Paul Gregory to take on interim CEO role at Lancashire Capital Management

Paul Gregory, the Group Chief Underwriting Officer of specialty insurance and reinsurance group Lancashire Holdings, is stepping in to become interim CEO of the firms Lancashire Capital Management unit, as Darren Redhead will depart the firm in 2022.

It recently came to light that Darren Redhead, the CEO of the firms Lancashire Capital Management (LCM) unit, its third-party capital collateralised reinsurance underwriting arm, is to depart, with Howden the destination.

But, reflecting the core importance of the Lancashire Capital Management (LCM) unit and its strategy to the broader group, one of the senior leaders of the company is set to take on the role for a transition period, until a new CEO can be hired.

Speaking today during Lancashire’s third-quarter earnings call, Group CUO Paul Gregory confirmed that, “Yes, Darren will be leaving the business in 2022.”

He continued to say that, “Our strategy for LCM remains the same, it is a fundamental part of the group and the group strategy.

“I’m stepping in on an interim basis as the CEO of LCM and will be supported by the existing LCM team and the broader Lancashire reinsurance team, which has also always supported LCM.”

Gregory further said that, “The focus at the moment obviously is, we’re in the middle of fundraising for the 1st of January renewals.”

But looking further ahead Gregory acknowledged that a new CEO will be sought for the LCM unit, with the medium term plan being to hire in a replacement for Redhead on a permanent basis.

Lancashire Capital Management (LCM) underwrites a relatively unique and specialised collateralised and multi-class reinsurance product, that can combine catastrophe and certain specialty covers and is used as retrocession by some major reinsurers.

During the call, Lancashire CEO Alex Maloney said that retrocession could be an opportunity area for the company and that will also apply to the LCM team and its core product offering.

Hence the ongoing capital raise that the new LCM interim CEO Gregory mentioned may present a chance for the unit to add additional capital.

Which would allow it to take advantage of the opportunity to fill some gaps in the retrocession market, especially with a number of retro specialists now finding themselves with significant amounts of losses or trapped capital going towards end-of-year.