Rokstone enters aviation market with new $50m facility and senior hire

Rokstone Underwriting, part of the Direct Insurance Group, has launched a new aviation division with an additional $50m A rated capacity, to grow its geographic presence and diversify its speciality product range.

The new division will be led by Wayne Murphy, who has spent almost 30 years within the global re/insurance market, specialising in aviation and aerospace. Prior to joining Rokstone, he was deputy CEO at Trust Re and has held senior leadership roles in several top tier insurance groups, including 11 years at Swiss Re Corporate Solutions where he was global head of general aviation & aerospace.

Rokstone is a specialist MGA serving international re/insurance brokers in specialty lines business, and currently underwrites $125m GWP in several specialty lines including marine, terrorism & political violence, direct & facultative property, treaty property, construction & engineering and liability.

Rokstone's capacity provider Best Meridian will provide the licensed paper for the facility and it is reinsured into the London market with a number of carriers. The capacity limits secured for the new facility are Hull up to $5m, general aviation liability up to $30m and airline & aerospace liability up to $50m.

Dean Pitts, Rokstone’s managing director, said: “We’re delighted to secure such strong capacity for a new line – testament to the confidence that carriers have in our expertise and knowledge of specialty markets. In a hard market in particular, carriers will seek those MGAs that they are confident have combined credibility and agility.

“We’re an entrepreneurial, people acquisitive business. The launch of this exciting new Aviation Division at Rokstone signifies the latest move in our Group wide strategy for considered growth and we expect further expansion over the coming months. I warmly welcome Wayne Murphy to the team. We now have more than 150 staff group wide and our recruitment strategy has shown no sign of slowing down during the global lockdown. Rokstone has a great heritage with some of the market’s strongest underwriters in its specialty lines and I’m delighted that as a group we continue to appeal to the best talent globally from across the market.”

Murphy commented: “Rokstone’s relentless focus on underwriting profit and client service make it a different proposition to most MGAs. From the outset the Rokstone leadership team have continued to emphasise their mission of creating long term value for their clients, capacity providers and shareholders. This mentality, combined with the entrepreneurial DNA of the business, has inspired me to join the team and I really look forward to the years ahead within the Group.”