Liberty Specialty Markets (LSM) has appointed Sarah Howell to the newly created role of claims manager – open market specialty.
Howell is responsible for managing the marine, aviation, energy, property, and construction claims team, and reports to Gavin Coley, head of specialty claims. She takes up the role with immediate effect and is based in London.
Coley said: “We are delighted to welcome Sarah back to a role which strengthens our management team. She is a highly regarded claims professional. We believe her experience and capability, aligned to the claims team she inherits, will continue to develop our claims proposition to support our clients at every stage of the relationship.”
Howell joins LSM from Berkshire Hathaway Specialty Insurance where she was head of property claims. She has over 16 years of experience in the industry in various technical and managerial roles including a role as head of syndicate claims. She was previously at LSM for seven years.
In taking on her new role, Howell is joining LSM at an interesting time. This month, the firm reported that its pre-tax operating income had fallen from £157.1m in 2020 to £89.7m in 2021.
No reason was given for the fall, but the Syndicate still achieved a combined operating ratio of 89.4% compared with 98.5% in 2020. Gross written premium was £1.42bn, up £59.1m from 2020’s £1.36bn. That improvement, said Liberty Specialty Markets, was driven by significant rate increases and new business opportunities across the portfolio.
