Nephila gains approval for Lloyd's managing agency; appoints leaders

Nephila Capital, a Bermuda-based investment manager specializing in reinsurance risk, has received in-principle approval from Lloyd's board to form its own managing agency.

Nephila Syndicate Management (NSM) said it will submit an application to the UK Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA)/ Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), and expects to assume the management of Syndicate 2357 in mid-2019 on receipt of formal authorisation.

Nephila is an asset manager of vehicles dedicated to investing in natural catastrophe and weather risk. Nephila's Syndicate 2357, which is backed by funds managed by Nephila, has been managed by Lloyd's third-party syndicate manager Asta since its inception in 2013.

Adam Beatty, currently the active underwriter of Syndicate 2357, will assume the role of chief executive officer of NSM.

"We consider our Lloyd's business an important strategic initiative for Nephila," said Frank Majors, co-founder and co-CEO of Nephila Capital. "We have been fortunate to work with Asta these last five years and benefitted enormously from their expertise and experience. We are now focused on supporting Adam's efforts to create further opportunities for Nephila in this key market."

NSM has also made several key new senior hires, including Gina Butterworth who joined in June as director of underwriting. Butterworth was previously director of underwriting at Equity Insurance Group (ERS) and spent many years in senior roles at Chaucer. Butterworth will succeed Beatty as active underwriter of the Syndicate effective January 2019.

Irfan Haq will join in October 2018 as director of finance and operations. Haq joins from Occam Underwriting where he was CFO and has previous senior Lloyd's market finance experience from his seven years at CNA Hardy.

Charity Bare joined in May to assume the role of director of risk and compliance. Bare was previously head of risk at Talbot Underwriting and worked in a risk management role at Brit Insurance prior to that.

Sam Drysdale will join in September 2018 as head of claims. Drysdale recently held the same role at Fidelis and worked in claims at Renaissance Re Syndicate Management before that.

Lastly, Salil Parkash will transfer from Nephila's technology team to take on the role of head of IT for NSM. Parkash joined the company in August 2015 and previously worked at Commerzbank.

Beatty said: "Over the last five years the Syndicate has grown into a significant underwriting platform for Nephila's funds. We are particularly delighted with the quality of the team we have been able to attract to Nephila to manage the new agency and all of us at Nephila look forward to working with them."

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