Africa Specialty Risks (ASR), the pan-African and Middle East focused (re)insurance group, has announced that Africa Specialty Risks Ltd (ASR Ltd), ASR's UK-based entity is operating as a Lloyd's service company, underwriting on behalf of ASR Syndicate 2454.
ASR Ltd is now able to write up to $10m per risk across its Political Violence and Terrorism, Energy, Construction, Property, and Liability lines of business, with additional lines to be added, subject to necessary approvals.
This development enhances ASR’s distribution network and enables ASR to leverage Lloyd’s global brand and licences. It provides brokers in Africa and the Middle East better and more efficient access to the Lloyd's market through its service company. It also complements ASR’s existing partnerships with other international and local African reinsurers, assisting ASR’s partners in retaining risk effectively.
Mr Martin Boreham is the Active Underwriter of Syndicate 2454 and a director of underwriting at ASR. He said, “This agreement provides African brokers access to the A+ paper of Lloyd’s and is a step towards our ambition of being the go-to Lloyd’s market for the continent.”
Mr Mikir Shah, CEO of ASR, said, “This is another milestone in helping us achieve our objective of closing the insurance gap in Africa, providing access to local African brokers and enabling us to better distribute our Lloyd’s capacity on the continent, while maintaining the highest standards of service and reliability.”
ASR provides comprehensive risk-mitigating solutions to local and global customers across Africa and the Middle East, with operations in London, Mauritius, Bermuda, and Morocco. Since its launch, ASR has participated in the de-risking of $28bn of projects and assets across 66 countries.
ASR Syndicate 2454 was set up to increase high quality capacity for the African market, with the initial aim to write gross premium of approximately GBP70m ($92m) for 2024. It began underwriting officially on 26 April 2024. It is the first African-focused syndicate writing business at Lloyd’s.
Across the group, ASR underwrites Political Risk, Trade Credit, Political Violence & Terrorism, Property, Energy, Construction, Liability, Parametric and Treaty. ASR also offers an end-to-end captive solution to corporate and financial institutions. ASR is backed by Helios Investment Partners’ Fund IV.