Africa Specialty Risks (ASR) has made its first dedicated hire for Latin America. Yelhis Hernández joins as regional lead, with more than eight years of Lloyd's market experience behind her as ASR pushes into the region for the first time.
Hernández will be based in Mexico City and will report to Amit Khilosia, chief distribution officer. Her remit covers building broker and client relationships and developing ASR's commercial presence across Latin America.
She joins from Lloyd's, where she spent more than eight years in senior market development and relationship management roles across London, Mexico, and Central America. At Lloyd's, she oversaw a portfolio exceeding US$20 billion across strategic relationships with the market's managing agents.
Before Lloyd's, she held positions at Willis Towers Watson and Zurich across operations, business transformation, and risk management in Latin America. Hernández brings approximately 30 years of professional experience, more than 18 of which were in the (re)insurance sector.
ASR was founded in 2020 by chief executive Mikir Shah and is forecast to write approximately USD500 million in gross written premiums in 2026. The group operates Syndicate 2454 at Lloyd's, the only dedicated growth economy syndicate at the market, alongside reinsurance vehicles in Bermuda and Mauritius.
The appointment follows a June 2026 agreement in which Vitruvian Partners agreed to acquire a controlling stake from founding investor Helios Investment Partners. The deal will provide capital to fund expansion across Latin America, India and Asia, alongside new specialty lines and expanded Lloyd's underwriting.
The Hernández hire sits within a broader wave of specialist recruitment at ASR. Days earlier, ASR also named a Lloyd's energy veteran to Syndicate 2454 to lead oil and gas underwriting across Africa and developing markets. Both appointments draw on Lloyd's-trained specialists: Hernández for a new geography, Wilson for a new product line within ASR's existing markets.
ASR's business has until now been concentrated in Africa and the Middle East, where it underwrites facultative reinsurance across property, casualty, and specialty lines, alongside direct insurance in political risk and trade credit. Africa's total reinsurance market has grown to over US$6 billion, according to a February 2026 analysis.
Hernández said businesses across the region are navigating increasingly complex risks yet often lack access to specialty capacity. Shah said Latin America presents an opportunity for ASR to work alongside local partners to address protection gaps.
