Ark nabs political risk underwriter from Aon

Ark Syndicate Management has appointed Leon Richardson from Aon to enhance its team of experienced Terrorism, War and Political Risk underwriters.

Richardson will primarily focus on Terrorism and War on Land and will enable Ark to expand its portfolio, further diversifying the current book in line with the syndicate’s underwriting philosophy.

In addition to expanding the underwriting team, Ark is also pleased to announce that it has entered into agreements with world-premier agencies, including Fitch Ratings via its FitchResearch platform, providing market intelligence to support its Terrorism, War and Political Risk group.

In line with Ark’s policy of writing a diversified and balanced book, the Political Risk team, which was launched in April 2007, will write a range of accounts across a number of key sectors. This added value includes using the knowledge and expertise of our Cargo Underwriting Team to enable Ark to provide political risk and cargo physical damage insurance on one combined policy.

Senior Terrorism, War and Political Risk underwriter Simon Low said: “Leon brings with him a wealth of experience and will be a welcome addition to the team enabling us to provide a high level of service across the book. Furthermore, our market intelligence agency agreements will provide important insights for our holistic approach to understanding relevant risks and accumulations as we continue to build our global portfolio of insured risks.”

Ark chief executive Ian Beaton added: “Over the last ten months we have firmly established our platform in the market and continue to build our diversified portfolio to develop our business in a sustainable and profitable way. The actions outlined in this announcement will serve to further enhance our client offering as we seek to build a market leading ability in 2008 and beyond.”