Optio Group has hired Paul Tominey to be its new senior underwriter for warranty and indemnity.
The specialty MGA firm said that in tandem with Tominey’s hiring that it was increasing its W&I line size for single risks from £12m to £20.5m.
The company said that both developments will strengthen its W&I proposition in meeting the increasing demand for transactional liability insurance for SMEs, where M&A activity remains frenetic.
Alex Smith head of SME transactional liability business for Optio, said: “Despite the Covid-related M&A slump, the SME market was resilient, retaining a high level of seller and investor confidence through 2020 and 2021. As a result, our offering in the SME space has gone from strength to strength and, in addition to Paul’s appointment and our increase in line size, further hires are likely to help meet demand.”
Previously, Tominey served as senior associate at global law firm DLA Piper, where he advised primarily on buy-side, PE-backed transactions.
The hiring of Tominey comes just over a week after the company said it was appointing Mark Kelsey to be its new UK head of political violence and terrorism. As with this announcement, the company said it was upping its line size in this area. In that case, it was a tripling for single risks to $150m.
