Stephen Burr joins Pool Re as Head of Actuarial Services
Pool Re today announced the appointment of Stephen Burr, Head of Actuarial Services. This is a new position which had previously been fulfilled by an external consultant. Burr takes up his role with immediate effect and will report to Steve Coates, Chief Underwriting Officer, Pool Re.
Burr brings nearly 25 years of experience to his new role. He joins from RenaissanceRe Syndicate 1458 where he served as senior pricing actuary. Burr was instrumental in the creation of the syndicate’s pricing platforms and the extension of its capabilities to accommodate new classes of business.
Prior to this he served as an executive director for Willis Ltd where he provided actuarial support to brokers, optimizing reinsurance solutions and later joined the capital markets team and played an integral role in Willis’s first two public catastrophe bond placements. Burr qualified at Swiss Re UK and headed the Reserving Team before structuring Alternative Risk Transfer solutions. Burr began his career as an actuarial analyst for ITT London & Edinburgh.
Julian Enoizi, Pool Re’s CEO, said: “Pool Re continues to evolve its offering to reflect a shifting threat and a broader terrorist arsenal. A robust actuarial platform is essential to ensure that our proposition remains a leading example of terrorism reinsurance cover. Stephen is the ideal candidate to manage our actuarial function. He joins with an exceptional track record and I am certain that our Members will quickly benefit from his expertise. I am very pleased to welcome him to the team.”
Contact
Haggie Partners LLP
+44 (0)20 7562 4444
Peter Rigby
peter.rigby@haggie.co.uk
Brian Norris
brian.norris@haggie.co.uk
Colette La Pointe
colette.lapointe@haggie.co.uk
About Pool Re
The Pool Re scheme was set up in 1993 by the insurance industry in cooperation with the UK Government in the wake of the IRA bombing campaign on the UK Mainland. Pool Re is a mutual reinsurer whose Members comprise the vast majority of insurers and Lloyd’s Syndicates which offer commercial property insurance in the Great Britain, with membership of the scheme affording them a guarantee which ensures that they can provide cover for losses resulting from acts of terrorism, regardless of the scale of the claims.
The scheme, which is recognised as a leading example of public/private partnership, is owned by its Members but is underpinned by a HM Treasury commitment to support Pool Re if ever it has insufficient funds to pay a legitimate claim. Pool Re pays a fee to Government for this guarantee and would repay the money over time if it ever used this facility.
However, in the event of a loss resulting from an act of terrorism, each Member must first pay losses up to a threshold, which is determined individually for that insurer. When losses exceed that threshold, the insurer can claim upon Pool Re’s reserves, which now stand at approximately £6billion. These reserves have been accumulated by the Members of Pool Re since its inception. It is only in the event that these reserves and the company’s commercial reinsurance are exhausted that Pool Re would require Government support.
The Pool Re fund has paid out following 13 separate terrorism incidents covering losses of over £600m.