Services, Inc. (“NBIS”), a member of the DUAL North America, Inc. group of companies, where he drove program diversification through organic growth over the past 20 years.
As EVP of Underwriting, Postles will be leading the underwriting team at NBIS. Postles has 22 years of underwriting and leadership experience, with large and mid-size carriers in the North American Insurance marketplace, including Chubb, Swiss Re, and Hiscox. He brings with him corporate insurance and association leadership experience along with technical property and casualty underwriting skills. Working strategically with brokers over his career, he has developed a strong relationship focused on profitable growth, efficiency, innovation, and customer success. Postles is based in Atlanta, GA, reporting to Bill Tepe, President of NBIS.
“Jim has led NBIS through an impressive period of growth and diversity, building creative coverage lines and driving underwriting profit for our market partners,” said Bill Tepe, President of NBIS. “D.J. has a dynamic background of insurance leadership roles, he will have the opportunity to lead a diverse team of underwriters and drive best-in- class customer service to our clients.”
Kopach will work directly with Mike Towell, President of Excess Liability, to help drive the expansion of DUAL’s excess liability product in the East and Southeast. He joins the team with more than 20 years of experience, most recently serving as the Senior Vice President of Excess Casualty, Southeast Region for AXA XL. Kopach’s background also includes serving as Senior Vice President and Vice President for Swiss Re Financial Corporate Solutions and Everest National Insurance Company. Kopach is based in Atlanta, GA.
“As we continue to expand and the demands of the US market evolve, it is essential that we continue to offer exceptional service and products to our clients and partners,” said John Johnson, Chief Executive Officer of DUAL. “I am thrilled about Jim’s promotion and wish both D.J. and John a very warm welcome to DUAL. Jim’s valuable experience within the company and wider industry will ensure our team is developing new products to support our partners’ continuously evolving needs. I am also confident that D.J. and John’s expertise and leadership skills will be instrumental in delivering innovative solutions for our partners and driving our business growth.”
Skuld appoints Anna F. Erlandsen as Vice President, Underwriting, Skuld Hull
Skuld announced that Anna F. Erlandsen will join Skuld as vice president, underwriter, Skuld Hull as of 3 April 2023.
Erlandsen was most recently head of the Oslo office for Norwegian Hull Club. She has nearly two decades’ experience within global marine insurance, within underwriting and managerial positions, including board member positions in Norwegian Hull Club and in CEFOR (The Nordic Association of Marine Insurers). She holds a Master’s in economics and finance from the Norwegian School of Economics (NHH) and is an alumnus of Harvard Business School´s Executive Education.
Ståle Hansen, Skuld president and CEO, said: “Providing first-class service is a key pillar of Skuld Hull’s global operations. I am very pleased to welcome Anna to the Skuld family, and I look forward to her contributions to a continuous strong growth journey of Skuld Hull. Her vast experience and commercial attitude will be an additional solid asset to our members, brokers, and clients.”
Erlandsen added: “Skuld is well-recognised in the marine insurance market for its financial robustness, professionalism, and high-quality client service. The Skuld Hull team has a strong reputation globally, and I very much look forward to working closely with the team to continue to provide excellent service and support to Skuld’s members and clients.”
Liberty Mutual Insurance Continues to Grow Global Risk Solutions Office of Underwriting With Two Key Appointments
Liberty Mutual Insurance announced appointments to two newly created roles in Global Risk Solutions (GRS) Office of Underwriting. Effective September 26, Julia Chu will join as Head of Underwriting Planning, Performance & Portfolio Management, and Thomas Leahy will become Global Product Leader, Financial Lines. Both will report to GRS President of Underwriting Matthew Moore.
Chu will establish a global GRS underwriting strategy, working with leaders across the commercial and specialty (re)insurance unit, while providing actionable insights to manage market dynamics and drive results. She brings more than 20 years of strategy and transformation leadership experience, and joins from Markel, where she was Chief Risk Officer.
Leahy will be responsible for Financial Lines globally. In this role, he will set the global product strategy, monitor overall performance of the portfolio, and partner with the newly appointed chief underwriting officers across GRS to ensure successful execution. He has more than 20 years of leadership experience, including more than 15 with Liberty Mutual. Leahy is currently President, Professional Liability, for GRS North America Specialty.
“With the appointments of Julia and Tom, we continue to build an unparalleled team that adds value to brokers, partners and clients by bringing our global expertise and resources to help better manage complex and emerging risks,” said Moore. “Julia and Tom will help drive underwriting performance through consistent global product strategies and portfolios based on a common view of risk.”
Chu and Leahy are the most recent appointments by Moore since he was named GRS President of Underwriting in April of this year. Earlier this year, he appointed Chantal Rodriguez as Liberty Mutual Reinsurance Chief Underwriting Officer, Brandon Fick as North America Chief Underwriting Officer, Nate Zangerle as Chief Underwriting Officer for Global Surety and Elizabeth Geary as President, Insurance Solutions.
Strike Insurance Europe Transfer
Over the last few years, Standard Club has grown the underwriting and business development of the former Strike Club and changed its operational and cost structures to make them more efficient.
The Shipowners’ Mutual Strike Insurance Association Europe (‘SIE’) became part of the Standard Club group with effect from 1 February 2019 following approvals by members in general meetings.
SIE ceased underwriting on 20 February 2020 and SIE has continued to meet its obligations to members insured for the 2019/20 and earlier policy years, with Standard Reinsurance (Bermuda) Ltd supporting it as quota share reinsurer. From 21 February 2020, former SIE members have been able to buy strike & delay and war risks insurance from other insurers in the Standard Club group.
SIE is presently seeking approval from Luxembourg and Irish insurance regulators to transfer its insurance obligations to The Standard Club Ireland DAC (‘Standard Ireland’). Standard Ireland, like Standard Reinsurance (Bermuda) Ltd, has a published “A” financial strength rating from the financial rating agency Standard & Poor’s. Following a successful transfer of its obligations to Standard Ireland, the individuals and teams currently handling claims for former SIE members will continue to undertake that work on behalf of Standard Ireland, and SIE will be liquidated.
As part of this process, SIE and Standard Ireland are publishing notices along the lines set out below in various official gazettes and newspapers.
TRANSFER OF INSURANCE RIGHTS AND OBLIGATIONS
The Shipowners’ Mutual Strike Insurance Association Europe, established at BP 2217, L-1022 Luxembourg, hereby informs interested parties that it is transferring its rights and obligations under or pursuant to contracts of non-life insurance to The Standard Club Ireland DAC, established at Fitzwilliam Hall, Fitzwilliam Place, Dublin 2, DO2 T292, Ireland.
The transfer referred to above relates to all non-life insurance contracts that belong or have belonged to the non-life insurance business carried on by The Shipowners’ Mutual Strike Insurance Association Europe, BP 2217, L-1022 Luxembourg.
The transfer will become effective for all stakeholders with effect from the date the transfer is approved by the Luxembourg insurance regulator, the Commissariat aux Assurances.
Chubb Global Markets Creates New Energy Underwriting Team
Chubb announced the creation of a new energy team in Chubb Global Markets (CGM) that will underwrite and serve as a center of excellence for all large corporate energy customers in EMEA, Asia Pacific and Latin America. CGM comprises Chubb’s London market wholesale and specialty business, including the company’s Lloyd’s platform.
Middle market energy customers’ risks will continue to be underwritten and serviced locally.
The team, which is based in London, is led by Andrew Brown, the newly appointed head of Energy CGM. Brown brings more than 15 years of experience to the role, most recently as chief underwriting officer, Global Energy Chubb Overseas General (COG). He joined Chubb 14 years ago and has held positions across upstream and downstream energy within CGM and has been based in both London and MENA.
Brown will be joined by the following product leads:
Melanie Markwick-Day, appointed head of Upstream Energy. Markwick-Day is responsible for managing and developing the upstream portfolio, moving from her most recent role as upstream energy senior underwriter COG.
Adam Groves, appointed head of Downstream Energy. Groves will oversee the management and development of the downstream energy portfolio. He was previously regional head of energy for Chubb in MENA (the Middle East and North Africa).
Riaz Thanduparakkal, appointed head of Multinational and Network. Formerly, energy product head for CGM, Thanduparakkal is now responsible for managing the multinational portfolio and network.
Matthew Bilbey, appointed chief underwriting officer.Bilbey joins the team from his most recent role as regional head of energy for Chubb in Asia Pacific.
“These structural changes will enhance the value proposition across our Global Energy operation and help us to deliver more focused solutions for our clients and distribution partners,” commented Matthew Hardy, global head of Energy, executive vice president Chubb Overseas General.
“Crafting two distinct operating models, with dedicated underwriting, engineering and claims teams, will enable us to create an effective offering for brokers and clients so we can respond to their needs even more quickly and capitalise on our global insights across both segments,” he added. “Our regional offices will provide local expertise along with focused underwriting for our clients. These changes also further demonstrate the breadth of technical understanding we have within Chubb Global Energy.”