Senior appointments span specialist aviation broking, non-standard MGA leadership, personal lines financial services, and insurance asset servicing, with one hire arriving as a specialist MGA accelerates its push into UK personal lines.
AI12 Limited, the Dubai-based specialist insurance and reinsurance broker, has promoted James Simmons (pictured, left) to group head of aviation, effective October 1. In his expanded role, Simmons oversees AI12’s full aviation specialty portfolio, covering airlines, aerospace and general aviation, alongside the firm’s specialist risk management division. He joined AI12 in October 2024 as head of airlines.
Anvar Mullabekov, founder and chief executive of AI12, said Simmons had been instrumental in developing the firm’s airline business and strengthening international client and market relationships since joining.
The promotion expands Simmons’s remit into risk management as the aviation market navigates a complex underwriting environment. The aviation insurance market experienced a challenging 2025 as insurers confronted rising claims, complex risks and evolving regulatory pressures, according to Gallagher Specialty’s Plane Talking Q4 2025 report, which anticipated continued technical rate increases in 2026, particularly for operators with US exposures or high-risk profiles.
AI12 is consolidating its client-facing and risk advisory functions under a single lead, with Simmons stating the firm’s ambition is to build the largest aviation specialist broking team outside the UK and North America.
Arkel, the specialist multi-line managing general agent and part of the Atec Group, has promoted Matthew Birney (pictured, centre) to managing director. Kris Lee remains as chief underwriting officer.
Birney joined the Atec Group in 2022 as pricing director and has been central to Arkel’s data-driven pricing strategy, which underpins its proprietary underwriting platform. He has more than 10 years of experience in personal lines, specialising in pricing and underwriting transformation for non-standard household and motor risks. He previously held leadership roles at Prestige Underwriting, Geo Underwriting, Midas Underwriting and XS Direct.
Brendan Devine, chief executive of Atec Group, said Birney’s commercial acumen and Lee’s underwriting expertise would serve the business and its partners through the next phase of growth.
Gross written premium at Arkel has grown 40% over the last two years, the company stated, with the number of live agencies rising steadily. The MGA has also entered commercial lines with property and liability products and extended its presence across major distribution platforms. Birney’s background in pricing transformation for non-standard risks addresses a recurring friction point in personal lines placement.
The board of John Lewis Finance has appointed Charles Offord as director of financial services at John Lewis Money, joining on November 18, subject to FCA regulatory approval. He succeeds James Mack, who leaves at the end of the year to become chief financial officer of Yorkshire Building Society. Mack oversaw the business’ transition to a regulated broker.
Offord brings more than 25 years of financial services experience. He was managing director of Co-op Insurance for seven years, having joined as distribution and marketing director. Before that he was managing director of Equity Insurance Partnerships and operations director at Insurance Australia Group.
Nina Bhatia, managing director of new businesses at the John Lewis Partnership, said Offord had led a financial services business that customers trust inside a member-owned organisation, and understood how a business like John Lewis Money works.
John Lewis Money obtained direct FCA authorisation as an insurance broker in March 2026 and has since built a home insurance panel spanning AXA, Covéa, Prestige Underwriting and Ageas, before relaunching car insurance under the same model. The business serves approximately 1.4 million customers and last year supported £1.5 billion of spending at John Lewis and Waitrose.
Offord’s background running Co-op Insurance, another trusted consumer brand operating in personal lines inside a member-owned structure, maps closely onto what the role requires. John Lewis Money is actively adding panel capacity and extending its broker model across product lines that its insurer partners will be watching closely.
Northern Trust has appointed Andy Ponsford (pictured, right) as head of insurance for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, in a newly created role based in London. Ponsford joins from Barclays Bank, where he was most recently managing director, global head of insurance and funds and head of corporate strategic solutions. Before Barclays, he held senior positions at J.P. Morgan.
Ian Hamilton, head of asset owners, EMEA at Northern Trust, said Ponsford’s experience serving insurance clients and understanding of the challenges facing the industry would be key as the firm enhances its insurance capabilities across the region.
Northern Trust currently serves more than 200 insurance clients globally, representing approximately US$1.3 trillion (around £968.4 billion) in assets under administration and custody. The creation of a dedicated EMEA insurance lead reflects an explicit push to deepen that client base across the region, covering the operational, accounting, investment and regulatory needs of insurers navigating Solvency II requirements and evolving multi-asset mandates.
