People Moves: Canopius Taps AXA XL’s Houghton as Product Leader, Specialty; Swiss Re Promotes Camara to Head of P/C Re in Northern, Central, Eastern Europe

This edition of International People Moves details appointments at Canopius and Swiss Re.

A summary of these new hires follows here.

Canopius Taps AXA XL’s Houghton as Product Leader, Specialty

Canopius, the London-based global specialty and property and casualty re/insurer, announced it has appointed Mark Houghton to the newly created role of global product leader, Specialty.

Based in Singapore, he takes up the position in October and will oversee the governance, performance and standards of Canopius’ specialty underwriting lines across the business.

Houghton will also be responsible for product development and innovation as well as establishing Canopius’ risk appetite for specialty lines across the globe. He will report directly to Group Chief Underwriting Officer Sam Harrison.

With over 20 years’ experience in insurance and in wider financial services, Houghton joins Canopius from AXA XL, where he led the political risk team for over a decade before being appointed head of Specialty in Asia.

The announcement follows a series of significant hires this year for Canopius Group, with the appointment of Soon Keen Lee as CEO in APAC & MENA as well as Jesse DeCouto as chief underwriting officer and Tonia Morgan as chief financial officer of Canopius Reinsurance Ltd. It also welcomed Uwe Schoberth as head of US Distribution and Matthew Crane as head of UK Distribution at the start of the year.

“To realise our continued growth ambitions, we’re expanding our global underwriting structure to help us innovate and develop products in line with our strategic objectives and risk appetite,” commented Harrison. ” Having someone responsible for product innovation and development globally from our base in Singapore reflects our growing footprint across the world.”

Canopius is a global specialty re/insurer with underwriting operations in Australia, Bermuda, Singapore, the UK and US. It underwrites through Lloyd’s Syndicate 4444 (managed by Canopius Managing Agents Ltd.); Canopius US Insurance Inc. (a US surplus lines insurer); and Canopius Reinsurance Ltd. (a Bermuda-based Class 4 reinsurer).

***

Swiss Re Promotes Camara to Head of P/C Re in Northern, Central, Eastern Europe

Leopoldo Camara has been appointed head Property & Casualty Reinsurance for Swiss Re’s business in Northern, Central and Eastern Europe (NCEE) and country president Germany, effective Aug. 1, 2024 (pending regulatory approval).

In addition to his new role, Camara will continue with direct client management responsibility, serving as Swiss Re’s head Globals for NCEE. He will be based in Munich.

Camara joined Swiss Re in 2005 and has worked in functions across the organization, including group finance, Group Risk Management and Life & Health Business Management. In 2016, he joined the Globals Division that services Swiss Re’s largest reinsurance clients as key account manager for German and Spanish clients. Most recently, Camara held the position as head Globals Europe.

Prior to joining Swiss Re, he worked for the Gerling-Konzern in Germany, the Mexican Insurance Regulator, and for Zurich Insurance and Converium in Switzerland.

Camara is a trained economist from ITAM in Mexico and holds MBA and master of science degrees in Applied Economics from the University of Rochester – Simon Business School.

“Our appointment of Leopoldo Camara brings together the best of both worlds. He is a seasoned insurance executive, with broad international experience, possessing the right background to manage our business in this important region, and he understands clients’ needs and skillfully brings our experts together to address them,” commented Swiss Re’s CEO Property & Casualty Reinsurance Urs Baertschi.

As previously announced, Beat Strebel, who has been serving as interim head for Property & Casualty Reinsurance NCEE, will move to Beijing to become Swiss Re’s CEO Reinsurance China & China country president.

Topics Excess Surplus Europe Leadership Property Casualty AXA XL