Lloyd’s Broker, Direct Insurance London Market has announced the launch of its new PI & Financial Lines Division along with the appointment of Mike Newson to lead the team as PI and Financial Lines Manager.
Mike Newson has over 30 years of experience in broking and handling all aspects of binders and schemes for PI and various other financial lines within the London Market.
For 23 years Mike was at Willis Re as Executive Director before joining AJ Gallagher as a Divisional Director. Most latterly he joins from SSL Endeavour where he was Head of PI.
David Bearman, Chief Executive Officer for Direct Insurance Group commented: “We are thrilled to launch our new specialist PI & Financial Lines Division and that we have secured Mike to lead the team.
“Mike is very well known in the market and I’m delighted to have him on board. His experience is across the full spectrum of client service, dealing with the insured, the regional or sub broker, handling the business from cradle to grave.
“His expertise will help us to establish Direct Insurance London Market as a lead wholesale broker in PI alongside our existing lines. His extensive market knowledge of PI as well as D&O, Cyber and other specialist products will be of immense benefit to our brokers and their customers, particularly in the current market environment. We hope to recruit further talent to the PI Division in the next few months.”
Mike Newson added: “Over the past 20 plus years Direct Insurance has established a strong reputation for its expertise in various specialist facilities including Asbestos, Waste, Property and High Risk Construction to mention a few. It has had a modest book of PI and Financial Lines to date but there has been increasing demand from the market for Direct to develop its own specialist capabilities and delegated authority in these areas.
“The Professional Indemnity market has great scope for growth and in a hard market is an area that will benefit greatly from a specialist wholesale service. I’m very much looking forward to establishing the Division and maximising its potential within the Group.”
