Torus to extend Lloyd's Syndicate capabilities

Global specialty insurer Torus will expand its Lloyd’s Syndicate 1301 capabilities for the 2014 underwriting year.

Lloyd’s has approved the syndicate, increasing its capacity to £180m (from £160m in 2013), and extending its product offering to include excess casualty and US healthcare.

Four of the company’s six European offices have also been approved as Lloyd’s coverholders and will commence writing business locally on Lloyd’s S&P A+ rated paper for all Torus products written through Lloyd’s.

Torus Underwriting Management managing director Dominic Kirby said: “Following the launch of Torus’s managing agency this year, we look forward to expanding our trading activity through Lloyd’s in 2014.

“Lloyd’s is a key platform for Torus and we are seeing excellent opportunities to link Syndicate 1301’s specialty products and distribution with Torus’ current offerings in the US and Europe.”

Torus Syndicate 1301 expansion

From 1 January Torus will begin writing US healthcare through Lloyd’s. This is in addition to Torus’s current offering through Torus’s US excess and surplus lines insurer, Torus Specialty Insurance Company, and Torus’s US admitted markets insurer, Torus National Insurance Company.

Syndicate 1301 will become the principal underwriting platform for international excess casualty written from London and Europe.

Lloyd’s coverholders

Torus’s offices in Continental Europe that have been approved as Lloyd’s coverholders include: Cologne, Paris, Milan and Rotterdam. An application for Zurich is currently in progress with Lloyd’s.

Cologne, Rotterdam and Milan already act as coverholders for the provider’s marine business, but will now also offer Syndicate 1301’s full suite of international specialty products across several lines.