Barbican to manage Credit Suisse ILS team’s Arcus Syndicate 1856

Barbican Managing Agency Limited, part of Barbican Insurance Group, has now received full approval from the Lloyd’s Franchise Board to manage Arcus Syndicate 1856 (Arcus 1856), the £90 million Lloyd’s Syndicate launched by the Credit Suisse ILS team recently.

As we wrote in September, Arcus 1856 will be fully capitalised by the Credit Suisse ILS investment management team with £90m of capacity, sourced from their third-party investors to be put to work in the Lloyd’s insurance and reinsurance market.

Arcus 1856 is the second full Lloyd’s syndicate to be directly capitalised by an insurance or reinsurance linked investment manager, following Syndicate 2357 which is capitalised by funds under ILS specialist Nephila Capital’s management.

The new syndicate will begin writing business on the 1st January, putting its £90 million of capacity to work. Arcus 1856 is led by Credit Suisse’s former London-based ILS team, Rajiv Punja, as executive director, Nicky Payne, as active underwriter and Adrian Gfeller, as chief risk officer.

The syndicate will underwrite a diversified and balanced portfolio of business on an international basis, primarily focused on reinsurance lines including property reinsurance and specialty, including marine, energy, cyber and space and aviation.

David Reeves, Group CEO of Barbican, commented on the announcement; “We are delighted to continue our relationship with the Credit Suisse ILS team with the launch of Arcus Syndicate 1856. This is a perfect example of how the capital markets and the insurance industry can work together effectively for the benefit of both sectors, and we look forward to playing a proactive role in the ongoing success of the new syndicate through our managing agency.”

The Credit Suisse ILS team has around $6.5 billion of third-party investor ILS assets under management and is currently the second largest manager in the insurance-linked investment market, based on AuM.

Credit Suisse has already been working with Barbican, to access business from the Lloyd’s underwriting market, with a quota share through special purpose syndicate SPS 6120. The full syndicate Arcus 1856 cements the relationship and demonstrates the importance of the Lloyd’s market in insurance and reinsurance, as ILS managers increasingly seek to gain access to it.