Former Ascot executive Patrick Kenahan is preparing to launch excess casualty MGA First Specialty with paper from MS Transverse, this publication understands.
The entity has already secured a panel of reinsurers, as well as financial backing from well-known insurance industry investors, sources say.
Kenahan is a trusted name in the Bermuda casualty community, with a track record of setting up Ascot Bermuda’s excess casualty team in 2019. He left Ascot in May last year.
The executive has nearly 30 years of industry experience across Allied World, Starr, Zurich and AIG.
Kenahan declined to comment.
After reaching a hard market peak in 2021, US excess casualty rates have stabilized over the past two years, with the degree of increase on higher excess layers flattened to single digits.
For now, the market is largely holding steady, sources say, but some have pointed to the possibility of a re-hardening as the industry continues to grapple with loss developments from accident years 2019 and prior.
Last month, Bermuda-based Vantage Group began offering US primary casualty, complementing its existing Bermuda and US excess casualty products.