Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty (AGCS) said it is reshaping its Alternative Risk Transfer (ART) business into two new specialist teams, a move responding to the growing importance of non-traditional insurance products for global businesses.

Effective Nov. 1, 2018, the insurance-linked securities (ILS) markets team becomes a standalone line of business known as Capital Solutions, led by current ART Chief Underwriting Officer Richard Boyd. The remaining ART practice groups providing Corporate Solutions, Reinsurance, and Climate Solutions will continue under the existing name of Alternative Risk Transfer, led by Michael Hohmann, who moves to ART from his current position as global head of Liability at AGCS.

Hohmann will be succeeded by Ciara Brady, who joins AGCS on Jan. 1, 2019 from Swiss Re, where she is head of Casualty Treaty Global and International. In a career spanning almost 20 years in the insurance industry, both in Canada and Switzerland, Brady joined Swiss Re in 2005 in Toronto, and since that time has taken on increasingly senior roles in casualty underwriting. She will be based in Zurich, but will travel frequently to key AGCS global locations for the Liability business.

Between Nov. 1 and Jan. 1, AGCS’ Deputy Global Head of Liability Alfred Henneboehl assumes responsibility for Liability.

The focus of Paul Schiavone, current global head of ART, will shift to his existing regional responsibility as North America head of Long Tail Corporate Lines, said AGCS.

“Large companies are increasingly seeking to assume more control over their risk management beyond traditional insurance products in property or liability,” said Hartmut Mai, AGCS board member and chief underwriting officer, Corporate.

“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,” he added. “Our new structure and leadership team will help AGCS to further evolve and grow this important segment of our business.”

In its previous “combined” structure, ART has developed into a major line of business for AGCS globally, contributing €1.135 billion ($1.3 billion) of gross written premiums in 2017, including fronting revenues, AGCS said.

The new ART line of business brings together AGCS and ART products and services to provide a tailor-made solution, which include non-traditional covers on a multi-line, multi-year basis, said AGCS, noting that the ART business also specializes in services such as fronting for captive (self-insurance) programs for large corporate customers.

Similarly, AGCS said, the Capital Solutions team provides products that bring together the insurance and capital markets. These ILS products are sought by capital market investors such as pension funds, which are interested in accessing insurance risks to diversify their portfolios, for example, through catastrophe bonds.

Source: Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty (AGCS)