Willis Re has hired Christian Howells (pictured above) as part of the senior team charged with launching the broker into global life reinsurance.
Howells joins from Macquarie Asset Management, where he was head of international insurance solutions. In that role, he advised insurance clients on shaping investment strategies across private markets.
His remit at Willis Re puts him in the group leading the broker's entry into the global life reinsurance segment. The new unit has been set up to lean on the analytical and consulting muscle housed within the wider WTW Group.
The push is being framed as a response to forecast expansion in the life market, with digitalization, demographic change, and shifting regulatory and financial settings driving demand for more technical, tailored solutions.
Before Macquarie, Howells spent more than 16 years at Schroders, including leadership posts covering global insurance clients and Asia-Pacific insurance solutions. He worked with insurers across both developed and emerging economies, with a particular tilt toward Asia.
His track record also takes in advising insurers, reinsurers and institutional investors on investment and asset-liability management — work centered on capital efficiency, risk-based capital regimes, liquidity, and long-term portfolio construction.
The Howells hire arrives alongside other senior moves at the broker, including the recruitment of veteran broker Richard Jones from Gallagher Re to lead Asia operations from Singapore from October 2026.
Jones brings close to 40 years in the market, with the move landing as Asian reinsurance premiums climbed from $23.792 billion in 2014 to $32.395 billion in 2023.
The expansion has also stretched to Bermuda, where Willis Re has pulled in roughly 80 hires from Guy Carpenter since mid-2025. That run includes former Bermuda CEO John Fletcher and property retrocession specialist Richard Keegan, alongside Nick Pritchard from Conduit Re.
Iain Whittingham, commenting on the Howells appointment, framed the new arrival's mix of investment and life reinsurance experience as a fit with the broker's launch plans.
"It's fantastic to welcome Christian to Willis Re. His blend of life reinsurance and investment expertise is exactly what we need as we enter the Global Life Re market. It is great to have him on board, and I am looking forward to the impact he will make for our clients," Whittingham said.
