London 14 May 2018 Castel Underwriting Agencies Limited (Castel), the club-style MGA formation platform, has appointed Bob Cowdell as its first independent Non-Executive Director (NED).
Cowdell currently holds a number of NED roles including at Thomas Miller Holdings Limited, where he chairs the audit committee and as Chairman of Real Estate Credit Investment Limited. He has also held NED roles at XL Catlin, where he chaired the audit committee and sat on the risk and reserving committee for their UK group companies.
Cowdell has a wide range of experience in advising Lloyd’s underwriters, and general and life insurance companies on achieving growth, both through acquisition and organically across rating and investment cycles. He is a former Managing Director of RBS Global Banking and Markets and was Head of Financials at Hoare Govett, where he was responsible for financial sector corporate broking and equity capital market activities.
The appointment comes as Castel continues to expand the range and scope of its underwriting cells and plans further growth across specialty lines markets.
Castel’s CEO, Mark Birrell said: “Bob brings a wealth of experience to Castel. He has a recognised track record for contributing to building and transforming insurance businesses by successfully driving performance, business efficiency and management development. Bob’s appointment supports our continuing expansion and growth plans and is a further indication of our commitment to attracting and supporting the highest quality of talent in the market.”
Bob Cowdell said: “Castel has created a successful operating model that enables underwriting talent to thrive and build profitable businesses. It has also built a strong reputation amongst capacity providers for understanding their needs and maximising the opportunities that MGAs can deliver in niche and specialty markets. I look forward to working with Mark and the team to sustain and build on this success.”