20 November 2019 Insurance

New MGA Pyrrhic Re launches in London

A new managing general agent (MGA), named Pyrrhic Re, is being launched in London. The firm said that it will aim to deliver excellent results with low costs.

Pyrrhic Re was established by Peter Mills as CEO and Tim Griffiths as chief underwriting officer. Further team members will join in the coming months, the company said.

Explaining the reason behind the name, Mills told Intelligent Insurer that a Pyrrhic victory was a high risk battle, won at great costs for next to no return or result. He added that their reinsurance peers take too much risk and volatility at unsustainable expenses for no returns and that as a result the two sound quite similar.

“Pyrrhic Re believes that there is no future for business that conduct themselves in this manner,” explained Mills. “At Pyrrhic Re, we try to behave in the opposite manner. Pyrrhic Re will take measured risk, at market leading low expense ratios, targeting achievable returns.”

According to a statement its website, Pyrrhic Re was established in 2019 in London as an MGA writing a diversified book of treaty and facultative reinsurance business on a proportional and non-proportional basis.

In addition Pyrrhic Re Guernsey will be established as a protected cell company (PCC) in 2019. Pyrrhic Re PCC will provide quota share reinsurance to its risk capacity providers and provide its investors the opportunity to invest in its portfolio with risk capacity support.

The website said: “Pyrrhic Re will be a target cedant underwriter of market leading insurance businesses. Pyrrhic Re will not write across the market and support your competitors. Pyrrhic Re will be supported by A rated AM Best paper or better on the back of MGA agreement terms of 24 months or longer. We are here for the long term.

“We see Pyrrhic Re as being successful on the back of being nimble and selective in risk, low in expense and reinsurer only in message. We do not support our target client’s competitors or compete directly against our clients via insurance platforms. Pyrrhic Re embraces the ‘new normal’ reinsurance market. Future market cycles will not fluctuate as much as they have in [the] past and margins will be hard earned on risk selection and cost control.”

The company is named after King Pyrrhus of Epirus, a Greek monarch who tried to beat the Roman Republic in the Third Century BC. In the common parlance it is associated with the term 'pyrrhic victory', which is a win that takes such a heavy toll on the victor that it is almost equivalent to a defeat, and potentially has negative long-term effects for the victor.

Get all the latest re/insurance industry news with our daily newsletter -  sign up here.

​Africa Re lays the foundation of its new head office ​ Lloyd’s tackles unacceptable behaviour in the workplace ​ CAC Specialty establishes strategic relationship with Fortress Investment Group ​ Aviva unveils simplified operating divisions ​ Insurers unite to improve female financial futures ​ Sompo International appoints chief executive officer ​ Talanx on track to achieve the mid-term financial targets  ​ Marsh launches enhanced cyber risk quantification suiteNeed for D&O insurance set to increase in China, Brazil and Canada

Don't miss our insurtech email newsletter - sign up today 

Already registered?

Login to your account

To request a FREE 2-week trial subscription, please signup.
NOTE - this can take up to 48hrs to be approved.

Two Weeks Free Trial

For multi-user price options, or to check if your company has an existing subscription that we can add you to for FREE, please email Elliot Field at efield@newtonmedia.co.uk or Adrian Tapping at atapping@newtonmedia.co.uk