Mitsui Sumitomo at Lloyd’s, has promoted Mark Graves to Deputy Head of Claims.

Reporting to Simon Catt, Head of Claims, Graves will concentrate on large loss coordination and claims strategy development across the Syndicate. He will also retain his current management responsibility for claims emanating from property, engineering and construction works classes of business.

Graves joined Mitsui Sumitomo at Lloyd’s from XL ten years ago and was appointed Claims Manager in 2004. Since joining the insurance industry in 1989, he has successfully handled multi-million pound settlements for many clients and latterly has been actively involved in leading and directing the insurer’s response following worldwide natural catastrophe claims.

Simon Catt, Head of Claims at Mitsui Sumitomo at Lloyd’s said: “It is always very rewarding to be able to promote from within and I am, therefore, delighted to appoint someone of Mark’s professionalism and talent to the role of Deputy Head of Claims. “In his new role, he will work with me and the Syndicate’s senior management team to set the claims department’s strategy and deliver a responsive service for our brokers and their clients.”

Mitsui Sumitomo at Lloyd’s, has further strengthened its underwriting team with two new appointments.

Neil Marking is appointed as Underwriter - Accident & Health (A&H) team and will report to Steve Ranzetta, Class Underwriter. Marking has over 12 years’ experience in the A&H market, and joins from Chubb where he was UK Underwriting Manager, Accident & Health.

Jonathan Wye is appointed as Underwriter – Casualty within the Corporate team where he will focus on mid-large corporates and coverholder business. Wye was previously Liability Underwriting Manager (London Region) within Brit Insurance’s UK regional operations, the renewal rights of which were acquired by QBE early this year, and has 20 years underwriting experience in the London market.

Commenting on the new appointments, Andrew Dougall, Underwriting Manager - Casualty, Professional Lines, Accident & Health at Mitsui Sumitomo at Lloyd’s, said: “Neil and Jonathan are important additions to our underwriting teams. Both appointments demonstrate our continuing commitment to the Casualty & A&H markets and our appetite to expand the capabilities and scope of this important portfolio in the UK and internationally.”

Mitsui Sumitomo at Lloyd’s, has appointed Simon Catt as Head of Claims.

Catt joins from Travelers Syndicate Management at Lloyd’s where he was also Head of Claims for over eleven years. Prior to this role, he spent 15 years in both claims and underwriting positions for Elliston, Sphere Drake and Exall Warren Derby.

He assumes the lead role within the claims team from Jonathan Poole who was promoted to the position of Chief Executive Officer of Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Company (Europe) in June.

Andrew McKee, Chief Executive Officer of Mitsui Sumitomo at Lloyds’s said: “The role of leading our claims team is of considerable importance to Mitsui Sumitomo. Simon will ensure we evolve this function so that it continues to deliver the exceptional levels of service and support expected by our brokers and their clients, whilst demonstrating operational efficiency. I would like to welcome Simon to our management team and I very much look forward to working with him.”

Mitsui Sumitomo at Lloyd’s is aiming to grow its marine liability underwriting account following the appointment of Darren Carr as Class Underwriter.

Carr has joined from Hiscox where he was Deputy Marine Liability Underwriter. Previously he spent six years at Aon rising to the position of Director and Head of Ports, Terminals & International Liabilities.

Reporting to Head of Marine, Caroline Koczerzat, Carr has been tasked with utilising his combined broking and underwriting experience to build the syndicate’s marine liability business to complement the established cargo, hull and specie accounts.

Commenting on Carr’s appointment, Peter McDermott, Active Underwriter at Mitsui Sumitomo at Lloyd’s, said: “We are delighted to have recruited Darren to build our marine liability account. Having worked both in underwriting and broking, he understands the specific needs of both parties when placing cover, which we believe will result in both underwriting profit and the delivery of excellent levels of service and innovation”.

Darren Carr, Marine Liability Class Underwriter at Mitsui Sumitomo at Lloyd’s added: "I'm excited to be joining such a strong global brand and a marine team with a first class reputation. This will be a long term project to grow the account in a structured and sustainable manner, through which we will aspire to add real value to our brokers, clients and the Lloyd's market."

Mitsui Sumitomo at Lloyd’s has turned its fortunes around, with its sights now set on a gold medal journey. It’s been a tough few years, but today the management are showing their confidence by agreeing to speak to Insurance Times.

Chief executive Andrew McKee and director of underwriting Martin Hudson are polite when they greet us at their plush London offices, but there’s little small talk. There’s a lot to get through and they’re keen not to waste time.

Mitsui Sumitomo at Lloyd’s is the UK arm of Japanese-based MS&AD Insurance Group, the seventh largest insurer in the world. The UK business writes £350m in premium income through its Lloyd’s underwriting syndicate 3210 and six regional offices. It writes aviation, marine, and property and construction, but its casualty business has had the most troubles.

In 2010, Mitsui Sumitomo at Lloyd’s suffered an upsurge in financial crisis-related professional indemnity (PI) claims, which pushed its combined ratio to an eye-watering 219.5%. This poor underwriting result was a big factor behind the syndicate’s £16.2m loss that year. Then in 2011, their £10m premium income book was hit badly by bodily injury claims, resulting in a 149.8% combined ratio for motor.

McKee realised in 2010 that drastic action was needed, so he brought in Eamon Brown in January of that year as underwriting director. Brown came with a big reputation; he was previously a senior manager at the Lloyd’s franchise performance division, a unit credited with pulling Lloyd’s back from the brink after it nearly collapsed in the late 1980s and early ’90s owing to a raft of asbestos-related claims, large disasters and reinsurance contract failures.

When he came to Mitsui Sumitomo at Lloyd’s, Brown took some big and bold decisions. He slashed the professional indemnity book by two-thirds to just £10.2m premium income between 2010 and 2011. He also pulled the plug on the £10m gross written premium UK commercial motor book. These decisions, among others, helped swing the syndicate back into a profit of £13.2m in 2011.

McKee says: “Eamon did a good job for us. He basically came in really to start reprofiling the underwriting book and building all the rigour, discipline and control around the underwriting.” By the time Brown’s contract ended in November last year, Mitsui was in a much better place. “The significant remedial action is behind us in terms of significant culling and repositioning of our lines of business - that period of rebuilding is complete,” says McKee. “We have shifted our perspective more to diversification and growing the top line in a responsible way.”

“We are happy with the results coming through, which clearly show the medicine that we took was the right medicine.” Moving forward McKee says he’s confident about Mitsui Sumitomo at Lloyd’s future and is excited to be growing the company’s operations in the regions, where it is a mid-market player. The UK is renowned for being a very competitive market place, one in which price frequently wins the day when it comes to obtaining business. But, Hudson says, Mitsui’s game plan does not revolve around a race to the bottom. “We are not trying to buy market share by underpricing,” he says. “What we are trying to do is offer a very attractive product to a clearly definable group of customers at a proper price.”

The insurer has also invested in people. It hired a new property owners’ team at the end of last year. QBE’s former head of commercial business Graeme Rayner was poached in June last year to head up property and casualty underwriting, while Chubb Ireland’s former manager Alan Sheil was given the role of Mitsui’s managing director of Ireland. Sheil played a key role in opening the company’s Dublin office in May. Mitsui seems to be following a similar path to other insurers that have strengthened their regional presence to get closer to brokers.

“What we have changed is having guys resident locally in terms of regional markets presence,” McKee says. Prior to joining Mitsui Sumitomo at Lloyd’s, McKee held an 18-year stint at Chubb, where he rose to become London branch manager. He replaced the former chief executive Allan Guest in the top role in 2009. Hudson also has an impressive CV: he was previously chief executive of St Paul Insurance Company in 1998. The business eventually merged with Travelers in 2002. Before joining Mitsui Sumitomo at Lloyd’s, Hudson was a consultant to London market insurance firms. This experience should stand him in good stead as he leads the charge for growth abroad.

While the UK and Europe represents 47% of Mitsui Sumitomo at Lloyd’s business, Australia, Canada and the Nordic regions will continue to be big growth markets. Mitsui Sumitomo at Lloyd’s has no direct exposure in its portfolio to euro zone sovereign debt. McKee sums up their strategy as very much a long-term game plan. “We are not looking to take a big chunk of market share very quickly - it is a long-term play for us,” he says. “Our aspiration is to have a much bigger footprint in the UK.”

Hudson says: “If we come out of the blocks like Usain Bolt then we are going to trip up, so we are running more of a Mo Farah-type race here.” If Hudson and McKee are running a Mo Farah style of race, they are still only half-way through it. Some good progress has been made, but it’s clearly going to be some time before McKee and Hudson can put their hands on their heads in a Mo Farah-type celebration.

• Continuing to diversify and grow the top line of the business
• Increasing market share in the UK regions
• Building on the momentum of the turnaround of its Lloyd’s business

Mitsui Sumitomo at Lloyd’s has promoted Stuart Wood to Class Underwriter for Professional Indemnity (PI) within its Professional Lines operation.

Wood, who joined Mitsui Sumitomo at Lloyd’s in 2009, has been underwriting PI risks in the London market for 10 years. He has experience in underwriting a range of traditional and emerging professions, including the technology sector.

Commenting on Wood’s appointment, Andrew Dougall, Underwriting Manager Casualty at Mitsui Sumitomo at Lloyd’s, said: “Stuart has already made a significant contribution to the success of the PI portfolio. His promotion demonstrates our confidence in him and his ability, as well as our drive to strengthen our underwriting management team.

“Under Stuart’s leadership, and with a strong team in place, we are well positioned to deliver managed growth within Professional Lines for 2013 and beyond including investing further to support the expansion of this operation. I wish Stuart every success.”

Mitsui Sumitomo at Lloyd’s is aiming to increase its share of the international liability insurance market following two underwriting appointments.

Joining Mitsui Sumitomo’s Syndicate 3210 as senior underwriters are Peter Graham and Adrian Dench. Dench previously underwrote international casualty business for ACE European Group while Graham joins from Zurich Global Energy having previously underwritten international liability for QBE in London. Combined they have over 20 years market experience.

Andrew Dougall, Underwriting Manager at Mitsui Sumitomo at Lloyd’s said: “Adrian and Peter bring a wealth of contacts and expertise that will help to strengthen Syndicate 3210’s product capability, especially in the energy sector. Combined with our sound financial strength and Lloyd’s platform, I believe the enhanced team is also now ideally positioned to secure a larger share of the growing international liability market. We are widening our distribution base territorially and increasingly with brokers and coverholders that haven’t traditionally traded with the Syndicate.”

Mitsui Sumitomo at Lloyd’s has appointed Martin Burke as Chief Risk Officer.

Most recently Finance Risk Manager within the Enterprise Risk Management team at Catlin, Burke has worked within the Lloyd’s and company markets for 15 years.

In his new role, he will be responsible for the Actuarial and Risk Management functions supporting risk identification, quantification and management.

Burke has also been joined by Mark West, previously of Navigators, who becomes Chief Corporate Actuary and Melanie Cooper, previously of QBE, who has joined to become Chief Actuary – Underwriting.

A further role, Head of Risk Management, was recently filled by Ayan Man who joined from PwC.

John Roome, Chief Financial Officer at Mitsui Sumitomo at Lloyd’s said: “Risk management has always been a key element of our management responsibilities. However, by investing in recruiting four more experienced market practitioners, Mitsui Sumitomo at Lloyd’s has created a robust team that will be make an even greater contribution to the growth and profitability of the business going forward.”

MSI Management UK and Ireland, a member of MS&AD Insurance, Japan’s largest non-life insurance group and the seventh largest non-life insurance group in the world, today announced the opening of its Dublin office which, subject to regulatory approval, will also be the intermediary hub for its UK and Ireland regional underwriting business, with all insurance policies being underwritten by syndicate 3210 at Lloyd’s. This expansion into the UK and Ireland’s regional insurance markets has resulted in a multi-million euro investment and will create 30 jobs.

Staff expertise and availability, as well as a favourable business environment, were strong factors in choosing Ireland over other locations.

From its Dublin offices and regional branches in Belfast, Glasgow, Manchester, Birmingham and a commercial office in London, MSI Management UK and Ireland will work with its broker customers across the UK and Ireland to offer commercial insurance services, with anticipated revenues of over €100 million during the next three to five years.

Heading up the regional operation Alan Sheil, a seasoned insurance industry professional, commented: “The decision to locate the regional operation here in Dublin is a real nod of approval for insurance industry employees in Ireland. As well as growing our highly experienced team, we plan to build on current broker relationships to expand predominantly in the indigenous mid-market sector.  The MSI Management UK and Ireland’s proposition is based on offering market leading insurance products with excellent claims service through empowered, experienced underwriters and a select panel of brokers.  We believe the Dublin offices will play a pivotal role in MSI’s UK and Irish regional business operations.”

At the core of the MSI organisation are traditional Japanese values of honour and integrity. This was more recently demonstrated during its response to the Japanese earthquake and tsunami of March 2011.  By contacting every single customer directly, MSI ensured over 90% of the 85,000 claims were settled within three months.

At the Dublin office opening ceremony, which included the Japanese tradition of breaking a sake barrel decorated with a turtle and crane signifying good luck and long life, Mr Isamu Endo, Chief Executive officer of MSIG Holdings (Europe) commented, “Our expectations for this new initiative are very high.  We look forward to delivering high quality insurance services via this new entity.”

Mitsui Sumitomo at Lloyd’s has strengthened its commitment to the UK construction market by appointing Adrian Burgess as Underwriter.

Burgess joins from Gerling where he was Senior Engineering Underwriter.  He will report to Darrell Huggins, Class Underwriter, and specialise in writing UK Construction business including large projects and annual contractor policies. 

Mitsui Sumitomo at Lloyd’s has underwritten UK and international construction business for 8 years. 

Graeme Rayner, Head of Property and Casualty at Mitsui Sumitomo at Lloyd’s said: “Adrian brings a wealth of experience to complement our well-established construction team as we seek to maximise our distribution channels, broad underwriting appetite and diversify our underwriting platforms including our recently launched regional network.  

"Strengthening the team and laying down new strategies now will also ensure we both maximise current opportunities and are better placed than most to respond to a more favourable economic climate.”

"2011 was a year punctuated by record catastrophe losses with abnormally high frequency and severity. The Asia-Pacific region in particular bore the brunt of losses whether in New Zealand, Japan or Thailand. For our group, specifically the tragic Tohoku Pacific earthquake and tsunami in Japan, tested our resilience both in human and financial terms. Many of our local Japanese offices were closed or damaged and staff members had family or friends that were directly impacted.

However, the fact remains that the region's major insurers were able to fulfil their obligations and make a difference to people's lives. They swiftly provided assistance and financial compensation, and where required, reassurance of the value and benefit of our industry in time of adversity. The market strength was again tested when the devastating flood in Thailand caused billions of dollars in damage. Unfortunately, the loss creep is likely to continue for some time and many insurers and reinsurers - not us I must add - have either scaled back their coverage in the region or are thinking of doing so.

On home soil, we can draw some comparisons with the severe storms that hit at the beginning of the year. The damage or reinstatement cost may only be small compared to the experience of the East, but those affected will still be looking to their insurer for effective help and support. Taking all of these elements into account, delivering underwriting profitability has to be the overriding priority for all insurers when business planning for 2012 and 2013.

With the investment outlook remaining uncertain and volatile, the capability to balance underwriting books and manage limits and exposures for the benefit of shareholders, employees, customers and regulators is critical. By learning lessons from the East and saving for a rainy day, the market can deliver on its bond to customers and brokers and be ready to pay claims swiftly and fairly in times of adversity. In 2011, this bond was certainly tested and the insurance industry generally was not found wanting. Let's keep it that way.”

Mitsui Sumitomo at Lloyd’s is to target the UK and international accident & health market following the appointment of Steve Ranzetta as Class Underwriter.

Steve has over 20 years’ experience in this sector including time spent as a Lloyd's Underwriter and most recently as leader of London market Accident & Health trading for Chubb. Reporting to Underwriting Manager Andrew Dougall, Ranzetta will be responsible for utilising the syndicate’s well established trading relationships and Lloyd’s global franchise to create a competitive product offering for brokers.

The move into this new market follows the recent expansion of Mitsui Sumitomo’s UK and Ireland regional branch network and the hiring of a property owners team from AXA.

Andrew Dougall, Underwriting Manager, Casualty, Professional Lines, Accident & Health for Mitsui Sumitomo at Lloyd’s said: “We are delighted that Steve has joined our team to drive the development of our Accident & Health book. The new line of business will also provide us with the opportunity to diversify the syndicate’s portfolio and create a better balance against our other commercial relationships.”

Mitsui Sumitomo at Lloyd’s, as part of its development plans in the UK insurance market, has hired a five-strong proven property owners’ team to lead its launch into the real estate insurance market.

The team will be part of the property insurance portfolio of Mitsui Sumitomo at Lloyd’s and will report to Chris Bottomley, Underwriting Manager, Property. Previously at AXA, the team intends to develop a focused real estate insurance offering based on a superior product and service proposition.

The strategy will be underpinned by disciplined underwriting and a focused risk appetite. The new team will be led by Mike Philips. Mike has worked in the insurance industry for 32 years, seven of which were spent as Head of Specialist Markets at AXA leading the growth of a property owners’ account. Joining Mike will be Jeff Heaver, Mike Sparkes, Daniel Keehan and Katie Gill, who as a team have over 54 years of property owners underwriting experience.

Graeme Rayner, Head of Property and Casualty Underwriting at Mitsui Sumitomo at Lloyd’s states “Bringing in an established, experienced real estate insurance team is one part of our plan to broaden and enhance our product range in 2012. The real estate proposition complements our corporate, commercial and regional portfolios, and we look forward to working with our brokers to build our presence in this market.”

Andrew McKee, CEO of Mitsui Sumitomo at Lloyd’s said: “To make an impact in a new market such as property owners’, a solid understanding of the sector, strong client relationships and a great team ethic is required. I believe Mike and his established team meet all these criteria and will hit the ground running. This is another step forward that perfectly demonstrates our aspirations to create a footprint in Europe that is more reflective of Mitsui Sumitomo’s global insurance market standing. I am delighted they are joining Mitsui Sumitomo at Lloyd’s and we are very much looking forward to working with our new colleagues to build a new and profitable book of property owners’ business.”