MSI appoints Slabbert as US CEO with Carrier to take charge of Lloyd’s unit

MSIG Holdings (USA), the onshore US (re)insurance arm of Japan’s MS&AD Insurance Group, has appointed Johan Slabbert as CEO with effect from 1 January 2023. 

The move will see Slabbert’s existing role as CEO of MS Amlin Underwriting Limited (MS AUL) – the group’s Lloyd’s insurer – filled by veteran underwriter Andrew Carrier.

Slabbert’s newly created role will see him responsible for driving the growth of Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance, parent company of MS AUL, which will also include its $400mn+ recently acquired hybrid fronting carrier Transverse.

Slabbert has been with the group since 2017, initially joining as chairman of Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Company (Europe). 

He previously served as CEO of both Chaucer Limited and Augustus Specialty LLC, having begun his career with AIG. 

Carrier’s elevation follows more than two years as CUO of MS AUL, where he has led the (re)insurer’s underwriting turnaround initiative. He previously spent six years at Everest Re, where he was responsible for the firm’s London market, Continental Europe and Asia Pacific reinsurance operations. 

His career also includes serving as group CUO at Argo for seven years and more than two decades at Kiln (now Tokio Marine Kiln).

Tamaki Kawate, director and head of international business at Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Company, said Slabbert’s “significant experience and knowledge of the US (re)insurance industry along with his extensive international contacts will help accelerate our plans to be the (re)insurer of choice for domestic US risks”.  

“With our recent acquisition of Transverse, alongside our other US companies, we will under Johan’s leadership unlock the full potential of our businesses, collaborating both with head office teams in Japan as well as emerging businesses here in the US, to further enhance our differentiated proposition, and see MSI taking a leading position in all distribution and placement channels.”

MS&AD has revamped its international operations in recent years, with much of the focus being on restructuring MS Amlin following heavy losses in the 2018 and 2018 underwriting years.

Alongside personnel changes this has also included an increased focus on the US, with the launch of an MGA strategy in April last year and the subsequent acquisition of Transverse at a seemingly full valuation.

The group’s reinsurance arm, MS Amlin AG, rebranded to MS Reinsurance in September as part of a move to cement its identity as a pure-play reinsurer and to further distinguish it from the group’s Lloyd’s arm.