Carpenter joins from McGill and Partners, the London-headquartered specialty broker, and brings more than two decades of experience across reinsurance and broking roles in Dublin, London and international markets.
The Dublin launch follows Howden Re's establishment of operations in Iberia in September 2025, where David Santos and Antonio Pombo were appointed to lead a new Madrid office. The Irish office is designed to give domestic insurers, MGAs and captives direct access to Howden Re's analytics and capital advisory capabilities through a locally based team.
Ireland ranks as the fourth-largest insurance hub in the EU, with gross written premiums reaching €109 billion in 2024, up from €73 billion in 2017. Irish insurers are also the second-largest writers of cross-border business in the EU after Luxembourg, generating €40 billion in cross-border gross written premiums in 2024.
The country's position as the only English-speaking EU member state has long made it a natural base for global insurers managing exposures across European and US markets. That positioning has strengthened considerably since Brexit. The loss of UK passporting rights at the end of 2020 meant UK-authorized insurers could no longer operate across the EEA on the basis of a single UK authorization. In response, a number of major US-headquartered groups including Berkshire Hathaway, Travelers and Beazley established or expanded Irish-authorized entities to maintain access to EU markets. That structural shift has accelerated the flow of underwriting and reinsurance functions into Dublin, broadening the client base for reinsurance brokers with local presence.
Ireland's insurance sector contributed €3 billion to the Irish Exchequer in 2024 and now employs more than 43,000 people, an increase of over 20% compared to 2023.
Carpenter will focus on domestic insurers, international carriers with Irish portfolios, and a growing cohort of MGAs and captives. The MGA segment in particular is expanding rapidly across Europe. Howden Re's own research, published in its Agents of Change report in June 2025, projected that the European MGA market, currently generating around $20 billion in gross written premium, could more than double to exceed $50 billion within five years.
Ireland also hosted 61 captives in 2024, according to Captive Review's World Domicile Update 2025, placing it among Europe's leading captive domiciles alongside Guernsey, Luxembourg and the Isle of Man.
Matthew Westerman, managing director of Howden Re International, UK&I, said: "Ireland is an important market for our clients, particularly across the domestic insurance space, but also for global clients with complementary Irish portfolios, as well as the MGA and captive segments where demand for specialist reinsurance continues to grow. By investing locally, we're making it easier for clients to access analytical, broking and advisory support."
Carpenter said: "Our focus is to provide clear, practical reinsurance advice that helps clients connect capital to risk more effectively. Domestic and international insurers operating in this market, MGAs and captives deserve locally based reinsurance advice, backed by the best analytical and broking expertise in the market."
