May 22, 2023

LOCKTON Lockton, the world’s largest privately-owned independent insurance broker, has appointed James Bannister as Head of Global War, Terrorism & Political Violence, effective immediately. James will report to Matt Humphries, Head of Crisis Management, in London. In this role, James will be responsible for the development of Lockton’s War, Terrorism & Political Violence insurance offering, whilst contributing to the continued growth of the wider Crisis Management division. James brings a wealth of Political Violence experience having been part of the London market for over fifteen years. He joins from Aon, where he held a series of roles, culminating with his appointment as Executive Director, Head of North American Terrorism. Prior to this, he served as a War and Terrorism Underwriter at Canopius. James’s hire marks the latest in a number of hires to Lockton’s Crisis Management division, which was launched in 2021. GALLAGHER RE Gallagher Re announces the appointment of Ian Kerton to the role of CEO of the reinsurance broker’s UK operations, subject to regulatory approval. Ian will replace Tom Wakefield who was named successor to James Kent as global CEO of Gallagher Re earlier this year. Ian has been with Gallagher Re as a Partner in its UK business since 2021. Prior to joining Gallagher, he was Managing Director of the UK Property & Casualty team at Guy Carpenter and a Director of the UK Board. Ian has held multiple roles within the reinsurance industry over the last 30 years, including Executive Director at HSBC Insurance Brokers for 10 years where he headed up the Treaty broking team and was responsible for their business in the UK & Asia. Ian will report to Tom Wakefield who will assume the role of global CEO at Gallagher Re with effect from 1 June. ASTA Asta today announces the appointments of Seema Bradbury as chief risk officer and Liz Catchpole as an independent non-executive director and chair of audit committee. These appointments follow a number of changes made to the board late last year in line with long term succession planning. Having spent more than 20 years in the London market, Bradbury brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to Asta. She joins from AXIS, where she was group risk director and chief risk officer of the managing agency. Prior to this, Bradbury has held a variety of roles in the Lloyd’s and London market including at Lloyd’s, Beazley, ArgoGlobal and Miller. Bradbury will be part of Asta’s executive team, leading the business and with specific responsibility for the leadership and development of the risk management function. Catchpole was appointed to Asta’s board in January 2023 and, subject to regulatory approval, will be appointed chair of the audit committee. A certified chartered accountant, Catchpole brings to the role more than 20 years of executive board level experience gained primarily in the insurance, outsourcing and property sectors. She is also an independent non-executive director and audit chair at Investec Wealth and Investment; independent non-executive director, senior independent director, and audit chair of GBG plc; and independent chairman of TP Bennett. She was previously non-executive director and chair of audit at British Gas Insurance and British Gas Services. She will replace the current audit committee chair, Andrew Hubbard, who has held the role for 9 years. FCA The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and Payment Systems Regulator (PSR) Boards have appointed two new Deputy Chairs – Margaret Obi and Edward Sparrow – to the FCA’s Regulatory Decisions Committee (RDC) and the PSR’s Enforcement Decisions Committee (EDC). These two committees are responsible for taking certain regulatory decisions on behalf of the FCA and PSR. Members are drawn from across a spectrum of business, consumer and industry experience. The new appointments are made ahead of the existing Deputy Chairs, Elizabeth France and John Hull, standing down later this year after the completion of their terms. CII The CII announces the appointment of Brian Caruth as interim Vice President for Local Institutes. In the role, Mr Caruth will Chair the Local Institute National Forum, which provides a voice to Local Insurance Institutes across the UK, ensuring that projects, initiatives, successes and concerns are proactively discussed and fed back to the CII Group Board. Mr Caruth is well versed in local institute matters, having served as a Council Member for the Insurance Institute of Northern Ireland (IINI) for over 30 years. Through 2018 and 2019, he served as President of the IINI, during which time he received the Belfast Ambassador Award for working with the CIIs regional membership team to help highlight and promote the Belfast region. Brian Caruth said: “I am delighted to have been asked to serve as the Vice President for Local Institutes. I am looking forward to working with CII members across the UK to help drive forward the important work that is already underway across our 55 Local Institutes.” PREMIUM CREDIT Premium Credit, the UK and Ireland provider of insurance premium finance and a range of annually charged services, is pleased to announce Mark Morley’s appointment as Operations Director. He joins from Close Brothers. Overseeing partner services Mark will be responsible for delivering market leading operating standards, a constant priority in Premium Credit’s delivery plan. He will focus on developing the business’ operational capabilities to drive partner growth and having spent nearly three decades working across the insurance and credit industry, brings considerable experience to the role. Josie Pileio, Premium Credit’s Chief Operations and People Officer, comments:  “Premium Credit is growing quickly, we are currently providing more than £4.5B net advances a year. This wouldn’t be possible without the best people all working towards the same purpose and focused on making a difference. Mark will help us to deliver the high operational standards we always look to achieve.” HDO GLOBAL SPECIALTY Finn Christoffersen took over the management of the branches of HDI Global and HDI Global Specialty in Denmark recently. The current Managing Director Rasmus Jorgensen has left the company to pursue new professional opportunities outside the HDI Group. Finn Christoffersen has more than three decades of experience in the industry. Prior to joining HDI Global, he held senior positions at Marsh, Willis, Chubb, XL and Swiss Re Corporate Solutions. He joined HDI Global as Head of Sales and Business Development in June 2021. His appointment as Managing Director is subject to approval by the responsible regulatory authorities. CANOPIUS   Canopius Group , a leading global specialty (re)insurer, has announced the launch of its aviation reinsurance business with the appointment of Andrew Hartley as Head of Aviation Treaty, London. Andrew is an industry veteran and brings over four decades to his new role. He joins from Axis Capital Ltd, where he served as Head of Aviation. Prior to this, he was Divisional Director for Aviation at Novae Group for 17 years and Deputy Underwriter at Kingsmead Underwriting Agency. Andrew has also held aviation broking roles at Nicholson Chamberlain Colls and CT Bowring & Co. The new aviation reinsurance business will initially write non proportional aviation reinsurance with the ambition to quickly establish it as a lead market. Alois Rouffiac, UK Chief Underwriting Officer and Active Underwriter, said: “Andrew is a recognised leader in the aviation reinsurance market. He brings exceptional experience and is the ideal candidate to launch our new aviation treaty class to complement our reinsurance offering. This market has experienced a number of difficult years and is primed for new entrants which bring additional capacity and expertise.” HYMANS ROBERTSON Hymans Robertson, the leading financial services consultancy, announces several new appointments to its Property & Casualty (P&C) team – part of the firm’s Insurance & Financial Services (IFS) practice. The team’s expansion is part of the consultancy’s move to broaden its support for P&C clients. Gaynore Moss, Head of Lloyds and London Market – P&C, recently joined the firm from Canopius, where she has held the role of Chief Risk Officer and Chief Actuary.Gaynore is a qualified actuary with thirty years’ non-life experience. Gaynore’s key areas of expertise include risk management, business planning, capital, reinsurance review, M&A and reserving and design of management information to support strategic business decisions. In her new role she will focus on using her breadth of experience to support on all key actuarial and risk areas for Lloyd’s and London Market firms, as well as providing wider support for the team. Natanya Taylor, Head of Retail Business – P&C, has worked at some of the UK’s largest retail insurers including Direct Line Group and AXA, and most recently at the consultancy BDO. She is a qualified actuary with nearly fifteen years’ general insurance experience and in her new role she will use her expertise in pricing and underwriting, reserving, capital reporting and enterprise risk management to support clients. Siddhant Chopra, Consultant – P&C, who has recently qualified as an actuary, will focus on leading reserving projects across the London Market and Retail lines of business, as well as supporting the enhancement of existing processes across the actuarial function. Having joined from Hiscox, he has 5 years of general insurance experience in both industry and consulting roles. Dharshini Navaratnam, Associate Consultant – P&C,joins from Cigna and has more than 5 years’ experience working in pricing and quantitative risk management. Day-to-day, Dharshini, will focus on work including pricing, capital management, risk and investment in the P&C team. GLIA Glia, the customer interaction leader unifying  Digital Customer Service  (DCS), phone and automated self-service on a single platform, continues to grow its leadership team, appointing Lisa Paccione as the Executive Vice President of Sales. She brings decades of financial services and mobile technology expertise as well as extensive global sales experience. In this role, Paccione will scale the sales organization to expand into new markets and geographies. “In addition to Glia’s game-changing customer interaction technology, enviable customer base and highly talented team worldwide, I’ve been impressed by its strong culture of continuous improvement, led by Glia’s core values of collaboration, challenge, master and perseverance,” said Paccione. “This is fueling exciting new innovation for our future and driving incredible opportunities. I’m thrilled to join the Glia team to help us scale globally and expand into new markets.” FUW INSURANCE SERVICES A new Account Executive has been appointed by FUW Insurance Services for the Carmarthen West area. Dafydd Saer, who has 20 years insurance experience with varied positions in Agriculture and Commercial insurance, grew up in Nebo, Llanpumsaint and attended the village primary school and then Bro Myrddin Comprehensive School. He fully engaged in rural life by joining his local YFC, which helped develop his confidence and people skills.