Heerasing leaves XL Catlin to join ACR Capital as deputy CEO

ACR Capital Holdings has appointed Bobby Heerasing as deputy group chief executive and deputy chief executive of its fully owned subsidiary Asia Capital Re.

Heerasing joins ACR with over 20 years of re/insurance industry experience, most of which was spent at Catlin and subsequently XL Catlin. He previously worked in London and Houston, but since 2002, has been largely based in Singapore where he took on various management and underwriting roles for Asia Pacific.

Prior to the Catlin and XL merger, Heerasing was the chief underwriting officer of Catlin Asia Pacific, responsible for its insurance and reinsurance divisions. Following the Catlin-XL merger, he was appointed regional underwriting director, Asia Pacific (Insurance). In 2016, he took on the additional role of distribution director.

"I am particularly impressed by Mr Heerasing’s strong technical knowledge, and risk and underwriting management experience in Asia," said group chief executive Hans-Peter Gerhardt. "Furthermore, his experience in successful change management will be a big asset for ACR at this stage, when ACR’s acquisition by its new owners is near completion. We are all very excited about his appointments."

According to the company, Heerasing’s appointment comes at a time when the Singapore-headquartered reinsurance group is being 100 percent acquired by Shenzhen state-owned investment corporations, Shenzhen Qianhai Financial Holdings and Shenzhen Investment Holdings.

It added that Gerhardt will soon return to Europe. As deputy group chief executive, Heerasing will assume the group’s top leadership roles in acting capacity upon Gerhardt’s departure.

Hsieh Fu Hua, chairman of the board, commented: "Mr Heerasing’s extensive underwriting and management experience as well as successful track record, particularly in Asia, make him an excellent fit for ACR. Both the Board and ACR’s new owners have full confidence that he will be a strong leader for ACR through its ownership transition as well as in the group’s continued evolution into a leading Asian risk solutions provider."

Heerasing added: "I was based in Asia during ACR’s formative years in the industry and have observed its evolution with keen interest and respect. I have been most impressed by the group’s resilience and ability to build strong, sustainable client relationships during what has turned out to be a challenging period for the industry. As ACR enters its 11th year of existence, it is a young reinsurer by industry standards but one with a reputation for consistently delivering great service and a wide suite of products to our clients and brokers.”

"I am excited about the opportunity to lead ACR and look forward to working closely with its new owners and talented staff to build on these strong foundations of service and relevance to the reinsurance community as we collectively look to further grow the company."

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