Peak Re receives long term HK licence

Hong Kong-based reinsurer Peak Reinsurance has been granted a licence to underwrite long term reinsurance business by the Office of the Commissioner of Insurance of Hong Kong.

Peak Re said it believes there are significant opportunities in the life and health market in the Asia Pacific region for reinsurers that understand the region and have a long term commitment to serving their clients and the local societies.

Peak Re’s life & health team will be led by Angela Koechli who will oversee the company’s life and health reinsurance business.

Prior to Peak Re, Koechli spent three years with Aon Benfield where she was head of life reinsurance in Asia Pacific. She has more than 30 years’ life re/insurance experience having worked with Swiss Re, Union Re, Winterthur Life and setting up her own actuarial consulting firm in 2001.

Also joining the team are Rani Rajasingham as senior vice president (SVP) and chief actuary life & health, Margarette Tan as SVP, operations, life & health and Santanu Kumar Dutta as vice president, underwriting, life & health.

Franz Hahn, chief executive officer of Peak Re, said: “We intend to be an innovative reinsurer that offers a complete suite of reinsurance services to our clients. Having the long term business licence is a major milestone for us as we are now one of the first local start-up reinsurers to underwrite a book of both property & casualty and life & health reinsurance business in the Asia Pacific region.”

Koechli said: “Our strategy is based on people, technology and commitment. We have a team of professionals with credible experience in life re/insurance in Asia and the highest ethical standards. In addition, we have made an upfront investment in best-of-breed IT systems for pricing and valuation, underwriting, risk accumulation and technical accounting to optimise system automation efficiencies.”