Bermuda insurance veteran Jim Bryce has been appointed the new chairman of Barbados-based Aliseo Reinsurance SCC.

The founder and former president and CEO of IPC Re Ltd. has assumed his new role with the monoline retrocessionaire that focuses on property catastrophe protection and has been formed with initial capital of $300 million.

The company's new president and CEO will be Andreas Kusay, who most recently was president and CEO of Barbados-based Manufacturers P&C Ltd., Manulife Financial Corp.'s property catastrophe subsidiary, Business Insurance reported.

Aliseo Re expects to write business effective from January 1, subject to certain closing conditions, it said in the statement earlier this week.

"Despite the current challenging dynamics in the broader reinsurance industry, demand for property retrocession protection is expected to grow. We are confident that Aliseo Re will offer valuable capacity to meet that demand," Mr. Kusay said in the statement.

Pearl River, New York-based US RE Group and Lima, Peru-based VKP Group acted as Aliseo Re's advisers.