CATCo hires ex-AQR underwriters Vaughan and Montgomerie

Specialist reinsurance and retrocessional insurance-linked securities manager CATCo Investment Management is strengthening its underwriting team with the hire of two experienced underwriters both with previous experience from AQR.

CATCo announced this morning that it has appointed Charles Vaughan and Richard Montgomerie as Directors of Underwriting. Both based in London, Vaughan and Montgomerie will join CATCo’s underwriting team on the 1st March 2014 .

The pair, who both bring extensive reinsurance underwriting experience to CATCo as well as a wealth of market contacts, will report to Anthony Belisle, Chief Executive Officer, and Jason Bibb, Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer.

CATCo said that the appointments will play a key role as the reinsurance linked investment manager seeks to broaden its scope and further diversify its current investment strategies. That suggests that the firm will be looking to broaden its product range in the future, something that is to be expected as CATCo seeks to continue its recent strong growth.

Vaughan and Montgomerie have a wealth of experience in the reinsurance and retrocession market and have developed business globally as well as having a deep understanding of the London reinsurance market. With 37 and 30 years of experience respectively they are expected to bring considerable value to CATCo’s existing underwriting operations.

Recent experience for Vaughan and Montgomerie has been in collateralized reinsurance and retrocession underwriting with ILS and asset manager, including being key members of the reinsurance teams for asset managers AQR Capital Management and Magnetar Capital.

Commenting on the hires Tony Belisle, Chief Executive Officer of CATCo Investment Management Ltd., said; “CATCo’s priority is to bring solutions to our reinsurance counterparties while at the same time delivering attractive returns to our investors. To deliver on these objectives requires having the strongest underwriting capability available in well diversified strategies.”

“With their depth of knowledge, Charles and Richard bring exceptional levels of expertise, as well as proven track records, which will combine seamlessly with CATCo’s existing underwriting team. These appointments demonstrate our continued commitment to hiring high quality people who can help enhance our reinsurance product and investment fund offering.”

Charles Vaughan and Richard Montgomerie, Directors of Underwriting, commented jointly; “In a short space of time CATCo has become an established manager in the reinsurance space with highly professional people and a strong brand. The senior management has built a very impressive team and product range in a relatively short period of time. The company has the right leadership with a strong vision to meet the changing needs of the market, so we are very excited to be joining the firm at this time and we look forward to working with our new colleagues in the months and years ahead.”