Argo appoints new risk capital director

Argo Group has announced the appointment of Mark Gibson to the newly-created role of director of alternative risk capital.

Reporting to chief underwriting officer Andrew Carrier, he takes up his new role in early July. He will be based in the London offices of Argo International, the Lloyd’s insurer operating Syndicate 1200.

His role will include oversight of a wide range of alternative risk structures for Argo Group, including the optimisation of risk transfer and securitised products. He will be working alongside underwriting, risk analysis, outwards reinsurance and catastrophe modeling teams throughout the group. 

Gibson’s career spans over 25 years in insurance and investment banking. He joins Argo from the fixed income division of BNP Paribas in London, where he was responsible for the origination, structure and distribution of insurance transactions, building a significant presence in the insurance linked securities (ILS) market and developing relationships with a wide variety of corporate and financial institutions.

Prior to joining BNP Paribas, Gibson was managing director of GC Securities, the capital markets arm of broking firm Guy Carpenter, where he was instrumental in the development of the catastrophe futures and options market. He began his insurance career as a broker in Guy Carpenter’s North American treaty division. 

Argo International managing director Jeff Radke said: “We are always looking at new and innovative ways to manage risk and Mark’s appointment is a reflection of this. His understanding of capital markets, new opportunities and alternative structures, together with his experience in the traditional reinsurance markets, will be a real benefit to our senior team.”