Acrisure Re, the reinsurance division of global fintech Acrisure, has announced the appointment of Sandro Kriesch and Patrick Witteveen as Managing Directors of Catastrophe Bond Solutions within its Corporate Advisory and Solutions (ARCAS) division, effective immediately.
Based in Zurich, they will report to Ben Canagaretna, the Global Managing Director of ARCAS.
Kriesch and Witteveen will lead the launch and development of ARCAS’ comprehensive catastrophe bond offering, marking a significant expansion of their services.
The ARCAS division, which expanded into North America last year with the appointment of Alex Orloff, operates on a global scale, covering ratings advisory, capital raising, legacy transactions, and asset management.
With the addition of cat bond solutions to their portfolio, the appointments represent a crucial step in the team’s ambition to offer an all-inclusive service through one connected team.
Ben Canagaretna expressed his enthusiasm, stating, “I am thrilled with the growth this team has experienced in the last year. It shows ARCAS’ commitment to filling our team with best-in-class talent who have the leadership skills and networks to expand into new areas. The cat bond market is an evolving area with strong fundamentals and increasing opportunity. Sandro and Patrick are the ideal candidates to lead the charge, and we very much look forward to working with them both. This is another great example of Acrisure Re doing its homework and having conviction at the right moment.”
Kriesch brings a wealth of specialised knowledge to ARCAS, having served as a consultant for his own firm, Kriesch Advisors, where he provided advisory services on cat bonds, the ILW market, and reinsurance start-ups.
Prior to that, he was the COO for IQUW’s ILS division, co-founded Twelve Capital, and worked as an ILS Portfolio Manager at Horizon 21 and as an earthquake underwriter and Solvency II expert at Swiss Re.
Witteveen, with over 20 years of experience in business development, third-party capital asset raising, and institutional sales, joins ARCAS from AXIS Capital, where he served as the Global Head of Business Development for its third-party reinsurance capital management unit, AXIS ILS.
He previously spent seven years at ILS manager Securis Investment Partners as a Partner and the Head of Investor Relations & Business Development Europe.
Craig Darling, Acrisure Re Executive Vice President, highlighted the significance of this addition, stating, “The additional product offering of a catastrophe bond further complements and expands our structuring and placement capabilities. The Capital market strategy further diversifies our global market reach in solving market capacity concerns for our North American catastrophe-exposed clientele. This expansive capability has been part of our strategy and represents a continued collaborative effort with the Centre of Excellence for Critical Cat and ARCAS. We are committed to expanding our reach with global investors that will directly benefit the growth aspirations of our existing carriers, MGA clients, and prospects in North America.”
