Insurer Novae has suffered more resignations with the loss of three underwriting staff, including two senior underwriters.
Gail Cook, head of regional professional indemnity (PI) in London, who also runs the insurer’s regional solicitors’ PI strategy, has gone.
And Dominick Rogers, underwriting manager for Scotland and Northern Ireland has also left the company.
Paul Carragher, a regional underwriter in Scotland, has also departed.
The trio are understood to be joining Zurich. Zurich declined to comment.
Rogers ran the Scotland office and his departure means that Novae’s Glasgow office now has only one support staff member, with no underwriters.
The departures come after a summer which saw Leo Gibbons, marketing director of Novae Insurance, quit less than a month after underwriting director Stuart Quinlan departed.
A source close to the company said the departures were prompted by the strategy being pursued by Novae.
“Many are not happy with the strategy Peter Matson [chief underwriting officer] has in making the company into a consolidator. Novae launched an [FSA-regulated] insurance company and have a regional and London presence. These resignations mean that Novae is stretched regionally.”
Matson rebuffed the claims: “The Scottish office does less than £2m in premium income a year out of an overall group of £360m.
“When Stuart Quinlan left it was almost inevitable that some of his team would go.
Matson said: “It is complete nonsense to say we are stretched. We still have 27 very good underwriters.”
Matson added that Novae had already recruited Jonathan Morgan from AIG to replace Gail Cook.
Her departure had not resulted in the company losing any of its solicitors’ PI business despite it being renewal season.
“We have in fact increased our PI business on last year, as Lindsay Noble [regional underwriting manager in the South East] was here to keep things going,” said Matson.
“We are hardly haemorr-haging business; we are in fact doing very well.”
