Brit creates head of innovation role, hires insurtech expert James Birch

Specialty re/insurer Brit has created the new post of head of innovation and appointed James Birch, who starts today (22 July).

He will report directly to CEO Matthew Wilson and take responsibility for managing the innovation process at Brit, including identifying business opportunities and new technologies to support the group strategy.

Birch has more than a decade of experience of working in fintech and joins Brit from venture capital firm Hambro Perks. In his previous role he led the establishment of insurtech investment vehicle InsurTech Gateway in 2017. He also led fundraising, oversaw deal flow and managed the fund’s portfolio in his role as principal.

At InsurTech Gateway, Birch oversaw the build of five insurtech incubated start-ups and led the seeding of 10 investments. Prior to working at Hambro Perks, he co-founded Pluto which focuses on combining dynamic pricing, digitalised policy management and an automated claims service for people buying travel insurance. He also worked at EY where he set up the Global FinTech team. He began his career at Accenture, where he focused on helping financial services clients with their innovation agendas.

Wilson said: “As one of our three strategic pillars, innovation is a critical area of focus for us. We are therefore delighted that James joins Brit in the newly created role of head of innovation. James will bring an entrepreneurial approach and fresh perspectives as we look to explore new opportunities, develop and implement new technologies and evolve our processes to respond to the changing demands of the market and our clients.”

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