AXA XL bolsters E&S excess casualty with WTW and Arch hires

Re/insurer  AXA XL has tapped two new underwriters, formerly of WTW and Arch Insurance Group, to expand the capabilities in the excess & surplus casualty insurance space.

The company has appointed Ying Yin Zhong (pictured left) as senior underwriter in New York, and Zachery Gentile (pictured right) as underwriter in Exton, Pennsylvania, to its E&S excess casualty team in the US.

Zhong joins AXA XL from Arch Insurance Group where she served as a senior underwriter on the company's E&S casualty Northeast region team. She started her E&S insurance career gaining market experience with Cover X and RT Specialty. In her new role, Zhong will help wholesale brokers in the East Zone address their clients' E&S excess liability needs.

Gentile has more than eight years of insurance industry experience, including as a client manager with WTW. More recently, he worked as an underwriter with SUITELIFE Underwriting Managers. In his new underwriting role, Gentile will support wholesale broker partners throughout AXA XL's Central Zone.

Kimberly Smid, chief underwriting officer of excess liability at AXA XL, said: "Businesses are finding continued challenges in the admitted insurance markets with insurers being more conservative with their capacity and rates still climbing. That's where E&S insurance leaders, like AXA XL, continue to thrive in meeting the excess liability demands of business with more challenging risk profiles."

Smid added: "With new additions like Ying and Zach, we continue to reinforce our underwriting resources to help our Wholesale Broker partners tackle their increasing flow of submissions. They join an already experienced and committed E&S team that impressively exercises their technical underwriting skills and creativity to find insurance solutions for our clients."

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