Aspen’s Americas marine programs head moves to WQIS

Aspen’s head of marine programs in the Americas has joined specialist pollution MGA the Water Quality Insurance Syndicate (WQIS).

John Phillips joined WQIS earlier this month and has been appointed senior underwriter, based in Houston, Texas. Having joined the company, Phillips will report into Justin Mongello, the president and CEO of WQIS.

The new arrival was most recently head of marine programs for Aspen Insurance US. In that Houston, Texas-based role, Phillips was responsible for the development and management of all of Aspen’s specialty marine insurance programs throughout the Americas region.

During his career, Phillips also spent almost a decade with Liberty International Underwriters where he was the platform’s hull product line leader for North and South America.

Prior to Liberty International Underwriters, Phillips was with Zurich North America for close-to 10 years, latterly as the insurer’s regional marine manager.

The niche New York-headquartered WQIS is the largest writer of vessel pollution liability insurance for vessels in the US. It provides water pollution liability insurance for small to large fleets for vessel operators based around the world. Currently, WQIS provides coverage to some 30,000 vessels, pollution guaranties for over 3,500 vessels, and has cleaned up in excess of 5,000 oil spills during its history.

Currently, WQIS writes coverage on behalf of 10 capacity providers. Subsidiaries of Aspen Insurance, OneBeacon, AIG, Navigators, RLI, StarStone and Axa XL each provide 10.9711 percent of WQIS’ capacity. Zurich North America accounts for 8.3333 percent of WQIS’ capacity, with CNA responsible for another 7.8690 percent.

WR Berkley’s StarNet provides the final 7 percent of WQIS’ capacity.