Markel International Merges Professional and Financial Risks Division With Cyber Team

Markel International, a subsidiary of Markel Corp., announced it will merge its professional and financial risks (PFR) division with its recently expanded cyber team.

The decision to merge the two divisions is part of the wholesale business’ efforts to simplify the trading experience for its broking partners and make its product offerings to insureds as innovative, comprehensive, and relevant as possible, according to Markel in a statement.

David Sawyer, who joined Markel International in 2015, will take an expanded responsibility for the combined divisions as divisional managing director of PFR and Cyber.

Chris Burgess will continue to lead the London-based cyber team, and will now report to Sawyer, with a role that will see an increased focus on developing growth potential for the business line.

Markel said its commitment to its cyber team has been reflected in its recent appointments to position it for further profitable growth. Ed Rawe, who joined Markel in 2021, has been promoted to senior cyber underwriter. Lewis Bennett has joined as senior cyber underwriter from Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty (AGCS). Dan Fox has joined as senior underwriter from Aspen Insurance Group. Ollie Carroll has joined the team as assistant underwriter.

“When Markel started writing cyber business almost 10 years ago, clients were facing a very different, and significantly less complex risk landscape than the one they face today,” commented Andrew McMellin, managing director of wholesale at Markel International.

“Cyber risks have gained prominence and are now intertwined with other business lines, especially those that sit under our PFR division. When we were looking at how we can keep our business relevant and tailored for our clients, we saw many benefits in the merging of the two divisions,” he added.

The merger will mean that Markel’s cyber underwriters will be able to align themselves more closely with its PFR teams, “allowing them to plan and innovate collaboratively, and bring about a more holistic approach to our cyber offering, to the benefit of our broking partners and end clients,” McMellin said.

Source: Markel International