Validus Specialty expands Talbot-led political risk insurance binder to $240m

Validus Holdings subsidiary Validus Specialty Underwriting has expanded the capacity of its Political Risk Insurance (“PRI”) binding authority from its New York office at renewal.

The PRI is underwritten 100 percent by various underwriters at Lloyd’s and led by Talbot Underwriting, Syndicate 1183.

The PRI was first launched in 2016. To meet the demand for growth in 2017, capacity has increased from $125 million to $240 million per acceptance. Binder participants include syndicates managed by Ascot, CNA Hardy, Sompo Canopius and Starstone. New to the 2017 facility are Amtrust, Ark, Brit and Novae.

Jared Kotler, head of political risk and credit at Validus Specialty, said: “Validus Specialty has seen a significant amount of demand for PRI business through the binding authority over the past twelve months. By increasing the facility to a market-leading $240 million in capacity, our private equity, global financial institutions and multinational clients will have a place to obtain bespoke, cost efficient political risk insurance policies to mitigate the country risk in their global exposures.”

James Bamford, global practice leader political lines at Talbot Underwriting, added: “As we had hoped last year, this facility has played an important role in attracting more political risk insurance business to Lloyd's and the renewal continues to provide us with the underwriting ability to lead major projects.”

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