Insurance and reinsurance broker and advisory Willis Towers Watson is launching a new push into the German-speaking DACH region of Europe, with the establishment of a facultative reinsurance hub.
The company said that it is targeting facultative reinsurance business across Germany, Austria, and Switzerland with the new hub, and has appointed two industry leaders to set up and run the hub from Munich, Germany.
The facultative reinsurance hub will be led by Gerhard Hurek as the Head of DACH Facultative Reinsurance, who begins his new role this week.
Hurek previously led the facultative business at MAPFRE RE across Germany, Austria, and the Central and Eastern European (CEE) region, a role he held for more than a decade. Before that, Hurek spent 25 years at reinsurer Swiss Re in a variety of senior underwriting and client management roles.
Zeljko Panic will join the hub as Executive Director, also beginning this week. He also joins from MAPFRE RE, where he spent ten years as Head of Treaty Business for the CEE Countries. Panic also previously worked at Swiss Re and Bavarian Re.
The new hub will report to Mathias Pahl, Head of Corporate Risk & Broking for Willis Towers Watson Germany and Ghassan Mansour, Managing Director of Corporate Risk & Broking, and Regional Head of Facultative Reinsurance for Western Europe.
Pahl commented; “I am delighted to welcome Gerhard and Zeljko to the team. Their significant combined experience and impressive reputations will drive our strategy for facultative reinsurance as an enabler across Germany and the wider region. This will help deliver greater benefits and solutions to all our clients in an ever-challenging market environment.”
Mansour added; “We are sending a clear message to the market that we have the drive and determination to become the leading facultative broker of choice for the DACH region. Our aim is to support insurance carriers to help them meet their strategic objectives through delivering technically advanced solutions. We will achieve this by drawing on Willis Towers Watson’s significant analytical capabilities, combined with the strength of experience of Gerhard and Zeljko, and the wider regional broking resource.”
Willis Towers Watson said the new facultative reinsurance hub will strengthen the firms corporate risk and broking proposition across Western Europe, by optimising placement solutions through facultative reinsurance.
