Howden RE appoints treaty reinsurance executive director

Howden RE says it has recruited Richard Pike as Executive Director Treaty Reinsurance, a newly created role within the business in Australia.

Mr Pike will be based in Sydney and starts in April, reporting to Head of Treaty for Asia Pacific Stephen Warwick.

He will be responsible for serving clients and markets across Asia Pacific as part of the growing Treaty Reinsurance team.

Mr Pike joins from Berkley Re Asia Pacific, where he has been Regional Reinsurance Officer since March 2015, according to his LinkedIn account. Before this, he was Berkley Re Australia Chief Marketing Officer.

“We are excited to welcome [him] to Howden RE and back to broking,” the business said. “In these changing times Howden RE continues to grow and recruit experienced people across the Asia Pacific region with offices in Hong Kong, Singapore and Sydney to help our clients, working as one team across the region.”

The appointment of Mr Pike comes as Howden looks to strengthen its offerings and services to help clients navigate what could be another potentially challenging year ahead.

In a renewal report released this month, Howden says the insurance macro-fundamental environment is clearly shifting.

A series of megatrends – higher inflation, lacklustre investment yields, elevated catastrophe loss activity, climate change, new cyber threats and heightened risk aversion – are making the landscape more challenging to predict, the report said.

However healthy capitalisation – $US26 billion ($36 billion) of new capital entered the market in 2020/21 – puts the sector in a strong position to tackle these changes.

According to the report, frustration is setting in for buyers who have been subjected to multiple years of price rises, especially those who have improved risk profiles by de-risking and elevating risk management.

“Irrespective of market cycles, clients expect the insurance sector to innovate, to develop creative solutions and to offer sufficient capacity during what is one of the most significant periods of change in living memory,” Howden Broking CEO José Manuel González said.

“At Howden, our responsibility as a trusted adviser is to bring important sector trends to the fore, to lead the discussion and to facilitate the most innovative client solutions.

“We look forward to working closely with insurance and reinsurance companies in this endeavour, and to supporting clients in managing change and securing the best coverage available in the marketplace.”

Click here for the report.