Canopius: Everything you need to know

About Canopius

Canopius is a global specialty (re)insurer that has underwriting operations in Australia, Bermuda, China, Singapore, The Netherlands, the UK, and the USA. Its products and services are divided into two business lines:

Insurance

• Accident and health: It offers cover for sickness, personal accidents, sports, travel, and international medical expenses.
• Special risk: It sits alongside the company’s core open market insurance business, which works with lead markets in other product areas. Its products include consortia, bespoke Qs with enhanced PC options, and MGA capacity.
• Casualty: It includes general liability, professional indemnity, FINPRO and US management and professional lines.
• Credit, political, and crisis: It deals with political risk, aviation war, crisis management, and trade credit.
• Cyber: It offers full first and third-party cyber coverage, remediation costs, breaches of privacy liability, network security liability, non-physical business interruption, physical damage caused by cyberattacks, social engineering coverage, and technology errors and omissions.
• Delegated authority: It provides coverage for US binders and UK household and commercial property & SME.
• Energy: It covers upstream and midstream energy, offshore CAR, excess third-party liability, physical property damage, renewable energy, and operator’s extra expense/control of well risks.
• Heavy industry & engineering: It focuses on chemical, mining, CAR and EAR, business interruption, and machinery breakdown.
• Marine hull, liability, & cargo: It focuses on open market property, space, specialist consumer products, and specie.
• Open market property: It comprises large account open market commercial property insurance, focused on real estate, retail and hospitality sectors, and light industrial, excluding petrochemical.
• Space: It comprises launch, in-orbit testing and in-orbit operations, which work with global satellite operators and owners that are responsible for telephony, direct-to-home TV, Earth imaging, data transfer, satellite radio, broadband services, and other space-based applications.

Reinsurance

• Agriculture: It provides coverage for crops, forestry, livestock, and fish farms.
• Casualty: It focuses on GTP, EL, PI, WCA, PA, auto, environmental, and product recall.
• Engineering: It includes cover for DSU, CPE, EAR, CAR, machinery breakdown, and operational power.
• Marine: It offers cover for hull, liabilities, cargo, specie, energy, yachts, ports and terminals, inland marine, and war.
• Property: It focuses on worldwide, regional, and single territory cat; per risk; aggregate XL; and pro-rata.
• Protection and indemnity: It focuses on indemnity group, fixed premium, and marine mutuals.
• Retrocession: It covers property, casualty and marine XL, and ILW.
• Structured: It provides bespoke solutions such as retention and frequency covers, ADS, multi-line, and multi-year.
• Terrorism & political violence: It offers protection for government pools and open market.

The company’s ILS platform also gives investors access to the (re)insurance markets through underwriting and distribution of the Canopius group.

History of Canopius

Canopius was established via a management buyout in December 2003, with £25 million equity capital. Throughout the years, the company has grown through acquisitions and organic expansion.

The company’s name reflects its heritage, linking back to Nathaniel Canopius, who was a Cretan scholar known to have brewed the first cup of coffee in England in 1637. In the 17th century, Edward Lloyd’s coffee house became recognised for taking out marine insurance in London. Canopius eventually became heavily associated with the Lloyd’s market, which remains at the core of the company’s operations.

Leadership at Canopius

Neil Robertson – Group CEO

Robertson was appointed as group chief executive officer in January 2022, succeeding Michael Watson, who continued in his role as group chairman. Robertson joined Canopius as deputy group CEO in May 2021.

As group CEO, he leads Canopius in setting and achieving its strategic ambitions, furthering its distinctiveness, and delivering enhanced returns for our shareholders, all while creating a culture in which its employees can thrive. Robertson also focuses on developing its Asia-Pacific, Bermudian and US operations, while continuing to build brand recognition as a leading London specialty (re)insurer.

Michael Watson – Group chairman

Watson is the executive chairman of Canopius. He is a chartered accountant and has more than 40 years of experience in commercial and investment banking, stock broking, trade finance, and life and non-life insurance.

Watson led the original management buyout of Canopius in 2003 and 2018. He is also the director of Weston Insurance Holdings Corporation and serves on Lloyd’s Council.

Culture at Canopius

Canopius promotes equality and diversity in the workplace. In 2019, the company made changes to drop its mean salary gap further and increase female representation at the highest levels of the firm.

The company also improved its family-friendly policies by amending its approach to maternity, paternity and shared parental leaves as well as encouraging working parents by introducing “maternity & family buddies.” The programme allows “buddies” to share advice on planning for upcoming parental leave, how to prepare for their return to the office, and how to keep in touch.