RSG expands products and geography by opening Barcelona office

Specialty insurer Ryan Specialty Group (RSG) has confirmed plans to open an office in Barcelona as part of an expansion strategy to grow geographically and increase its products.

The Barcelona office will focus on the core transactional risk products of Warranty & Indemnity insurance and Commercial Tax Liability insurance, servicing brokers across continental Europe. The new site will be led by Luc Joordens and Marta Batalla, supported by Luis Feijoo and Isabel den Hollander, who all have “an established track record of underwriting profitable transactional risk insurance throughout continental Europe”, the insurer said.

RSG has also appointed Kerry Westwell as head of tax. She joins from private practice where she spent 21 years advising clients on UK and international tax. Westwell will be based in the company's London office and will be responsible for building the tax services across RSG’s London and Barcelona offices.

In tandem with the opening of RSG’s Barcelona office and recruitment of new team members, the managing general underwriter (MGU) Hunter George & Partner - which focuses on insurance for M&A - will start operating under the new name of RSG Transactional Risks Europe from the 1 September 2019.

Ian Theato, director at the MGU, said: “Hunter George has been part of the RSG family for three and a half years, so leveraging the global success of this iconic brand is a natural evolution for us as we pursue international expansion.

“The transactional risk practice has experienced significant growth in 2019. We have hired nine experts which has expanded our team to 19 professionals, with 11 lawyers speaking five languages. Our deep technical knowledge, consistent underwriting approach and unwavering work ethic, enable the team to review thousands of transactions every year and provide superior service to our clients and carrier partners,” Theato added.

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