Four organisations have announced senior appointments across Hong Kong, Singapore, Melbourne and Manila, with the most significant cluster of moves coming from Canopius and HDI Global, both of which are actively building specialist underwriting capacity in Asia-Pacific.
Canopius has announced three APAC hires covering claims, property and credit and political risk, each joining in the final quarter of 2026.
Richard Adamczyk joins as senior claims manager, ANZ, on 28 September, based in Melbourne. He joins from the Legal Practitioners' Liability Committee, where he was head of claims, and spent 15 years at AIG before that, most recently as head of financial lines claims, Pacific.
Louise Wai joins as head of property direct and facultative, APAC, on 1 November, based in Singapore. She joins from Helvetia Swiss Insurance Company's Singapore branch, where she served as underwriting manager for engineering and property solutions across Asia. She brings more than 25 years of regional property underwriting experience.
Jack Hullah joins as head of credit and political risk, APAC, on 10 November, also based in Singapore. He joins from AXA XL, where he was most recently regional product lead for Asia credit and political risk, and has more than 15 years of experience across credit strategy, political risk and credit insurance, structured finance, and regional business development.
SK Lee, CEO Asia Pacific and MENA at Canopius, said the three appointments reflect the company's continued investment in underwriting and claims talent as it builds its specialty capabilities across the region.
For brokers placing credit and political risk, property direct and facultative, or financial lines claims in APAC, Canopius has added three experienced practitioners to the team they will deal with across each of those disciplines simultaneously.
HDI Global has appointed Rebecca Kong as head of distribution and strategic partnerships, LiLian Lau as head of property, and Rebekah Khew as head of marine, all based in Hong Kong and all focused on North Asia.
The appointments represent an explicit expansion of HDI Global's ambitions in the region. The company has said it intends to take a lead role on more insurance programmes across North Asia, extending its existing footprint in liability and engineering into property and marine.
Kong brings more than two decades of commercial insurance experience across Greater China, including multinational programmes and strategic distribution management, most recently in senior distribution and strategic planning roles at AIG China. Lau has more than 20 years of property, construction, natural resources and risk engineering experience, most recently leading Greater China natural resources and construction at Allianz, overseeing underwriting teams in Hong Kong and Shanghai. Khew brings 30 years of marine insurance experience across cargo, project cargo and marine liabilities, most recently as director, Asia-Pacific, at Vivace Insurance Partners.
Michael Ahn, CEO of HDI Global Hong Kong, said the strengthened team would focus on major property risks across Greater China, specialist marine and cargo business across regional markets, and international programmes for North Asian companies expanding overseas, including fronting and risk-sharing solutions with cedants.
For brokers placing large property or marine risks in North Asia, or looking for fronting capacity on international programmes, HDI Global's three hires signal a more actively competitive position in those lines than the company has previously held in the region.
Lockton has appointed Victoria Yow as head of People Solutions in Hong Kong, covering employee benefits, health, wellbeing and people risk advisory services.
Yow has more than 15 years of experience across employee benefits and health insurance in Asia. She joins from Pacific Prime Insurance Brokers, where she was general manager for Hong Kong and led a team of more than 120 professionals. Earlier roles include regional and local business development positions at Cigna, and roles at Mercer, Now Health International and AIA Singapore.
Cedric Luah, regional head of People Solutions Asia at Lockton, said Yow's experience and client focus would help the firm support clients building benefits strategies across the region.
Manulife Philippines has appointed Erica Jurilla Santos as chief operations officer, effective 15 September, with Santos joining the company's executive committee in the role.
Santos is responsible for operations strategy, service delivery, operational performance, digital adoption and customer-focused innovation. She joined Manulife Business Processing Services in 2022 and most recently led a 600-strong team supporting Manulife's US insurance business across new business, policy administration, and life and health claims.
Rahul Hora, president and CEO of Manulife Philippines, said Santos brings a strong track record in transformation, operational resilience and process efficiency to the role. Santos said operations plays a critical role in shaping the customer and adviser experience and that she looks forward to building simpler and more responsive ways of working.
