Blenheim appoints Barber to grow its casualty book

Blenheim Underwriting has appointed David Barber as a senior liability treaty underwriter on its Lloyd’s Syndicate 5886.

The firm said Barber aims to build a portfolio of niche liability classes, written via long-standing delegated authority/ reinsurance relationships.

He joins from Fortegra where he has been for the past four years, and prior to that spent 25 years at Chaucer where he was head of its liability division.

Barber’s portfolio comprises MGA/MGU/delegated authority business in the US, UK and Europe, 65% of which is lead business

Classes will include US errors and omissions (E&O) liability, medical malpractice relating to health and life sciences, financial institutions and general liability business.

“To attract an individual of David’s calibre reflects very favourably on us,” said John Lynch, Blenheim CEO.

“We can offer underwriters a home to build their own books and develop their own teams within the shared infrastructure and security of a larger, experienced, well-financed independent underwriting group.

“David’s joining will be instrumental in our drive and ambition to profitably scale our business, in this case with a diversified portfolio with no over reliance on any class.

“Blenheim’s owners White Bear are looking to selectively build our MGA and Lloyd’s business with high-performing underwriting teams. We have top quartile performance in Lloyd’s for 2023 and a real desire to further expand our operations.”