SI Re hires Schulz as ILS Analyst. CUO Salzmann now departed

Signal Iduna Reinsurance Ltd. (SI Re), the Swiss based reinsurance company that also invests in insurance-linked securities (ILS) for their diversification and return effects, has strengthened its capabilities with the hire of Sebastian Schulz as an ILS Analyst.

Schulz joined SI Re this month for his first career move into a pure insurance-linked securities focused role.

He has a background in statistical modelling, numerical simulations, and the analysis of complex datasets and gained a PhD from the Department of Astrophysics at the University of Zurich.

Previously, in his first reinsurance role, Schulz spent a number of months last year working at MS Reinsurance in Zurich, assisting the catastrophe modelling team through the renewal, working on analysing and preparing client exposure data, performing loss modelling and preparing analyses for the reinsurance underwriting team.

Now, at SI Re, Schulz will work on the quantitative analysis of reinsurance opportunities with a focus on the insurance-linked securities business at the reinsurer.

Recall that, SI Re has been investing into catastrophe bonds and insurance-linked securities since 2010. In 2025, the reinsurer grew its ILS portfolio from US $89.5 million at year-end 2024 to US $111.5 million.

We’ve learned that there has also been a high-profile departure from the company, as Dr. Robert Salzmann, Chief Underwriting Officer, SI Re, left the firm after the January renewals were completed.

Salzmann, an expert in retrocession and ILS, had joined SI Re back in 2014 as an actuary. He then became the Head of Pricing and ILS Analytics at the reinsurance company in 2017, before taking on management of the SI Re ILS Markets & Retrocession team in 2019 and became Head of Underwriting in 2023.

In 2024, Salzmann was promoted to Chief Underwriting Officer and took a seat on the Executive Board of SI Re.

We understand Salzmann is now focusing his time on artificial intelligence and the implications of the technology for the reinsurance and risk transfer industry.