Contents

  1. Cover
  2. Editors Desk: Delegated Underwriting Authority Enterprises and AI
  3. Contents: DUAE Market and Crop Insurers
  4. Bests Calendar and Executive Changes
  5. Executive Changes: Appointments and Leadership Moves
  6. Web Traffic and Masthead Forestay
  7. At Large: Data and Analytics and Accident Risk
  8. Risk Adviser: Pension Risk Transfer and Annuities
  9. Issues and Answers: Excess and Surplus Lines
  10. Issues and Answers: Artificial Intelligence and Surplus Lines
  11. Issues and Answers: Data Analytics and Surplus Lines
  12. Asset Management: Private Equity and Life and Annuity
  13. Life Insurance: CEO Interview and End Customer
  14. Life Insurance and Payout Ratios Decline
  15. Life Insurance: Premium Distribution and Commissions
  16. Private Equity and DUAE Market and Fronting Carriers
  17. Managing General Agents and Performance Assessments
  18. Global Markets and DUAE Investors
  19. Digital MGA Lab and Small Business
  20. MGA Lab and Growth Momentum and Market Shifts
  21. MGA Model and Diversification and DUAE News
  22. Cyber MGU Acquisition and European Marine Market
  23. Political Violence and Terrorism Risk and Crop Insurance
  24. Largest Multiperil and Largest Private Crop Insurers Rankings
  25. India Insurers: Market Expansion and Bests Rankings
  26. Surety Insurers: Growth and Profitability and Public Works
  27. Surety Insurers and IFRS 17 Frequently Asked Questions
  28. What AM Best Says and Financial Reporting
  29. What AM Best Says and Underwriting Loss Control
  30. Underwriting Loss Control and Insurance Media
  31. Insurance Media: Specialty Auto and Marketing
  32. State Rate Filings: Casualty Loss Trends and Social Inflation
  33. Commercial General Liability Rate Filings and Book Store
  34. Trending Bests News and Trending Bests Research
  35. AM Best Webinars and AM Best TV and Audio
  36. Credit Rating Actions: Americas Life Health and Americas Property Casualty
  37. Credit Rating Actions: Holding Companies and Financial Strength Ratings
  38. Credit Rating Actions and Issuer Credit Ratings
  39. Corporate Changes and Media Program Publisher
  40. Insurance Professional Resources: Construction Defect Costs
  41. Industry Updates and Catastrophe Bond IssuedIndustry Updates and Catastrophe Bond Issued
  42. Last Word and Masthead Backstay
  43. Back Cover
 
40-41 40-41
“All of our growth comes from
diversification and we’ve identified with
our carrier partners specific areas in
specialty and some territorial plays on
the commercial side.”
Ian Anson
Rokstone Group
38
For example, Potter said in direct and facultative,
with one benign year, “everyone’s going bananas. It
will be a race to the bottom, unfortunately, if people
aren’t careful.”
Rates at the moment are adequate “but before
you know it everyone’s climbing back in and
creating competition and flooding the market,” he
said.
Potter noted Lloyd’s has increased its stamp as
well, which created further competition, “whereas a
few years ago they were retracting.”
There have been some regulatory challenges for
the industry in the United Kingdom over the past
year that have opened an opportunity for Rokstone,
he said.
Rokstone has strong growth targets over the next
five years and is roughly tripling its gross premiums,
said Anson.
“All of our growth comes from diversification and
we’ve identified with our carrier partners specific
areas in specialty and some territorial plays on the
commercial side,” he said. “We think there’s enough
market for us to enter some niche areas in the next
24 months.”
Potter noted Rokstone’s marine and aviation
activities have not been affected by the Ukraine
conflict. The aviation business is built around a light
aircraft proposition, a profitable end of the market
rather than heavy airlines, he said.
“The marine play is more of a wholesale
distribution project in North America,” he added.
“In aviation, we’re bringing technology to a
market that is ripe for disruption or efficiency
gains,” Anson added. “It’s similar with the [small
and medium enterprise] end of the U.S. marine
play.”
Anson added Rokstone is working on a niche
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environmental, social and governance play with one
of its carrier partners.
“Despite a lot of capital flooding into climate
solutions, the niche we’re entering is still relatively
untapped,” he said.
Along with its growth, at the end of 2023
Rokstone split the business into three distinct
segments: specialty, commercial and consumer.
Specialty brings in underwriters with deep skills.
In the commercial business, the MGA can add value
in technology. Consumer includes areas such as
warranty and affinity.
Potter said Rokstone has built up a risk and
compliance structure in the United States as it has
been doing in Europe, the Middle East and Asia.
“We make sure we’ve got all of our hubs covered,”
he said.
Anson said there have been a number of startup
MGAs, hybrids and fronting carriers with MGA
bolt-ons that have sprung up and tried to replicate
parts of Rokstone’s model.
“Amid top talent a number of people are
exhausted with life in large carriers in a highly
corporate environment and overbearing third-
party investors,” he said. “There are lots of startups
forming especially in the hybrid space.”
For a carrier looking for growth, there are a
number of reasons to back MGAs, particularly at
this point in the market cycle, Anson said. There is a
general move of talent away from large balance sheet
businesses to MGAs, he said.
For an investor, the lack of balance sheet risk is
attractive.
“The MGA market is growing more quickly
than the basic syndicates and the company model,”
Anson said. “I think you will keep getting talent in
specialty classes moving into MGAs.”
DUAEs: Rokstone Group
ON LAKE MICHIGAN
Chicago is the third largest city in the United States and is home to many global businesses,
including Ryan Specialty.
Ryan Specialty Forms Financial Lines and
Renewables MGUs, Makes Acquisition
DUAE news roundup: Travelers closes on its cyber MGU acquisition and
Canadian MGA First Acre Insurance launches with streamlined crop cover.
R
yan Specialty said it
recently formed an
international financial
lines managing general
underwriter by unifying
the operations of several
existing MGUs. It also
expanded its reach in the
renewable energy business
through an MGU called
PERSe International.
Ryan Specialty separately
announced an agreement to acquire managing
general underwriting platform Castel Underwriting
Agencies Ltd. from Arch Financial Holdings (UK)
Ltd., expanding Ryan’s MGU capabilities in London
and Europe, for undisclosed terms.
The newly formed Ryan Financial Lines combines
the operations of EmergIn Risk, StartPoint Executive
Risks, Ryan Specialty Nordics, Capital Bay and
professional liability portfolios within Ryan Specialty
National Programs, the group said.
All of these MGUs and programs are part of Ryan
Specialty Underwriting Managers within Chicago-
based Ryan Specialty. The group said the formation
of Ryan Financial Lines and
the combination of all the
companies will roll through
the first half of 2024 as the
alignment of operations and
capital is completed.
“Bringing together
the financial lines and
professional liability talent
at RSUM will provide
greater synergies and
efficiencies to further
enhance the solutions and services for our clients
and carrier partners,” said Miles Wuller, president
and chief executive officer, Ryan Specialty Managing
Underwriters, in a statement. “This unified approach
will bring together our expanding network of
expertise of more than 70 teammates based across a
number of key territories.”
EmergIn Risk CEO Jamie Bouloux, who joined
Ryan Specialty in 2015 to launch the specialist cyber
MGU, was appointed CEO of Ryan Financial Lines.
His responsibilities include the unification of the
MGUs and programs while leading and developing
the strategy for the organization.
Miles Wuller
Patrick G. Ryan
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39
DUAEs: Roundup
“The unified entity presents a comprehensive
bench of product experts and underwriters who will
work collaboratively to develop a more robust and
localized underwriting and claims operation to better
service our clients,” Bouloux said. “Together, we are
very much looking forward to further enhancing our
offerings in the financial lines space, working to build
a global platform that continues to attract talent and
provide strong returns to our trading partners.”
As Bouloux transitions into his new role, he will
hand the leadership of cyber to George Paraskeva,
president of EmergIn Risk.
Ryan Financial Lines has operations in the United
States, Europe, Latin America and London, the group
said. It will provide products and services for the small
to middle-market enterprise and large insured market,
including cyber, technology errors and omissions,
miscellaneous E&O, and media liability.
The entity also will provide executive
management liability solutions, financial institutions
executive and professional liability solutions,
financial lines facultative reinsurance solutions, and
40
Lloyd’s Coverholder Carbon Underwriting
Eyes 2024 Premium Expansion
C
arbon Underwriting Ltd. is aiming for significant premium
growth in 2024 as the Lloyd’s underwriter is expected to
exceed 2023’s growth target.
Syndicate 4747’s gross written premiums will increase to
an expected £204 million ($258.6 million) in 2024 from £150
million in 2023 across a growing number of new product lines
and geographies, Carbon said in a statement.
The London-based underwriter said it will continue
to develop and build its data-driven Lloyd’s property
consortium through its Graphene underwriting platform.
The company said it has formal approval from Lloyd’s for
a significant increase in its
stamp capacity for 2024.
Carbon is a specialist,
independent, managing
general underwriter that
writes for a mix of third-
party capacity and its
own Syndicate CBN 4747,
according to the company.
It writes business across
property, casualty and
financial lines with a focus
on the coverholder market.
Carbon said its staff has grown from four in 2020 to 51 in
late 2023. That number is likely to increase this year as the
business expands, the company said.
The Lloyd’s approval of Carbon’s 2024 business plan “sets
the stage for an exciting next phase,” Chief Executive Officer
Nick Tye said.
Carbon is implementing in-house technology for the
delegated underwriting market, Tye said. Carbon Syndicate
4747 operates as an underwriting and market lead with a
focus on coverholder partnerships, Lloyd’s said.
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—David Pilla
Travelers Closes on $435 Million Cyber
MGU Corvus Acquisition
T
ravelers Cos. Inc. recently completed its $435 million
acquisition of cyber insurance managing general
underwriter Corvus Insurance Holdings Inc.
The acquisition was funded through internal
resources, the property/casualty group said in a
statement.
“We have forged
a strong strategic
partnership with
the talented team
at Corvus over
the past year, and
we are pleased to
officially welcome
them to the
Travelers family,”
Alan Schnitzer, chairman and chief executive officer,
Travelers, said in a statement. “With a proven platform
and deep cyber underwriting and risk management
expertise, Corvus brings to Travelers important cyber
capabilities.”
Corvus has developed a suite of integrated cyber
sales, underwriting, service and support capabilities,
Travelers said. Through its platform, Corvus identifies
vulnerabilities throughout the policy period to reduce
customers’ exposure to cyber events. Its platform also
delivers distribution efficiencies to insurance agents
and brokers.
The deal with the insurtech will accelerate access
to “cutting-edge cyber capabilities that were on our
strategic road map, including sophisticated underwriting
algorithms, advanced cyber vulnerability scanning
and digital connectivity to customers and distribution
partners,” Schnitzer said in November 2023.
—David Pilla
DUAEs: Roundup
a multiline international claims operation.
In the Castel acquisition that is anticipated to
be closed in the first half of 2024, Ryan Specialty
said Castel’s MGUs have a diverse portfolio of
underwriting expertise, including transactional
liability, renewable energy, construction and
marine, among other specialty lines that generated
approximately £35 million ($44.6 million) of
operating revenue for the 12 months ended Nov.
30, 2023. The breadth of Castel’s offerings and its
geographic concentration in the United Kingdom
and Europe add significant capabilities to Ryan
Specialty’s MGU portfolio, the company said.
“Castel is a first-class organization with a
history of exceptional performance on all metrics,
including underwriting profit and growth,” Patrick
G. Ryan, chairman and chief executive officer, Ryan
Specialty, said in a statement. “Bringing Castel into
Ryan Specialty expands our U.K. and European
footprint in delegated authority, and the lines of
business underwritten by these MGUs are both
complementary and accretive to our firm.”
UK’s OneAdvent Launches MGA Criterion With
Focus on Recycling, Waste Management
S
pecialist managing general agent and broker services
platform OneAdvent recently said it launched Criterion
Ltd., an MGA to fill a need in the niche of the waste
management, recycling and mining sectors.
Criterion will initially operate in the United Kingdom, Australia
and the Republic of Ireland, and plans on expanding to the
United States and Canada in the near future, OneAdvent
said. The new company has created a digital trading platform
to produce a speedy and simple journey for customers and
will augment the executive team’s collective underwriting
experience with data analytics and modeling, it said.
MGA Alta Signa Enters European Marine
Market With New Division
A
lta Signa Europe B.V. recently said it launched a European
marine underwriting division, effectively broadening its
reach beyond financial, professional and cyber lines.
The unit is backed by Alta Signa’s panel of insurance
partners including Axeria IARD, SiriusPoint and Sompo
International, the European boutique managing general
agent said in a statement.
“The current market presents a clear opportunity for a
provider like Criterion to make its mark with a quality offering
backed by experts,” Tim Quayle, chief executive officer of
OneAdvent, said in a statement. “It’s an incredibly complex
class of business that requires a fresh approach.”
OneAdvent will support the MGA with the regulatory,
compliance and business oversight needed to successfully
launch Criterion in the United Kingdom, the statement said.
It’s backed by Australian managing general underwriter
Criterion Underwriting.
In 2021, OneAdvent’s European subsidiary was granted
Lloyd’s broker status. OneAdvent Europe became a
registered Lloyd’s broker as part of a growth strategy,
OneAdvent said in a statement at the time.
—Terrence Dopp
Most of the new marine division’s team is based in Italy, an
Alta Signa spokesperson said. The unit will write cargo, hull
and machinery, yacht and yards business.
The new unit is led by Francesco Dubbioso, head of
technical underwriting, marine. Based in Genoa, Italy,
Dubbioso joined Alta Signa in September 2023. With more
than 20 years of experience, he was most recently chief
executive officer of Mediterranea Underwriting.
“The European marine market is expected to present
niche growth opportunities in 2024 and beyond for
those MGAs who are agile enough to address the unique
challenges in this sector,” Dubbioso said in a statement. “In
an environment where differentiation and relevance are key,
I am extremely excited by the opportunities this presents for
nimble businesses such as the one we have now assembled
at Alta Signa.”
—David Pilla
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