Japanese reinsurance portfolios transferred to RiverStone

A portfolio of reinsurance business has been transferred from the UK branch of Aioi Nissay Dowa Insurance Company (ADI) to UK run-off specialist RiverStone Insurance, with effect from January 31 2020.

The transfer, under Part VII of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000, provides ADI with legal and economic finality in respect of the transferred portfolio and enables ADI to focus its resources on its core business.

The transaction is another step forward in the quiet growth of RiverStone, which also completed a RITC transaction with The Channel Syndicate, SCOR Specialty’s Lloyd’s arm, in January 2020.

In the UK RiverStone, a run-off specialist and part of the Fairfax Group, manages business stemming from the companies market and Lloyd’s, where it has run a Lloyd’s managing agency and run-off syndicate (3500) since 2003.

Speaking to Intelligent Insurer in July last year, Luke Tanzer, managing director of RiverStone UK, acknowledged that the company has tended to keep quiet about its achievements.

“We have always been a fairly quiet player in the market—we have never really blown our own trumpet,” he said. “That said, we decided a couple of years ago that we should explain what differentiates us from our competitors, and that has meant a change in how we approach things.”

A key element in RiverStone’s approach is the reputational strength and reliability it offers, he added.

“There is nothing worse than selling a book of business only to see that company resell it to yet another third party in a few years’ time in a deal you have no control over,” he said.

“On top of that, we have the reputation of the Fairfax Group as a whole at the back of our minds. We offer sellers complex claims management expertise, managed by skilled and tenured professionals who provide ownership, accountability and commitment in their aim to ensure transaction security and maintain sellers’ reputations.

“For insurers and reinsurers ceding legacy business, it is not just what we do at RiverStone that matters, it is also how we do it. We are dedicated to responsible run-off solutions.”