Chris has over 30 years' experience in the insurance industry having started his career as a broker in the London market working for Benfield, Jardine and Grieg Fester before joining CIGNA Corp to establish an international A & H reinsurance division, CIGNA RE Europe based in London. During this time Chris was also responsible for the creation of CIGNA's corporate Lloyds syndicate one of the first corporate members in the London market.
Leaving CIGNA in 2000, Chris set up Momentum Underwriting Management (MUM) a global leading A & H MGU with offices in London, Brisbane and Chicago. MUM was acquired in late 2008 by The Beazley Group, at the time the third largest entity within Lloyds of London. On leaving Beazley, Chris occupied himself while on garden leave by producing the Oscar winning, "The Lady in Number 6 - Music Saved My Life" which won the Academy Award for best Short Documentary.
Group CEO Andrew Carvill commented: "I am very excited to have Chris join our Team; his entrepreneurial nature and deep business experience will prove a significant asset. Aside from welcoming a partner and longtime friend to help drive our business forward, Chris has a deep understanding of the A&H market which represents an exciting growth opportunity for our firm and is highly complementary to our core P&C operations".
Commenting on his appointment Mr. Branch added "I having been looking for the right opportunity in the underwriting space for the next phase of my career. Avoca blends state of the art technology with best in class underwriting in the sectors in which it operates. It has attracted an outstanding line up of global insurance and reinsurance capacity and is heavily focused on returning above average underwriting results to its partners.
The company remains privately held and independent and offers an excellent platform from which Specialty niches can be built and underwritten successfully. I am very excited to join the team and help the company continue to grow".
ARUS is a wholly owned subsidiary of Avoca Insurance Holdings (Avoca). Avoca is an independent, privately held company that invests in and operates underwriting management companies in the United States. The firm has operating subsidiaries in Chicago, Boston, Hartford, Burlington VT and Manchester NH. The company maintains underwriting contracts with a number of Lloyd's Syndicates as well as leading domestic and European Insurers. ARUS develops proprietary software in-house to support its objective of delivering best in class underwriting results in the specialist niches in which it operates.