Gallagher Re, the global reinsurance broker, has made two senior appointments to its team in Bermuda.

Alex McManus and Romain Kapfer are to lead its index-based capabilities and specialty business on the island, respectively.

Gallagher said Mr McManus will lead index-based initiatives on the island working closely with Gallagher Securities, the insurance-linked securities arm of Gallagher Re.

It said his appointment will enable industry loss warranty and catastrophe bond capabilities to be readily available to the Bermudian business, to best serve Gallagher Re’s existing client base and provide its broader customer network across the globe with greater access to index-based capacity.

With extensive knowledge of the indexed space and having been instrumental in growing Gallagher Re’s ILW offering, the broker said, Mr McManus brings to his new role a breadth of experience across the direct, reinsurance and retrocession markets over the past 10 years.

Capitalising on his strong connectivity to London and North American colleagues, as well as Artex Capital Solutions within the wider Gallagher group, the broker said Mr McManus will ensure clients gain access to the full suite of alternative capital solutions -- a growing requirement in a more challenging reinsurance market.

The company said Mr Kapfer’s appointment to lead Gallagher Re’s growing specialty business in Bermuda reflects the strategy to build out a team that complements the direction of travel and growing diversification within the Bermudian reinsurance market.

Taking advantage of Gallagher Re’s strength in specialty lines, it said, Mr Kapfer will assist in the continued development of this market on the island, assisting reinsurers as they look to pursue greater product diversification beyond property cat.

With over 15 years’ experience across London market and North American specialty treaty business, having worked in both London and New York, he most recently led on sales and strategy for the UK’s marine and energy division as executive director.

Ben Radford, head of Bermuda, Gallagher Re, said: “Having the expertise and experience of Romain and Alex in Bermuda speaks directly to our strategy of relevance – ensuring we have the right people on the island, with the right capabilities, for the right reasons.

“Individuals who can speak to multiple product disciplines and provide our clients with a product agnostic view of how best to access capital in a more capacity constrained marketplace is key to our approach.”