New Guy Carpenter Asia Pacific retro team to expand ILS in region

Reinsurance broker Guy Carpenter has launched a new unit focused on offering a dedicated retrocession service to its clients in the Asia Pacific region. The GC Asia Pacific Retro unit will also look to provide a capital agnostic approach and hopes to help expand ILS in the region.

Launched this morning the GC Asia Pacific Retro team will offer a full range of retrocessional reinsurance property solutions, closely linked to Guy Carpenter’s existing marine and aviation Global Specialties units in the region.

The unit will offer a full suite of services to help clients access retrocessional coverage, including supporting their capital raising needs, while helping to make insurance-linked securities (ILS) and collateralized retrocession more accessible to Asia Pacific reinsurers.

James Nash, President of Guy Carpenter’s International Division, commented; “We see this as an opportune time to be opening the doors of our new unit. The remit of the team is expansive and spans retrocession solutions, capital raising and product development to meet the broad-spectrum needs of our clients.

“Further, our aim is to play a central role in facilitating the growth of the retrocession market in the region, while also expanding the potential afforded by ILS capacity.”

Simon Hughes, Managing Director and Ben Dunnett, Senior Vice President, will head up the new retro unit for Guy Carpenter.

Hughes has worked in Guy Carpenter’s Asia Pacific division for more than 21 years and will be based from the brokers London office. Dunnett has been in Guy Carpenter’s Non-Marine Specialty team for 10 years and is based in Singapore. Hughes will also continue as Guy Carpenter’s senior broker for Australasian business. Both report to James Boyce, Head of Non-Marine Specialty and James Nash, President of the brokers International Division.

Kevin Fisher, CEO, Global Specialties, also commented on the launch; “GC Asia Pacific Retro provides us with the perfect platform to deliver our specialist retrocession expertise direct to our clients in the region, while also acting as a conduit to the full range of Guy Carpenter’s extensive services.

“By establishing a dedicated team ‘on-site’, we are able to precisely translate their risk exposures into the most effective and comprehensive solutions possible, while ensuring that these fit seamlessly alongside the other traditional reinsurance products that we provide.”

A focus on capital agnostic retrocession solutions in Asia Pacific will help ILS funds and collateralized retrocessionaires to gain greater access to clients in the region and so Guy Carpenter’s new unit could become a useful channel for expanding the ILS universe more deeply into the Asia Pacific retro space, as regional reinsurance players need for coverage grows.

Just a fortnight until our ILS Asia 2017 conference, get your ticket now.