Lloyd’s board grants Blenheim Underwriting approval to establish new MGA

The Lloyd’s of London board has granted syndicate Blenheim Underwriting its ‘approval in principle’ to establish a new managing agency; the organisation now plans to apply to the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) and the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) for the required regulatory approvals.

These steps will enable Blenheim Underwriting to progress into Lloyd’s ‘making it happen’ stage.

Blenheim Underwriting deals in property treaty, direct and facultative (D&C) property, specialty reinsurance, contingency and accident and health insurances.

Blenheim Syndicate 5886 launched in 2017 and is managed by Asta Managing Agency. The syndicate has a capacity of £250m for 2020, provided by third party capital ranging from private individuals to insurance-linked security (ILS) funds and trade capital.

Peter Scales, director at Blenheim Underwriting and chief executive of parent company White Bear, said: “This is one of the principal stepping stones that we targeted in building a modern independent underwriting business based on our first class underwriting teams.

“It marks a further development in our ability to best serve clients and their brokers, as well as a wide variety of capital providers in the evolving Lloyd’s, wider insurance and capital markets.”

Blenheim Underwriting is a 100% owned subsidiary of White Bear Capital, which is in turn substantially owned by its staff.