TigerRisk Partners has established a beachhead in Asia, starting with a new Hong Kong office launched via a subsidiary.

The Connecticut-based insurance broking and risk/capital management firm said the new office will be operated by its subsidiary TigerRisk China Partners, which became a member of the Hong Kong Confederation of Insurance Brokers as of July 30.

“The 21^st century belongs to Asia in terms of economic development,” TigerRisk CEO Rod Fox said in prepared remarks. “The most powerful engine of that development is China, [which is ] why we elected to start our Asian presence” in Hong Kong.

Hougin Zhu is slated to lead the Hong Kong operation, an insurance and reinsurance industry veteran who began his career as a reinsurance buyer in China and subsequently worked as a treaty underwriter for American Re and QBE Re in Singapore. The new TigerRisk executive also has experience as a reinsurance broker and led Willis Re’s China operation.

Zhu, in a statement noted “China and the United States share a great number of common challenges in measuring and protecting capital from the risk of natural peril catastrophe.” He said Tiger Risk looks forward to sharing its knowledge “about measuring, controlling and mitigating catastrophe risk and spreading those risks globally.”

Earlier this year, TigerRisk launched TigerRisk Capital Markets & Advisory, which expanded the firm into investment banking, M&A and capital markets advisory expertise. Now, TigerRisk has offices in Connecticut (Stanford headquarters), New York, London, Minneapolis, Chicago, Raleigh, Dallas, Bermuda and Hong Kong.

TigerRisk bills itself as a U.S.-based reinsurance capital management and strategic advisor.

Source: TigerRisk