ICAT Syndicate partners with Neon in Bermuda D&F property market
ICAT Syndicate 4242 and Neon, both specialist Lloyd’s underwriters, have announced a reciprocal capacity arrangement to bring additional per risk capacity to the Bermuda Property Direct and Facultative (D&F) market.
The two companies said that the partnership leverages the highly specialised and disciplined underwriting talent of both insurers and allows both underwriters to share a portion of one another’s portfolios.
Under the arrangement Neon can now offer up to $40 million per account on properties underwritten from the Bermuda office and ICAT Syndicate 4242 now delegates authority to Neon to underwrite larger property schedules.
Neon’s Bermuda office, which is led by Chris Fisher and is an approved coverholder for Neon Syndicate 2468, opened in mid-2016 and provides access to both the local and US markets as Neon expands its international footprint. Neon Bermuda currently focuses on writing direct and facultative property insurance on a global basis and has intentions to launch new product lines as the office expands.
For ICAT Syndicate 4242, this transaction represents the first step in diversifying its portfolio towards short-tail business underwritten outside of ICAT. The syndicate said that it is on track to write $172 million GWP in 2016 with an average combined ratio of 78.3 percent since inception.
This partnership builds on an existing relationship between the businesses in which Neon delegates authority to ICAT to underwrite middle market commercial business in the United States as part of a panel of insurers who provide ICAT up to $150 million per risk capacity.
Chris Fisher, chief executive of Neon Bermuda and head of direct and facultative property, said: “The partnership with ICAT Syndicate 4242, which provides us with up to $40m in per-risk catastrophe capacity, will play a key role in supporting our plans to expand our international presence. We are delighted to be the first partner ICAT has selected to underwrite on its behalf and this partnership is truly reflective of the alignment in our approach to high quality underwriting.”
Megan McConnell, Active Underwriter of ICAT Syndicate 4242, said: “Once our sights were set on identifying underwriting opportunities outside of the CAT-exposed small commercial property space, we quickly realised that Neon offered an opportunity to partner with an organisation and underwriter we highly respect. We are excited to work closely with Chris Fisher and his Neon team knowing that, like Syndicate 4242, they value business with high data quality and transparency of risk, while allowing us to capture business we don’t write today.”
