Specialty re/insurance managing general agent Rokstone has launched a new global professional indemnity (PI) facility.
According to Rokstone, the facility is for all professional and financial lines risk domiciled in the UK and the EU with a £2 million primary and a £5 million excess of loss limit. The new PI division also draws on A+ (Standard & Poor’s) rated capacity from Great American.
In addition to the new division launch, Rokstone has also named Josh Smith as head of professional indemnity. Smith brings with him 13 years of PI underwriting experience. A law graduate, Smith began his career at the Channel Syndicate 2011 for four years, later moving to Navigators Pro where he served as a professional liability underwriter. He was later the head of PI at Optio Group for six years.
“The launch of a PI facility at Rokstone will add balance to our portfolio as we continue to expand and diversify,” said Rokstone CEO and Aventum deputy CEO James Potter. “We also intend to grow this book internationally in line with market demand and we’ll be exploring new territories with it in time, including Australia and Canada. Leveraging our global network and strong property book we see great potential to both balance the portfolio with longer tail risks whilst capitalising on cross sell opportunities.”
Potter added that Smith has an “established first-rate reputation in the market,” and that Rokstone was delighted to welcome him to the team.
“It is an interesting time in the PI market, with current rates transitioning out of its hard market phase in certain sectors and products,” said Smith in a statement. “We are seeing clear signs of softening after a long hard market cycle, we’re seeing broader wordings being reintroduced with some exclusions being removed and more favourable pricing. We’ll be focussed on developing market leading wordings while maintaining underwriting discipline.”
Last month, Consilium – a reinsurance broking business under the Aventum Group – launched a new cedant-driven facultative reinsurance division. The company also named Simon Richardson as managing partner of the new division, who joined from Besso Re where he previously served as head of North America.
