QBE Insurance Group has announced that it is combining its worldwide reinsurance operations under a single management team and unified brand, QBE Re.
QBE Re will comprise the current statutory businesses of Syndicate 566, QBE Re (Europe), Secura NV and QBE Re (Americas). The combined business will have a gross written premium of over $1.5bn, across a well-balanced portfolio of property, casualty and specialty lines.
The business will be led by QBE’s current European CUO for reinsurance, Jonathan Parry, who will become Chief Underwriting Officer of QBE Re. Jonathan will be supported by a global leadership team including:
-Paul Horgan (London)–head of Property
-Chris Larson (New York)–head of Casualty and US Multiline
-Peter Wilkins (London)–Head of Specialty Lines
-Luc Boghe (Brussels)– Head of European Multiline.
QBE plans to maintain its statutory business reporting and will supplement its key divisional strengths with the opportunities offered by the scale and diversification of a global business. The new model will allow QBE Re to offer its clients a consistent underwriting philosophy.
QBE Re will continue to differentiate through levels of service and the use of local expertise empowered to make local underwriting decisions.
The unified business will be backed by QBE Group’s A+ (S&P) and A (AM Best) financial ratings, and with specific QBE Re capital of more than $1.9bn, the move strengthens its flexibility to support a broader reinsurance risk appetite.
“This global approach allows us to create a platform where we can provide the best possible service to our clients worldwide,” said Parry. “Our business philosophies, market approach and appetite will be coordinated, which in turn will help ensure greater consistency across underwriting, pricing, risk management and reserving. I, and QBE Re’s leadership team, am excited by the opportunities offered by the new business model.”
“The establishment of QBE Re strongly underlines QBE’s commitment to the reinsurance market,” said John Neal, ceo, Global Underwriting Operations. “We believe our clients will welcome the move to unify our reinsurance businesses. By retaining our deep local underwriting expertise, and supplementing it with benefits provided by a global organisation–scale, consistency, flexibility, capacity and improved service.”
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