Kräuchi of ILS asset manager ILS Advisers named CEO of HSZ Group

Stefan Kräuchi the founder of Hong Kong based insurance-linked securities specialist asset manager and consultancy ILS Advisers has been named CEO of the parent company independent investment manager HSZ Group.

ILS Advisers was launched in early 2012 as the first Asia based ILS specialist investment consultancy, as a business unit within the HSZ Group with the sole purpose of developing the Asian market for insurance-linked investments. HSZ Group said at the time that it saw ILS as a ‘unique asset class due to its attractive performance, stable returns, low correlation to other asset classes and built-in inflation protection’.

Since then ILS Advisers has launched its very popular Eurekahedge ILS Advisers Index, which tracks the performance of a group of ILS funds and most recently it launched its first investment fund strategy, with a fund-of-funds strategy named ILS Diversified Ltd. which it recently reported had outperformed the wider marker in its first month.

HSZ Group, which also operates a number of other asset class strategies clearly sees ILS as a core part of its future with Kräuchi now taking on the role of CEO for the organisation.

Hansrudolf Schmid, Chairman of HSZ Group, said; “I am pleased to welcome Stefan K. Kräuchi as partner and shareholder of HSZ Group. While I remain active Chairman, Stefan has assumed the position of CEO of our company.”

Kräuchi now also takes on some responsibility for HSZ Group’s other strategy, HSZ China Fund which invests in Chinese equities, including being jointly responsible for the funds performance alongside Schmid.

ILS looks set to continue to be a core focus for HSZ and with the ILS Diversified fund now available, with a fund-of-funds approach perhaps being more attractive to some more conservative Asian investors, the firm could see growth of its strategy and ILS increasing in importance for it.