26 October 2015 Insurance

Competitive regional landscape calls for reinsurers that can differentiate themselves

The competitive market landscape in the Latin America and Caribbean region’s insurance industry demands a reinsurer that can differentiate itself, says Diego Miagro, head of general liability facultative reinsurance for Latin America and the Caribbean for Berkley Latin America and Caribbean (BLAC).

“We believe that we offer a compelling value proposition to our ceding company and reinsurance intermediary clients,” he added.

He believes that BLAC’s success is down to a combination of strategically located, decentralised offices; a diverse product offering and underwriting expertise; and BLAC’s promise to pay documented, valid and collectible claims within the established terms and conditions of the policy as analysed by experienced, multilingual attorneys on its claims staff.

“Also important are market visits, presentations and training, and underwriting on behalf of insurance company members of the WR Berkley Insurance Group, that are rated A+ by both S&P and AM Best,” he said.

BLAC is a broker and direct facultative underwriting manager for its affiliate, Berkley Insurance Company, with a focus on casualty and specialty casualty business.

“We pride ourselves on our service, knowledge of the Latin America and Caribbean region, providing unequalled levels of service and promoting long-term, mutually beneficial relationships,” said Jaime Aramburo, head of financial lines facultative reinsurance for Latin America and the Caribbean.

“Consistent with the WR Berkley Corporation philosophy, our facultative experts operate through autonomous and independent offices in Miami, Florida, Bogota, Colombia and Buenos Aires, Argentina. This network of offices strategically positions BLAC to deliver local, personalised solutions and to swiftly attend to the evolving demands, customs, and necessities of our diverse marketplace.”

Aramburo added that BLAC’s mission is to provide fast, simple and innovative facultative reinsurance solutions that are responsive to even the most complex risk management challenges in a controlled and sustainable way that is consistent with the WR Berkley Corporation guiding principle of generating adequate risk-adjusted returns.

“Facultative underwriting operates in a world of complex risk selection with evolving legal exposures that affect companies and their managers, employees, stakeholders, clients and regulators,” he said.

“Managing these factors through facultative reinsurance is, in our opinion, the purest form of underwriting and it requires flexibility and ingenuity to service our clients’ evolving needs. To that end, we have a willingness to review almost any type of account in the area of casualty and specialty casualty including, but not limited to, the following classes: general third party liability, products liability, events liability, directors and officers liability (public and private); financial institution crime; financial institution professional indemnity; financial institution directors and officers liability; miscellaneous professional indemnity and commercial crime. We approach each risk in each country as unique.”

The facultative buying habits of BLAC’s customer base are in constant flux, said Miagro, but the resources of the WR Berkley Insurance Group make BLAC well positioned to quickly identify and capitalise on opportunities as they arise.

“To that end, BLAC works tirelessly to expand our product offering,” he said.

Through a strategic alliance with its London colleagues at WR Berkley Syndicate 1967, BLAC is able to review other niche products that are close to its expertise in casualty and specialty casualty.

“Those products could include cash in transit, jeweller’s block, excess vault coverage, excess safety deposit coverage, fine arts, political violence, event cancellation and contingency, marine liability and certain classes of aviation in certain markets,” said Aramburo.

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