Quantedge adds two to insurance-linked investments team

Singapore based institutional asset manager Quantedge has added two new hires to its insurance-linked investments team, as the manager looks to build on its insurance-linked securities (ILS) analytical capabilities.

Quantedge Capital Pte Ltd. has been investing in ILS, including catastrophe bonds and other collateralized reinsurance instruments since 2011, building its ILS portfolio assets to $300m in size.

The ILS portfolio is under management within the firm’s flagship Quantedge Global Fund, a multi-asset class open-ended master feeder fund, and ILS has been steadily growing alongside the fund’s total size.

The two new hires are both from the analytical side of the reinsurance industry and will bring risk modelling and portfolio analysis expertise to the Quantedge ILS team.

Ryan Kimber was a senior property catastrophe actuarial analyst from reinsurer TransRe, before which he was an assistant vice president at reinsurance broker Guy Carpenter.

Daniel Nachajon most recently worked as a catastrophe bond analyst and risk modelling expert with asset manager AQR, prior to which he worked for risk modeller RMS.

Both of the new hires will predominantly be focused on the modelling of ILS investment opportunities, along with developing portfolio analytics for the ILS assets under management.

They will work with Humberto Valdes and Thomas Cordier in the Quantedge New York office, assisting with ILS research and building out the portfolio of reinsurance risk.

The now four full-time employees of the ILS team at Quantedge will look to manage the portfolio and build it in-line with the growth of the Quantedge Global Fund.

Quantedge is an asset manager that gained an appreciation for ILS and cat bonds as a complementary source of low-correlated returns for a multi-asset class investment strategy. The growth of the ILS team at Quantedge demonstrates the importance the asset manager places on ILS within its Quantedge Global Fund strategy.