XL Catlin Opens Unit in Africa to Write Facultative and Treaty Reinsurance

XL Catlin has established a new Reinsurance Unit focused on providing facultative and treaty reinsurance across Africa.

Leading the team is Alex St James who has been appointed as head of Africa for XL Catlin’s Reinsurance operations. Additionally, XL Catlin has appointed Matthew Gillies as an actuarial underwriter. Both St James and Gillies will be based in London.

“Africa is a varied and complex collection of frontier and developing markets, generally rich in resources and increasingly home to international companies,” said David Watson, XL Catlin’s chief executive, EMEA, Reinsurance.

“Traditionally there has been a lack of insurance penetration across the continent, but this is changing and we believe we have a part to play as reinsurance capacity will further drive the development and growth of the primary insurance market,” Watson said.

St James joins XL Catlin from One Re Ltd., in which he was instrumental in gaining UK regulatory approval for and bringing that company to the market in 2015. St James brings with him over 20 years’ experience in the industry. Prior to joining One Re Ltd., he fulfilled a variety of senior managerial roles in underwriting and has previously worked across Africa with the Global Alliance group of companies, most notably in Mozambique, Angola and Ghana. He holds a B.Eng (Hons) degree and is a Portuguese speaker.

Gillies also joins XL Catlin from One Re Ltd. Prior to joining One Re he fulfilled the role of graduate pricing analyst at Covéa Insurance. Gillies is currently finishing his actuarial qualifications, with significant expertise in capital modeling, risk management, Solvency II, pricing and investments. He also holds a BSc in Mathematics from the University of Durham.

Source: XL Catlin