Brit to make Sussex Capital into a “leading ILS manager”, adds two new hires

Specialty insurance and reinsurance player Brit Ltd. has set out its stall with respect to its ambitions in the collateralised reinsurance and insurance-linked securities (ILS) space, saying that it aims to turn its Sussex Capital unit into a “leading ILS manager.”

Brit announced two senior appointments to Sussex Capital today, with Richard Slater (previously at XL Catlin) joining as Underwriting Director and Adam Champion (joining from MS Amlin) as Senior Vice President, Portfolio Manager and Operations.

Brit’s Sussex Capital unit launched at the beginning of the year and underwriters direct collateralised property catastrophe reinsurance and also provides collateralised reinsurance to Brit’s Property Treaty portfolio, through its Sussex Re reinsurance vehicle.

The Sussex unit features an open-ended ILS fund that will underwrite its collateralised reinsurance business through special purpose insurance vehicle Sussex Re and Brit raised $102.5 million from investors for Sussex’s 2018 underwriting year, which the firm called at the time “the next step in Brit’s strategy to build long-term relationships with the capital markets.”

Matthew Wilson, CEO of Brit, explained the firms ambitions in the third-party capital space, “We have a clear ambition to develop Sussex Capital into a leading ILS manager, with both top quartile performance and relevant scale. The appointments of Richard and Adam are another step towards this objective, as both are highly regarded in the market and have the relationships and technical expertise to support our growth strategy for Sussex Capital.”

Slater joins Sussex Capital from his most recent role at XL Catlin in Bermuda , as Head of International Property Reinsurance and Global Property Retro. Before that he held senior Property Treaty Reinsurance roles at Montpelier Re and ACE Tempest Re.

Slater will manage Property Treaty underwriting and building on and strengthening relationships with brokers and investors, as well as underwriting for Brit Syndicate 2987 and 2988 to broaden the Brit client offering and find new opportunities for Sussex Capital to grow.

Champion has significant risk modelling and analytical experience, most recently gained at MS Amlin as Head of Analytics. Before that he was Head of Catastrophe Modelling for Amlin Bermuda, prior to which he held various reinsurance and capital markets roles in both North American and Bermudian markets.

Champion will work in portfolio management and operational performance at Sussex Capital, as well as supporting Brit’s wider Property Treaty and catastrophe modelling capability development, working alongside underwriting and exposure management teams in Bermuda, London and the US.

Mark Allan, CFO, Brit, added, “Sussex Capital leverages Brit’s track record, technical underwriting capabilities and access to high quality business to enable investors to participate in the ILS space via an innovative product offering. More broadly, Sussex Capital forms part of Brit’s strategy to build long term relationships with the capital markets, and these appointments further strengthen Brit’s reinsurance capability and access to diversified sources of capital to support property catastrophe and other insurance risk.”