Amlin opens Swiss reinsurer

Amlin to set up a reinsurance company in Switzerland nad has poached a team from Swiss Re to start the business.

It will target small and mid-sized companies, partnering with firms to give access to European reinsurance business that does not typically flow into the London and Bermuda marketplaces.

Amlin will re-domicile its legal carrier Amlin Bermuda to Zurich. It is proposed that the new Zurich-based Swiss company will be named Amlin AG and that the existing operations of Amlin Bermuda will become a Bermuda-based branch of Amlin AG.

Committed to Bermuda

Amlin said it “remains committed to Bermuda as a key operating platform”. Amlin has 32 employees in Bermuda and expects that figure to grow over the years as the Bermuda business develops further.

Amlin Bermuda will continue to serve its existing reinsurance clients and brokers in exactly the same manner as it does today. Amlin Bermuda policyholders will be unaffected by the redomicile. Amlin plc remains a UK domiciled company.

Amlin AG’s Zurich-based underwriting unit (to trade as “Amlin Re Europe”) will be staffed by a core team recruited from Swiss Re, headed by Philippe Regazzoni who will become chief executive officer of Amlin AG.

European markets

“This is an exciting opportunity to establish another significant reinsurance business with a first-class underwriting team, led by Philippe Regazzoni, which possesses a wealth of experience in Continental European markets” said Charles Philipps, chief executive officer of Amlin.

Regazzoni said: “We are excited by the prospect of building a third significant reinsurance business within the Amlin group and helping to reinforce Amlin’s position and brand as a leading international reinsurer.

“We believe that a focused and well capitalised European reinsurer will provide a strong partner for European brokers and clients.”

Management team

The management team of Amlin Re Europe in Zurich will include Gregoire Mauchamp, who will become Amlin AG’s chief financial officer, and senior underwriters Marc Dejardin (from June 2010), Carl Maeder and Andrea Manella.

The Zurich-based team plans to build to 25 people by the end of 2010 and to cover the reinsurance markets in Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, Maghreb, Netherlands, Nordics, Portugal, Spain and the UK. Other European markets will be added in 2011.