Ed: new name; stronger game?

In September 2016, broker Cooper Gay rebranded as Ed, sparking much discussion across the industry.

Just over a year later, Agustin de Freitas, chief executive officer of Latin America at Ed, spoke to FIDES Today about the broker’s strategy across the region.

“We will continue to focus on lines of business that we can deliver the best solutions, services and negotiating power to our clients; we will serve the entire region wherever we see opportunities to grow regardless of the country size,” de Freitas explained.

He was appointed in June to the role, with more than 20 years of reinsurance experience in the Latin American and Caribbean regions.

Ed is now active in almost every territory in Latin America. It’s also looking to steadily grow its presence in every territory, with the exception of Venezuela.

“Unfortunately, Venezuela, due to its economic and political instability, is the only country we are not actively looking for business in at the moment,” said de Freitas.

“We would love to see market conditions change and thus be able to return to doing business in Venezuela, a country that we have great appreciation of, which is also home to many close friends.”

Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay, which de Freitas calls “non-cat territories”, are continuing to see pressure on prices.

“Some of these markets are entering a dangerous zone in which the technical result is about to enter the negative zone,” the chief executive warned.

On the cat-exposed territories, there is a “general concern” about the expected price increases driven by the recent events in the region.

According to de Freitas, both regions within Latin America should start to stabilise or even see price increases.

Another factor he listed was the idea that many of the young underwriters and brokers working in the region have not yet been through a hard market.

“When this happens, it will change the way they do business for the coming years in the region,” he said.

De Freitas believes that the Latin America reinsurance market will soon be ending the soft market cycle.

“Recent cat events are still developing and already putting pressure to raise prices across the board for all the region. The real question is what that increase will be and how long it will last,” he concluded.

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