Sompo International is launching a new European specialty insurance underwriting operation. The Bermuda-based specialty provider of property/casualty insurance said the division initially will focus on management liability, professional indemnity and financial institutions lines of business.

“Europe is a key area of growth for Sompo International, and we continue to build a strategic presence on the continent,” Jack Kuhn, CEO of Global Insurance, said in prepared remarks. “As we add specialty underwriting talent, we will be able to more effectively deliver a broader range of products to clients in these markets.”

Kuhn added that a local EU presence and a distributed producer network will be an important ingredient for successful growth as Sompo International plans for the post-Brexit business environment in Europe.

Sompo International appointed the following executives to help run the division:

Thomas Mannsdorfer, executive vice president, will lead the new team, which will partner with brokers across Continental Europe. He was previously with ANV Global Services, a specialty lines provider in London and Barcelona, where he served for six years as director, M&A Insurance and more recently as CUO International. He also has previous executive experience from stints at HCC Global, AIG and Allianz in Spain, France and Switzerland. He will be based in Barcelona.

Mathieu Borneuf, senior vice president, will work with Mannsdorfer and also has extensive professional lines underwriting experience from working in several European markets. Borneuf joined Sompo International in January 2018 from Navigators, where he established and was head of Management and Professional Liability for Continental Europe and was Paris Branch Manager since 2014. He also had leadership roles at Torus Insurance, Marsh Paris, AIG Australia and AIG Europe.

Sompo International writes business, through its operating subsidiaries, in agriculture, professional lines, property, marine and energy, and casualty and other specialty lines of insurance, as well as catastrophe, property, casualty, professional lines, weather risk and specialty lines of reinsurance. Sompo International and its subsidiaries are wholly owned subsidiaries of the Japanese insurance conglomerate Sompo Holdings Inc.

Source: Sompo International