Validus Specialty announces renewal of PRI binding authority for NY office

Validus Specialty Underwriting, a subsidiary of Validus Holdings, has announced the renewal of its Political Risk Insurance (PRI) binding authority from its New York office, underwritten by various underwriters at Lloyd’s and led by Talbot Underwriting, Syndicate 1183.

“Validus Specialty has seen a significant amount of demand for PRI business through the binding authority over the past twelve months,” said Jared Kotler, head of political risk and credit at Validus Specialty. “By increasing the facility to a market-leading $240 million in capacity, our private equity, global financial institutions and multinational clients will have a place to obtain bespoke, cost efficient political risk insurance policies to mitigate the country risk in their global exposures.”

“As we had hoped last year, this facility has played an important role in attracting more political risk insurance business to Lloyd's and the renewal continues to provide us with the underwriting ability to lead major projects,” said James Bamford, global practice leader political lines at Talbot Underwriting.

The Talbot-led binding authority was first launched in 2016. To meet the demand for growth in 2017, capacity has increased from $125 million to $240 million per acceptance. Binder participants include syndicates managed by Ascot, CNA Hardy, Sompo Canopius and Starstone.

New to the 2017 facility are Amtrust, Ark, Brit and Novae. All organisations have considerable expertise in writing political risks. The 2017 facility will provide brokers and clients in the Americas with a one-stop shop to access PRI capacity from the Lloyd’s market. The facility can only be accessed via appropriately licensed brokers.