Gallagher Re selects head of embedded insurance

Global reinsurance broker Gallagher Re has appointed Alexander Choniski to the newly created role of head of embedded insurance in North America, within its alternative distribution vertical.

In his new role, Choniski will be responsible for creating an embedded insurance solution for clients in North America and will work in partnership with all parts of Gallagher’s global organization.

Choniski has more than 18 years of capital markets and insurance experience. He joins the company from Swiss Re, where he built and co-ran the Strategic Partnerships mandate, Swiss Re’s largest insurtech and embedded reinsurance portfolio.

“It is a pleasure welcoming Alexander to the Gallagher Re team,” said Jim Bradshaw, Gallagher Re CEO for North America. “He has one of the most unique experience sets within this new arena, which will allow Gallagher Re to offer its clients the most sophisticated embedded solution.”

“At Gallagher, we are focused on building a solution that will be significantly more expansive than what’s currently found in the market,” Choniski said. “For instance, embedded solutions only win when you bring as much and more than the traditional channel. Many of the embedded solutions in the market struggle with this. Gallagher, as a diverse, global group, already possesses many of the tools – across the entire value chain – to be successful at embedded. And for what we lack internally, our insurance partners will help deliver, with us, the preeminent solution.”

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Choniski said that embedded insurance is a distribution challenge.

“If you are selling embedded and you don’t own the distribution, you are outsourcing the most important thing your embedded partner needs,” he said. “Gallagher serves up insurance distribution in 130 countries across retail, wholesale and reinsurance. Too many embedded players are not building sustainable solutions with the right partners, which jeopardizes the viability of their proposition and causes market confusion about the success rate of the embedded trend.

“Just like anything else, there is a commodity approach to embedded insurance and a strategic one. Our solution is relentlessly focused on the long term, and we are selecting business partners and brands who share this notion.”