TigerRisk bucks the trend to attract millennials
Reinsurance broker TigerRisk Partners has attracted many entrepreneurial executives who have helped it grow in the seven years since its formation, Mike Schnur, a partner at the broker, told PCI Today.
“We consider ourselves a specialty broker that focuses on a few very large relationships. Unlike any of our competitors, our target market is focused on what we consider elite insurers,” explained Schnur.
“Our success has come from starting the business seven years ago to growing rapidly to 110 employees.”
TigerRisk has made a spate of appointments, with experts from across the industry swelling its ranks. In April this year, Tony Ursano, the former chief executive officer (CEO) of Willis Capital Markets & Advisory (WCMA) joined the broker.
Just this week, it hired Steven Bensinger as a senior adviser. Bensinger joined the firm from FTI Consulting, where he was a senior managing director. Prior to working at FTI, Bensinger had roles at The Hanover Insurance Group, Coopers & Lybrand, AIG, Chartwell Re, Trenwick Group and Combined Specialty Group.
Schnur praised executives across the business as incredibly creative and innovative, pushing back and challenging the norms.
“We’ve become a place where, if you’re an entrepreneurial person looking to learn a lot and do things differently, we are the place to be,” he said.
Generally, the re/insurance industry is having a difficult time attracting millennials but Schnur is confident TigerRisk is doing well.
“We actually have millennials contacting us,” he said. “In five years’ time, we expect to be much bigger. We’ve only just been getting the message out.”
TigerRisk plans to continue its expansion in other geographies. The broker made its move into the Asian market earlier this year with the launch of a Hong Kong subsidiary, TigerRisk China Partners.
“We are seeing significant growth in China and there a number of uninsured exposures that will become insured exposures. The economy itself is still growing significantly and we think there’s a lot of insurance yet to be bought,” said Schnur.
He views alternative capital as a benefit to the industry, explaining that it offers more choice to clients, while challenging traditional reinsurance to become more efficient.
“We’re also seeing an increase in catastrophe cover and casualty. Potentially, changes to AM Best’s ratings could increase property-catastrophe purchases too. Larger companies are currently buying more and not less,” he said.
