AXIS Re adds Leahey as catastrophe underwriting deputy head

AXIS Re, the reinsurance division of AXIS Capital Holdings, will benefit from new hire Michael Leahey, who joins as Vice President and Deputy Head of Catastrophe Underwriting for Europe, Middle East and North Africa (MENA), and Israel.

Leahey, who joins AXIS Re from XL Catlin, has almost ten years of experience in underwriting property reinsurance, including catastrophe modeling and also the analysis of insurance-linked securities (ILS).

That last area of expertise could be useful for AXIS Re, as the AXIS Re Ventures third-party capital and ILS management unit sits within the division and draws on underwriting expertise from the reinsurers pool of expertise.

Leahey will underwrite property catastrophe reinsurance business in the Europe, Middle East and North Africa (MENA), and Israel regions, and work to help expand the coordination between AXIS Re’s European Underwriting and Catastrophe modeling teams.

Andrew Bisset, Executive Vice President, AXIS Re, commented on the hiring of Leahey; “Michael’s appointment is an important step as we continue to enhance the services and expertise we provide our clients in the Property Cat treaty reinsurance space. He brings extensive experience in Property Cat underwriting, portfolio analysis and pricing, all of which will enable AXIS Re to further deliver upon our promise of providing robust and agile solutions that help our clients effectively manage their risks.”

Leahey was most recently with XL Catlin as a Senior Property Underwriter and Market Manager for the Nordics region and Senior Property Underwriter for the DACH region. He began his reinsurance career at PartnerRe, working in property catastrophe underwriting roles. Before that, he was an environmental geologist and engineer in Zurich.

Leahey will be based in Zurich for AXIS Re and report to directly to Bisset.

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