QBE Europe, a business insurance specialist part of QBE Insurance Group, is expanding its financial lines offering with the launch of Warranty and Indemnity (W&I) insurance in the continent.
It will offer protection for unknown breaches of target and seller representations and warranties in a purchase agreement.
According to the announcement, the new product reflects an increased need for capacity and technical expertise to respond to the demands of customers and increased levels of M&A activity in the region.
Toria Lessman will be responsible for the build out of a dedicated W&I team. During her time as Senior Vice President for TLI (Transactional Liability Insurance) in QBE’s North American division, she was responsible for building up the product in the US.
The new W&I team will report to Jamie Thompson, Director of Financial Lines. He commented: “This is an exciting opportunity to support our customers in the M&A market. We are delighted that Toria will be joining QBE Europe’s financial lines team to spearhead the roll out of our new W&I product. She brings considerable specialist expertise to the role, having successfully grown the TLI business for QBE North America.”
QBE said it is looking to initially hire three local experts as it is looking to combine the company’s strong global expertise with locally empowered experts.
Initially led out of London, the longer-term plan for W&I is to establish an underwriting team across the existing European footprint utilising QBE’s strength in coverage, execution and claims experience.
