Barbican duo return to market with new MGA underwriting platform

Former Barbican Insurance Group executives Jon Godfray (pictured front right) and Mark Harrington (pictured back right) have launched a new managing general agent (MGA) underwriting platform in the London market that they say can provide a “very strong” proposition in a highly competitive yet underserved market.

Arrow Risk will commence trading on December 1, 2021 and plans to launch its first underwriting practice shortly thereafter. It seeks to provide a “highly efficient and effective trading environment” for underwriting practices operating across specialty lines of business. Each practice will be managed by leading underwriters in their respective business lines and will operate with strongly rated capacity.

The new MGA platform will be led by Godfray as chief executive officer (CEO) and Harrington as chief underwriting officer (CUO). The management team will also include Mark Bridges (pictured back left) as chief operating officer (COO) and Lloyd Howson (pictured front left) as chief financial officer (CFO).

Godfray is a well-known insurance market professional who has played a leading role in the establishment of several companies, including a large scale London Market MGA platform. He served as the COO of Barbican for over a decade until January last year. Prior to that, he was the COO of Endurance.

Similarly, Harrington has decades of underwriting experience and has previously overseen the launch and provided underwriting oversight for several MGA platforms. Most recently, he served as the group CUO of Barbican. Harrington also worked as active underwriter of QBE Europe's Syndicate 2000, underwriting manager of North American Reinsurance at Zurich Insurance, and Casualty reinsurance underwriter at CNA.

Bridges’ 40-year career spans operations roles within both UK and European insurance sectors, while Howson has managed the financial activities of Lloyd’s and London Market insurance operations for over 30 years. Howson was group finance director of Barbican until 2019, and before that worked in various senior roles at RSA Insurance Group for over 22 years.

Arrow Risk combines a number of system applications to facilitate the rapid production of quality underwriting and claims data and to achieve a fully optimised insurance administration process.

Godfray said: “Arrow Risk is launching into a highly competitive but expanding MGA market which demands a very strong value proposition. We believe that the proven MGA pedigree of our leadership team, our commitment to recruiting best-in-class, performance-focused underwriters, and the modern, scalable technology that underpins our platform, provide a compelling proposition for today’s market.”

Harrington added: “The current trading environment is a positive one, and we see a clear opportunity to capitalise on these conditions through our differentiated business model. The insurance sector has undergone a period of dislocation and we are able to provide robust capacity and relevant products to areas of the market currently underserved. We are excited about having the opportunity to build profitable and sustainable portfolios that generate strong returns as the market continues to evolve.”

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