According to Markel International, brokers have been asking for it – and now they’re going to get it.
The company followed up on its announcement that it will enter the surety market last month by declaring earlier today that it is starting to write surety business after making two key appointments – with the business to initially focus on the UK, Ireland and Europe before expanding to other regions outside North America.
In coming are Damian Manning, who will lead the team, and David Chandler, as senior underwriter.
Manning has more than 19 years of experience in the credit and surety business, beginning his career as a broker at Aon Trade Credit and moving to Aon Surety and Guarantee in 2002. For the last six years he has worked as London markets surety manager for Aviva and immediately prior to that as surety manager for the UK and Ireland at Coface.
Meanwhile, Chandler joined the industry as claims handler with Euler Hermes in 2006, moving to Coface as credit risk underwriter in 2007. Here, he joined the surety operation in 2010 and most recently worked as risk director- bonding for Euler Hermes UK.
Speaking about the new arrivals and prospects for the business going forward, Ewa Rose, managing director of the trade credit, political risk and surety business at Markel International, noted that both are highly respected and will lead the firm in a new line that brokers have been calling for.
“The addition of surety is a natural extension to our offering and provides a full range of complementary products across our portfolio,” she explained.
“The new launch is in response to high broker and client demand and we look forward to providing much needed capacity to the market. It also increases our ability to design new and exciting products by combining the skillsets and experience across our underwriting team.”
