Ryan Specialty's international financial lines MGU has expanded its executive leadership team following the recent acquisition of Innovisk Capital Partners.

Specialty MGA Optio Group has continued to build out its senior team with the appointment of Oliver Sheppard as head of financial lines.

Arch Insurance International has appointed Maggie Munns as head of its executive assurance division, which covers commercial D&O, SME D&O, financial institutions and transactional risk.

Ageas Re, the reinsurance arm of Belgian insurance group Ageas, will double its maximum line size in property cat to €25mn at the upcoming 1 January renewals, with the ambitious carrier also targeting a financial lines reinsurance build-out after the successful entry into casualty earlier this year.

HDI Global Specialty has taken a majority stake in Falcon Risk Services, buying out founding investor Griffin Highline’s stake, with the firm saying it expects the financial lines and cyber-focused MGA to be “a major growth driver” for it in the US.

Insurance rates in the US increased by 1 percent in the second quarter of 2024, a deceleration from the 3 percent rise in the first three months of this year, with varying trends across different sectors, according to the latest Marsh Global Insurance Market Index.

Price Forbes has bolstered its regional capabilities with the appointment of Antonio Calder-Smith to its Singapore unit,

CFC has updated its fintech insurance cover in the UK, Canada and Australia to include increasing professional service and technology exposures faced by the sector.

Nexus Underwriting, the specialty MGA platform of Kentro Capital, has appointed Steve Willett as head of development.

UK insurer Aviva has unveiled a series of hires to its financial lines team, overseen by newly appointed underwriting director Ramesh Singh.

QBE Re has appointed three global product heads including Salvatore Sama for casualty, Jane Farren for financial professional lines, and Derek Durst for cyber.

Significant softening in financial lines – largely led by public D&O – has been a dominant theme of the last year or more and was an offsetting factor in both NPW growth and rate at AIG.

Allianz Commercial has formed a new UK-based in-house financial lines claims team to support its D&O and professional indemnity propositions.

Specialty (re)insurer Canopius has launched a new investment management cover for asset managers in response to the shifting risk landscape in the highly regulated sector.

Aegis Financial Lines in partnership with sister company K2 Financial has been approved as a Lloyd’s coverholder and has been launched under the leadership of former Hanover Group executive Kevin Leach.