Markets/Coverages: QBE N.A. Starts Specialty Casualty; Ryan Specialty, Harleysville Team Up; Coalition, Vantage Capacity Partners; Joyn Expands Offerings

QBE North America launches Specialty Casualty business

QBE North America today announced the launch of a Specialty Casualty business as part of its strategy to invest in areas where the insurer can offer distinct advantages to business customers.

Offerings will include admitted and non-admitted primary, lead umbrella and excess liability products, targeting a wide range of business segments across a diverse set of industries.

Taking newly created posts to lead the business are: Karen London, president, Specialty Casualty; Mike Foley, chief underwriting officer, Specialty Casualty; Morgan Wichmann, head of casualty non-construction; and Craig Freid, head of casualty construction. All four have decades of experience in the Specialty Casualty market with a heavy focus on complex and hard-to-place risks. Prior to joining QBE, they held leadership positions at Berkshire Hathaway.

“With QBE Specialty Casualty, we see a clear opportunity to build a long-term franchise that is grounded in expert underwriting with a data-driven approach to meet the unique needs of customers,” said Tom Fitzgerald, president of Specialty & Commercial insurance at QBE North America. “It will allow us to deepen our relationships with our limited and preferred network of brokers while we further improve the balance and synergies in our diversified business portfolio.”

Ryan Specialty and Nationwide Build Upon Joint Venture

Specialty broker Ryan Specialty announced a strategic arrangement with Nationwide to address needs in the specialty insurance marketplace using Harleysville of New York, a Nationwide subsidiary.

The initiative builds upon a joint venture the two companies first entered into in May 2019 that established Bermuda-based reinsurer, Geneva Re Ltd.

The new strategic arrangement provides Ryan Specialty with limited exclusive access to insurance capacity on Harleysville of New York paper to support alternative risk placements. The capital provided will be either via traditional risk transfer through Ryan Specialty’s managing general underwriters or an alternative risk placement through the formation of a captive or other strategy and operated in conjunction with Ryan Specialty’s leader in alternative risk placements, Keystone Risk Partners.

Ryan Specialty executes its alternative risk strategy by working with its retail broker trading partners to provide a supplement to traditional insurance capacity, both in the admitted and excess ad surplus markets, or to provide an insurance product when more conventional capacity is not available to address the needs of the insured at a price the insured will accept.

“There are many risks within the specialty insurance market that are not being serviced fully, where conventional insurance isn’t totally addressing the needs of the client,” said Patrick G. Ryan, CEO of Ryan Specialty.

Russ Johnston, president of E&S/Specialty at Nationwide, called the arrangement a “natural extension” of the existing joint venture the two firms have under the Geneva Re partnership.

Coalition Gets Excess Cyber Capacity Backing from Vantage

Coalition said it has partnered with Vantage Risk Specialty Insurance Company to back its U.S. excess cyber program.

Coalition’s Active Cyber and Active Executive Risk products combine insurance coverage with technology to help organizations assess, protect, and respond to digital risk. This data-driven approach to underwriting and active monitoring of threats has resulted in Coalition policyholders experiencing 70% fewer claims than the rest of the insurance market, the company said.

“Vantage’s approach to ‘Seeing Risk Differently’ is further complemented by partnering with Coalition,” said Alex Blanco, CEO of Insurance at Vantage.

Insurtech Joyn Insurance Expands Offerings

The Joyn Insurance platform has expanded its class eligibility to include dozens of additional classes, bringing its total eligible class list to more than 700 NAICS codes.

The new class offerings include car washes, convenience stores, dry cleaners, dwellings, gas stations, health clubs and gyms, landscaping, liquor stores, parking lots and garages, restaurants, sporting goods manufacturers, and warehouses and mini warehouses.

Joyn Insurance Services Inc. is a licensed producer and general agent focused on commercial insurance in the small and middle markets.

Topics Trends Excess Surplus Casualty