Former Novae Re Zurich members join Qatari insurer
Qatar-based Q-Re has confirmed the appointment of Novae Re’s former Zurich reinsurance team to its European platform.
The 14-strong team, who quit their jobs in May, will be led by Novae Re Zurich reinsurance chief executive Gunther Saacke and chief underwriting officer Willi Schuerch.
The rest of the team includes Novae Re’s former head of property catastrophe Alain Ciolero, former head of engineering Johannes Hoebel, former head of credit and surety Stefano Lorenzini, former head of agriculture Karl Scheider, former head of property risk Manfred Dennler, and former property catastrophe modeller Peter Frei.
Q-Re, which is a subsidiary of Qatar Insurance Company (QIC), said in a statement that the team would join as soon as they had completed their contractual obligations with Novae Re.
Q-Re said the new team would “drive the establishment of the company’s future franchise as a global reinsurer writing all major property, casualty and specialty lines of business”.
In addition, Peter Bitterlin, Mark Cockroft, Graham Loughlin, Luke Roden, Alan Tomlinson and RobLee Womack have all recently joined Q-Re as senior reinsurance professionals.
Q-Re has targeted Europe, along with the USA and the Asia-Pacific region as its key growth areas.
QIC group president and chief executive Khalifa Abdulla Turki Al Subaey said: “We are pleased that these outstanding professionals have chosen to join Q-Re. Their technical expertise will be instrumental in establishing Q-Re’s global franchise.
“In this endeavour, Q-Re will benefit from QIC’s strong and growing capital base and develop into a global reinsurer, writing all major property, casualty and specialty lines of business.”
Q-Re chief executive Ewen McRobbie said: “We are looking forward to working with our new colleagues. Their widely recognised experience and expertise will boost Q-Re’s talent base and accelerate the execution of our strategic objectives”.
Novae chief executive Matthew Fosh has moved swiftly to fill the void left by the departures.
He appointed former Novae Re political violence and kidnap and ransom/piracy unit head Rob Preston as Novae Re Zurich managing director.
Fosh took on Arch Re’s Philippe Chevereau as head of the international property catastrophe unit, along with New Re’s Sebastien Ricout.
He also hired Endurance’s Clive Hardy and Hanne Wagner to join its agriculture arm, and promoted former chief pricing actuary Gareth Christopher to develop Novae Re’s property per risk book.
Former Ark underwriter David May was appointed head of Novae Re’s general liability unit, and the most recent appointment was Axis Re’s vice-president and credit and bond underwriter Christoph Nienhaus as head of credit and surety in September.
Novae Re wrote £233m in gross premium last year, which includes the aviation, property catastrophe and marine accounts that the company expects to retain despite the former team’s departure.
But it is likely that the new Q-Re team could go after around more than £125m of their former business once their contractual obligations have expired.
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