SiriusPoint looks to diversify, takes on marine

It was at the MGAA Conference 2024 that Global Reinsurance managed to grab a few minutes with SiriusPoint to talk about the firm’s forthcoming plans and why it thinks that marine business is a good direction for it to explore.

The Bermuda-based firm was at the managing general agent (MGA) event in London as a carrier for programme administrators and MGAs, partnering with casualty and specialty lines programmes around the world.

Speaking to GR were Alex Hardy (pictured), director of sales and distribution, and Hamish McBride (pictured second), head of MGA and programme claims. They said that the firm was now looking to further diversify, via MGA business, following its inception from the merger of insurer and reinsurer Sirius Group and reinsurer Third Point Re back in 2021.

“That’s the next strategic chapter for us,” said Hardy. “Specifically, it’s about looking for growth in insurance, and international growth in insurance. While it’s not the only thing that we’re doing – we’re also partnering with programmes and MGAs in North America – we do see partnering MGA delegated authorities as a strategic priority because it allows us to access some key niches and expertise, while bringing portfolio strength to the table.”

He added: “And, obviously, A-rated capacity will help us grow and diversify insurance volumes alongside anything on the direct side. The goal is to work with as many different types of organisations doing different things as possible right now.”

Marine is one of the areas that SiriusPoint is looking at within in its specialty proposition, where Hardy said there had previously been a gap. The firm, he said, “is headed towards a £75m book”, from an “almost standing start”.

That part of the business, he added, was already diversified given that it was formed mostly of MGA partnerships with some direct, and others spread over Europe and the UK. It was, he said, also partly done through Lloyd’s.

“It’s primary business,” he said. “We do still have some marine reinsurance that we look after, but it’s smaller by volume.”

The move, he said, was about more than just diversifying, but also the rates on offer.

“First of all,” he said, “we think rates are good. Secondly, we thought it was a glaring proposition gap for us as a London market within Lloyd’s. It was an obvious one, and we’ve done it by bringing in good expertise. It’s hull, cargo and more.

He continued: “The only marine line we’re not yet in is fine art and specie. We’re trying to write balanced portfolios, and we’ve built capability around that from an underwriting perspective while building capability from a claims perspective.”

McBride said that, from a claims perspective, marine is an area of business in which SiriusPoint “can do well”, whether through its Sirius International Managing Agency (SIMA) or on company paper.

“Marine is a class of business that we know we can do well,” he said. “We’ve got the internal underwriting expertise. We’ve got the operational infrastructure to manage it. We’re working with best-in-class MGAs to generate that business, but we’re also writing open market and binders through Lloyd’s as well.”

He added: “We’re shoring up our marine claims offering at the same time. When the programme administrator or the MGA brings a piece of business to us, typically they come with a third party administrator (TPA) or a claims proposition, and our job is to oversee that with them.

”I’ve worked in and around marine all my career. I sense check ‘what good looks like’ when I’m being told how this particular programme partner wants to run it. And of course we’re building out our own expertise.

”We’ve got investment in claims people coming in 2024, with a new marine expert just joined. All of this means we’re in a good place in the marine space, and the same goes for our energy lines as well.”