Beazley swoops on Swiss Re, Zurich in Asia Pacific growth push

Specialist insurer  Beazley has appointed four underwriters in Asia Pacific to support its growth strategy in the region. The new hires come from  Swiss Re,  Zurich and  Asia Capital Reinsurance Group.

Dindson Phua and Mike Lu have joined the firm's international financial lines team while Reeta Ambaram has joined the specialty treaty team. Jordan Schwarz is relocating to the Singapore office as part of the mergers & acquisitions (M&A) underwriting team.

Phua and Lu will be responsible for underwriting Beazley’s full suite of specialty lines products, including directors & officers (D&O), professional indemnity, financial institutions and cyber as well as healthcare liability. They will report to Nicholas Tey, international financial lines manager for Asia Pacific.

Phua joins from Asia Capital Reinsurance Group. He will bolster Beazley’s expansion in the miscellaneous medical and life sciences market and the development of Virtual Care, Beazley’s policy for technology-enabled health & wellbeing services.

Lu joins Beazley with 12 years of insurance industry experience across North Asia. He joins from Swiss Re where he spent six years. Most recently, he was responsible for growing the finpro and casualty business at Swiss Re Corporate Solutions in the Greater China markets.

Ambaram joins Beazley with more than 20 years of credit and surety experience. Her role will span specialty and surety reinsurance and she will lead the Beazley Product Solutions offering for the region. Most recently, Reeta served as head of surety (Singapore & Hong Kong) at Zurich Insurance. Prior to this, she was based in Johannesburg, South Africa, responsible for bonds and guarantee business at Santam Insurance Company. She previously spent nearly a decade underwriting risks at Swiss Re in both South Africa and Switzerland. Reeta will report to Thomas Moore, global head of specialty surety.

Schwarz moves from Beazley’s London office to strengthen the M&A team and meet growing demand for the product across APAC. He joined Beazley in 2015 and moved into the M&A team in 2018, underwriting M&A risks across the UK, Europe, USA and Asia markets. He will report to Jade Cummings.

Lucien Mounier, Beazley’s head of Asia Pacific, said: “We are very pleased to welcome on board Dindson, Mike, Reeta and Jordan who bring diverse skillsets and broad industry knowledge to the team. Attracting and developing talent remains as important as ever during this pandemic as we look to grow and enhance our offering for clients across the region. Since unveiling our growth strategy last October, our regional underwriting team has grown by 40 percent and we have continued to flex and grow our offering to meet the changing needs of businesses.”