XL to cover financial institutions

XL Insurance has appointed two financial institutions underwriters to its London-based professional lines team.

Senior underwriters Gerard Bloom and Neale Stevenson will offer specialist professional liability coverage for financial institutions such as hedge funds, asset managers and banks.

Bloom will head XL's new financial institutions underwriting team. He joins from Zurich Financial Services, where he was senior vice president for mergers & acquisitions. Prior to his role at Zurich he was UK & Ireland chief underwriting officer for financial institutions at AIG.

Stevenson most recently headed the financial institutions team at Liberty International Underwriters in London. He joined Liberty from SVB Syndicates.

William Wharton, chief underwriting officer professional lines UK at XL Insurance, said: "Many financial institutions, including some that are well managed, were impacted by the recent financial crisis, demonstrating the importance of professional liability coverage for even very experienced managers.

"We are looking to expand our business portfolio for financial institutions and believe that our clients are best served by a dedicated team of underwriters focusing purely on these specialist risks."