Hiscox Re’s insurance-linked securities arm has added a new portfolio manager to its Bermudian-based ILS investment team.

Aaron Garcia moved to the company from London re/insurer Novae Group, where he spent five years as an international property treaty underwriter based in Bermuda and Zurich.

Hiscox executives have been bullish on the likelihood of reinsurance rate increases after around $100 billion in third-quarter catastrophe losses for the industry — and increased investor interest in the ILS space.

Richard Lowther, Hiscox Re’s chief operating officer said at the World Alternative Investment Summit in Bermuda earlier this month: “You can’t destroy that much capital in a market and not have an appropriate market response.

“There are a lot of people with cash on the sidelines who have been waiting for a year like this to get into the ILS market.”

He added: “I think we’ve had a pretty significant dislocation in the market, but we may not know until November or December, so we will need to be ready to take advantage of it.”

In his new portfolio management role, Mr Garcia will report to Matthew Swann and will have responsibility for underwriting reinsurance business into the funds managed by Hiscox Re ILS.

Mr Swann said: “Aaron brings a strong technical underwriting skill set that is core to our investment philosophy, and we are delighted to add him to the team.

“His hire underpins our ambition to generate attractive risk-adjusted returns for our investors, through superior market access and analytics. As we demonstrate the strength of our model we will continue to invest in growing the team through 2018.”

Before joining Novae, Mr Garcia worked as a reinsurance broker at JLT Group in London.