Using a Bermuda joint venture between Ironshore and C.V. Starr & Company as a model, Ironshore announced the launch of Iron-Excess on Monday.

Ironshore, a Liberty Mutual company, describes Iron-Excess as an expansion of the Iron-Starr Excess underwriting agency business model launched in January 2009 to serve the Bermuda market, noting that Iron-Excess will serve the U.S. and London markets.

Iron-Excess will be led by Steve Horton, the company said.

In a media statement, Kevin H. Kelley, Chief Executive Officer of Ironshore said, “Our ability to offer our clients access to not only Ironshore but third-party insurance partners will create significant and long-term innovative solutions for our clients.”

Responding to an email from Carrier Management asking about Iron-Excess capacity providers beyond Ironshore and Liberty Mutual, Horton said that “Ironshore is working with a number of different potential partners to be announced.”

“Iron-Excess will have an onshore presence in both the U.S. and London, in addition to the Iron-Starr platform in Bermuda,” he confirmed.

According to a 2012 announcement, Horton joined Ironshore at Pembroke Managing Agency Limited in London in 2008, where he served as a Financial Institutions underwriter. He transferred to Iron-Starr in 2010, focusing on the agency’s Financial Institutions business and growth of the platform.

In 2012, he was promoted to the position of vice president of Financial Lines within Iron-Starr Excess. Prior to joining Ironshore, Mr. Horton worked for Chartis Excess Limited in London as a Financial Lines Underwriter.

When originally formed as a specialty lines insurance and reinsurance managing general agency, Iron-Starr Excess had that ability to put together $75 million of policy limits, producing excess financial and commercial lines insurance and reinsurance products through U.S. insurers, Bermuda or other offshore carriers. In July 2014, Hamilton Re became subscribing insurer, increasing the amount of capacity Iron-Starr could offer for a full suite of casualty, financial lines and health care products. In 2016, Antares Syndicate 1274 at Lloyd’s and Oil Casualty Insurance, Ltd. also signed on as subscribing insurers.

As for Iron-Excess, there will be insurance partners that have not been announced yet, an Ironshore spokesperson said. While it would be incorrect to assume that the current relationships that built Iron-Starr will participate in this new managing agency, Iron-Excess is following the same business model, she confirmed.

“We have had a lot of success given the quality and experience of our team in Bermuda,” said Mitch Blaser, Ironshore’s COO and CEO of Ironshore Bermuda. “The business model has been well received in the Bermuda market and is advantageous to our clients offering a natural solution to concerns around counterparty risk and capacity needs. I am excited to broaden the existing Liberty Mutual relationships and provide wider access to our meaningful capacity,” he said in a media statement.

Source: Ironshore