Aon Securities hires Merion Square’s Richard Pennay

Aon Securities, the insurance-linked securities (ILS), catastrophe bond and capital markets of the insurance and reinsurance broker, has announced the hiring of Richard Pennay as Head of ILS, who most recently worked at ILS investment fund manager Merion Square Capital LLC.

Richard Pennay is an insurance-linked securities (ILS) market veteran, having worked at Swiss Re Capital Markets for almost eight years.

In that role he worked on catastrophe bond and ILS structuring and bookrunning, but then left the firm to co-found Rewire Securities LLC, where he held the roles of Managing Partner and President.

Rewire then partnered with alternative investments specialist Vida Capital to launch Merion Square Capital LLC as a new insurance-linked securities (ILS) fund manager in late 2018.

Pennay was a co-founder and served as Managing Partner and President of Merion Square.

He joins Aon in New York as its new Head of Insurance-Linked Securities (ILS) and will report to Paul Schultz, Chief Executive Officer of Aon Securities.

In his role at Aon Securities, Pennay will work on strategies to grow the ILS book of business, building on a record year of catastrophe bond issuance for the sector in 2021.

He will also be tasked with using his extensive sector experience to further strengthen the team.

“There is a huge opportunity to further drive ILS sector growth with the momentum we have seen in 2021, by bringing alternative capital solutions to a wider range of sponsors and investors,” Schultz said. “Richard’s career experience, gained both at mature firms and in establishing his own operations, will complement our existing team. His insights and skills will also benefit our clients as we look to expand our offering into more areas of client need, helping them to reduce volatility, access capital and grow their businesses.”