Three Qatar Re hires boost presence in Bermuda

Qatar Re, a Bermuda reinsurer, has expanded its governance and operations with the addition of Andrew Smith as chief risk officer, Adam Young as head of compliance and Steve Tidd as chief operation officer.

Smith and Young will be based in Qatar Re’s Bermuda office.

Smith has contributed to the industry for over 18 years, previously working at Ernst & Young (EY), where he had also worked with Qatar Re on its re-domiciliation to Bermuda.

During his role at EY, Smith was in charge of its financial services risk management and actuarial teams. Before that, he has also worked with PwC, he has also worked in the London market and internationally with clients across Europe, Asia and the Americas.

Young has joined Qatar Re from the QIC Group in Doha, where he served as head of group compliance since the end of 2013.

During his tenure, Young was responsible for QIC’s compliance oversight of its insurance and reinsurance subsidiaries and their tasks across the Middle East. These included Qatar Re, before its transfer from the Qatar financial centre to Bermuda.

Prior to joining QIC Group, Young held a variety of titles within Lloyd’s and the London insurance market with firms such as AEGIS Managing Agency and Brit Syndicates, where he had the role of compliance officer. His career began with JLT in 2003.

Tidd was appointed by Qatar Re as head of operations in 2015 and was offered his new role in July 2016.

Tidd has had over 25 years of experience in the insurance industry, where he recently served as managing director at Service Underwriting Agency.

Gunther Saacke, chief executive officer at Qatar Re, said: “These most recent senior appointments again demonstrate our ability to attract top calibre professionals to join us on our path of rapid development.

“Having worked closely with Andrew as a senior consultant before, we are delighted to have him on board as a member of our senior management team.

“His in-depth risk expertise will be instrumental in securing the quality of our future growth. Similarly, in his previous function as head of group compliance for our parent company QIC, Adam has been working with Qatar Re for the past few years.

“His experience with differing regulatory environments and his knowledge of the wider QIC Group will prove invaluable as we continue to pursue our strategic objectives.

“Finally, Steve’s promotion reflects the success in his previous assignment as our head of operations. Within a very short period of time, he has already seen through some important enhancements of our processes and systems.”