Former Beazley A&H head joins insurance underwriting Avoca
Chris Branch, the former global head of Beazley's life, accident and health division, has joined US-based Avoca Risk Underwriting Solutions (ARUS) where he will work with the executive team and Avoca group shareholders.
Branch has over 30 years of experience in the insurance industry having started his career as a broker in the London market working for Benfield, Jardine and Grieg Fester before joining Cigna to establish an international A&H reinsurance division, Cigna Re Europe based in London. During this time, Branch was also responsible for the creation of Cigna’s corporate Lloyd's syndicate, one of the first corporate members in the London market.
Branch left Cigna in 2000 to set up Momentum Underwriting Management (MUM) a global A&H MGU with offices in London, Brisbane and Chicago. MUM was acquired in late 2008 by Beazley Group under the continued management of Branch. After leaving Beazley, he produced the Oscar-winning, “The Lady in Number 6 – Music Saved My Life” which won the Academy Award for best short documentary.
Commenting on the appointment, Avoca's group CEO Andrew Carvill said: “I am very excited to have Chris join our team. His entrepreneurial nature and deep business experience will prove a significant asset. Aside from welcoming a partner and longtime friend to help drive our business forward, Chris has a deep understanding of the A&H market which represents an exciting growth opportunity for our firm and is highly complementary to our core P&C operations.”
Branch said: “I having been looking for the right opportunity in the underwriting space for the next phase of my career. Avoca blends state of the art technology with best in class underwriting in the sectors in which it operates. It has attracted an outstanding line up of global insurance and reinsurance capacity and is heavily focused on returning above average underwriting results to its partners. The company remains privately held and independent and offers an excellent platform from which Specialty niches can be built and underwritten successfully. I am very excited to join the team and help the company continue to grow.”
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