Oxygen Re Enters Market

Oxygen Insurance Brokers, the Lloyd’s accredited broking operation of the London market insurance intermediary, announced the launch of Oxygen Re, to provide “all types of non-marine, marine and aviation treaty reinsurance and retrocession covers on a traditional or structured basis.”

“Oxygen Re is developing innovative, transparent products with a wide range of specialist reinsurers, including new carriers and institutional capital investors entering the market following the catastrophe losses of 2004 and 2005,” said the bulletin. It plans to “introduce third party capital [presumably sidecar types of investment vehicles] in various forms to support underwriting enterprises through investment or reinsurance and manage the application of analytical and actuarial practices for transactions.

“Oxygen Re also extensively monitors the availability of capacity and market pricing for a wide range of Industry Loss Warranty covers.”

The new venture will have offices in London and New York. The bulletin also gave details on the team of “experienced reinsurance professionals,” who will mange the new venture as follows:
— Ron Collins has over 24 combined years of reinsurance underwriting and broking experience, most recently within the Global Specialty Division of Benfield, with a focus on the development of various capital market opportunities
— Kevin Conlan has over 25 years of broking experience with the Benfield Group and most recently with Gallagher Re, including a strong focus on pillared-risk products for European and Lloyd’s customers
— Tony Belisle, an actuary with over 22 years of insurance experience, has developed collateralized reinsurance products for several investment firms including Citadel Investment Group and Deutsche Bank

“When their present contracts expire, Ron, Kevin and Tony will be joining Oliver Moon, Colin Garner and Stephen Whittingham, who have already joined from Gallagher Re, each of whom benefit from more than 20 years’ experience transacting a wide variety of reinsurance products,” the announcement explained.

Commenting on the launch of Oxygen Re, Nigel Barton, CEO of Oxygen Holdings, stated: “We have focused on this sector as we feel there is a seismic shift taking place in the reinsurance sector at the moment. Talented specialists, that have the confidence of their markets, are able to deliver very effective products for clients in today’s market. Such individuals thrive when working from a platform that is both modern and independent. The formation of Oxygen Re is another exciting step for this business. Our aim is to build a progressive and enterprising alternative in the reinsurance market.”

Topics New Markets Reinsurance