In the wake of its recent acquisition of CATCo, insurer Markel has appointed a new chief operations officer, Mark Way. Way has been with the company since 2011, serving as fund operations and investor relations director.
Way has over 20 years’ experience working in international financial markets and has worked as managing partner at the Madano Partnership in London and prior to that, he worked for Australia-based investment property firm Lend Lease.
Despite the transaction of ILS and asset management firm CATCo only closing in December, Markel said it has already seen an increase in interest for both its traditional reinsurance and CATCo product segments.
Prior to being acquired by Markel, CATCo managed around US$2.7bn in retrocession and traditional reinsurance for 2015. In 2016, Markel president and co-CEO Richard Whitt sees the company’s assets breaking the US$3bn mark.
Despite the reinsurance and CATCo divisions of Markel sharing the same set of clients, the company’s leadership is optimistic that the synergy between the operations of the two divisions would benefit both the firm and its consumers.
Whitt said, “Joining CATCo's insurance linked investment management capabilities alongside Markel's traditional reinsurance capabilities should make for a powerful combination."
CATCo, being an experienced capital markets player, will help Markel make the most of the abundance of third-party capital in the ILS space to supplement its reinsurance operations. Clients are also offered a broader set of services to choose from.
