XL Catlin sets its sights on the ‘fascinating’ Indian market

Brendan Plessis, head of emerging markets at XL Catlin, said that the company is excited by the launch of its Indian reinsurance branch earlier this year.

“It was by design—we looked at the changing regulations and for us to be meaningful in the Indian subcontinent we need to continue to provide risk transfer solutions to our clients in-country and to work within the framework of the right of first refusal,” he told Monte Carlo Today.

“It made perfect sense for us to establish a branch in Mumbai, which is the heart of the market in India.”

Plessis stressed that XL Catlin was not a stranger to the Indian market. XL Catlin has had service operations in India since 2004, when it opened its first offices in Gurugram, later adding offices in Bengaluru. The shared services teams deliver a range of critical business support services on a global scale in areas such as underwriting, actuarial, claims, finance and marketing.

He said that having a risk-bearing reinsurance carrier in India is “fabulous”, adding that it was a big step that was warmly welcomed. It was in lockstep with what XL Catlin is trying to do within the wider emerging markets strategy and he added that the firm is working very closely with its underwriting teams to enable them to be successful.

Plessis said that the XL Catlin reinsurance team in India was coming together in a fast and efficient manner and that it had been fully on top of the latest in regulatory changes coming from the Indian government, especially from the regulators in Hyderabad.

“We have a fantastic footprint globally, with our network partners working with us in terms of paper in-country, and we’re doing a lot of work with those partners in terms of driving the business for multinationals,” he said.

“It’s important to trust partners—the trust component is critical in places and that is especially true in emerging markets, where the politics are as important as the economics. Our strategic intelligence team is pivotal in this process.

“India is fascinating. Out of the BRICS nations, China and India are firing on all cylinders. There have been issues in Brazil and Russia, while South Africa has been facing the double whammy of the commodities crunch and political changes.

“India has a very reformist prime minister, Narendra Modi, and in the past year we have seen a great many reforms in the country that have made it extremely attractive for us.”

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