Lloyd’s investment firm Helios appoints Michael Wade as new Chairman

Helios Underwriting, the Lloyd’s of London focused investment and underwriting vehicle that counts some insurance-linked securities (ILS) market sources among its capital backers, has named Michael Wade as its new Chairman.

Wade, who is well-known in insurance-linked securities (ILS) circles given his advisory to the UK government, his work on pushing forward the formulation of a UK ILS regulatory regime, and his position at Howden Tiger Capital Markets UK.

Wade takes on the Chairman role at Helios after incumbent Michael Cunningham announced his retirement from the firm.

Wade has extensive experience in the Lloyd’s market, across broking, underwriting, capital markets and insurance linked securities (ILS).

He was responsible for the formation of one of the first Lloyd’s corporate capital vehicles in 1993, CLM Insurance Fund plc, and also acted for UK pension funds via Rostrum Group investing in listed Lloyd’s firms.

Previously, Wade served on the Council and Committee of Lloyd’s and has been a senior adviser to the UK government Cabinet Office.

Wade is currently Non-Executive Chairman of Howden Tiger Capital Markets UK, the investment banking and ILS unit of the global reinsurance broker and risk capital advisor, as well as being a senior advisor to Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance.

Michael Wade commented on his appointment, “I am delighted to be joining Helios as Chairman at this exciting juncture of the Company’s journey and I look forward to working closely with the team. Helios should continue to benefit from London’s strong trading environment with firm insurance rates and opportunities for the Company to grow.”

Martin Reith, Chief Executive Officer of Helios, added, “I am thrilled to welcome Michael to the Board and look forward to working with him in his role as Chairman. Helios is well positioned to benefit from the current market environment and Michael’s extensive industry knowledge and experience will be a huge asset to the Board. I would also like to thank Michael Cunningham for his leadership and dedication to Helios over the past 16 years and wish him well in the future.”

As we recently reported, Helios hopes to expand its business through the rest of this year, with more third-party capital raising targeted to support the build out of its portfolio of investments into Lloyd’s underwriting vehicles.