JLT Re hires new MD for Asia Pacific retrocessional reinsurance

International reinsurance broker JLT Re has announced the appointment of Stephen Punch as its Managing Director (MD) for Asia Pacific for Regional Clients and Retrocession, effective from early 2017.

JLT Re, the reinsurance division of global brokerage firm JLT, has hired Punch from fellow reinsurance broker Willis Re, where he held an Executive Director role. Punch will assume his new role with JLT Re in early 2017, and brings more than 20 years of insurance and reinsurance industry experience to the role.

As well as Willis Re, Punch has held key positions at Aon and Aon Benfield and also served as an underwriter at Gen Re, says JLT Re in a recent announcement on the appointment.

Stuart Beatty, Chief Executive Officer (CEO), JLT Re Asia Pacific, said; “We are delighted Stephen will be joining the team, Stephen has an excellent market reputation and is really enthusiastic about joining our growing capability in Asia Pacific. His knowledge of Treaty, Retrocession and Credit and Financial risks working with multinational clients is a perfect fit for JLT Re.”

Typically, the retrocessional reinsurance market and options for cedents include alternative capital via instruments such as collateralized reinsurance, industry loss warranties (ILWs) and sidecar-structured vehicles, as examples.

Insurance-linked securities (ILS) funds/managers and the investor base of the capital markets supply a substantial portion of global retrocession capacity, and the Asia Pacific region is an area where ILS has a desire to expand, and ultimately have a more meaningful influence in the marketplace.

This is particularly true at a time when rates in the more competitive and more easily accessible business lines, such as the U.S. property catastrophe space, continue to come under increasing pressure from re/insurance market headwinds.

The increased sophistication and maturity of both the ILS investor base and the range of ILS funds and managers has seen the market look to enter new regions and markets in a meaningful way, whether this be via retrocession or other forms of insurance and reinsurance-linked business.

JLT Re explains that Punch will complete contractual obligations with Willis Re before joining the firm’s Sydney, Australia office in early 2017, although an exact date was not provided.

“Stephen joins a growing number of key hires we have made recently and it is testament to our people and our culture that we can attract such a high calibre of individual. I look forward to welcoming Stephen to JLT Re,” continued Beatty.