Allianz Global Corporate and Specialty (AGCS) will reshape its alternative risk transfer (ART) business as part of a growth strategy in the alternative risk market.
Effective 1 November, ART business will be split into two new specialist teams.
The Insurance-Linked Markets team will become a standalone line of business, known as Capital Solutions and led by, Richard Boyd, who is currently ART chief underwriting officer.
The other ART practice groups, which provide corporate solutions, reinsurance, and climate solutions, will continue under the existing name of ART, led by Michael Hohmann who will transfer from his current position as global head of liability at AGCS.
ART contributed €1.34 billion of gross written premiums in 2017 and has become a major line of business for AGCS globally, with larger multinational businesses increasingly looking for customised solutions to their more complex risks which cannot be adequately covered by traditional insurance.
The bespoke approach of the new ART line of business, which combines ART and AGCS products and serves for a tailor-made solution, and specialises in services such as fronting for captive insurance programmes for large corporate customers and specialist reinsurance and bespoke weather insurance solutions.
AGCS has also seen a rise in the demand for insurance-linked securities products and, due to its diverse portfolio, is ideally placed to source insurance risks that can then be structured by the Capital Solutions team into a form that is acceptable to capital market investors.
Hartmut Mai, AGCS board member and chief underwriting officer corporate, commented: “Large companies are increasingly seeking to assume more control over their risk management beyond traditional insurance products in property or liability.”
“With our two new lines of business, we can respond to these needs by designing multi-line, multi-year, parametric or capital-market solutions to protect our clients from earnings and cash flow risks.”
“Our new structure and leadership team will help AGCS to further evolve and grow this important segment of our business.”
