DUAL Group has unified its transactional risk operations into a single global practice at a commercially precise moment. North American R&W rates rose 16% year-on-year in 2025 after three years of declines, claims frequency and severity both rose, and Marsh placed a record US$91.6 billion in transactional risk limits - up 34% from 2024 - as global M&A deal values reached nearly US$5 trillion. The UK recorded historic notification and payout levels in the same year. A market that has absorbed claims experience and begun repricing, while simultaneously seeing record deal volumes driving record limit placements, is one where a consolidated global platform with single-access capacity across product lines and regions has a specific competitive advantage over a network of independently operating units.
The unified practice brings together more than 80 underwriters across 11 jurisdictions in the Americas, UK, Europe and ANZ under one operating model, backed long-term by Liberty Specialty Markets as lead capacity provider through a global binder. The practice spans warranty and indemnity, representations and warranties, tax, contingent risk, title and climate risk and resilience lines, with shared technology, analytics and governance frameworks alongside dedicated regional claims teams and local underwriting authority. DUAL has set a target of £500 million in gross written premium from the practice by 2030.
Richard Clapham, DUAL Group's chief executive, said the market shift had raised the bar for specialist underwriting. "As deals become larger, increasingly cross-border and more sophisticated, the need for specialist underwriting and consistent, high-quality execution has never been greater," he said.
The specialist tax insurer count in the UK and Europe stands at around 25, up from 11 five years ago per Gallagher - a doubling of specialist competition in the segment where DUAL is now consolidating. In that environment, a unified operating model that creates a single access point to combined capacity across product lines and regions is a structural differentiator rather than simply an administrative convenience. Paul Smith, group head of transactional risk at DUAL, said the unified model was designed to meet demand for multi-product solutions on complex transactions. "Insurance is already a critical component of the deal process but we are now seeing increasing demand from clients for complex multi-product solutions backed by sophisticated claims handling processes," he said.
Smith said the arrangement draws on scale benefits including shared expertise and data while keeping local market knowledge at the core of underwriting decisions - the specific combination that makes consolidation commercially rational without eroding the jurisdictional expertise that transactional risk underwriting requires.
Stephen Tompson, head of supercoverholders at Liberty Specialty Markets, said certainty of coverage had become a priority in the current deal environment. "In such a volatile business environment, having certainty of risk coverage around deals is crucial for a streamlined and efficient process," he said.
Transactional risk insurance covers deal participants against unforeseen and contingent liabilities arising after completion, bridging indemnity gaps between buyers and sellers, accelerating deal timelines and reducing the risk of post-completion disputes. Further expansion of the practice is planned.
