Hiscox: Appointment of Group Chief Underwriting Officer

HAMILTON, Bermuda, Sept. 5 -- Hiscox, an insurance provider, issued the following news release:

Hiscox today announces the appointment of Joanne Musselle as its new Group Chief Underwriting Officer, after concluding a thorough internal and external search. Joanne is currently Chief Underwriting Officer for Hiscox Retail, the Group's largest division. She will step into the role at the end of the year following Richard Watson's retirement which was announced in June, and join the Hiscox Ltd Board as an Executive Director in February 2020, subject to regulatory consent.

Joanne has been with Hiscox for 17 years, having joined the UK business in 2002 as Technical Underwriting Manager for professions and specialty commercial lines. Since then she has held a variety of senior roles including Head of UK Claims and Chief Underwriting Officer for Hiscox UK and Ireland before taking on the newly-created position of Chief Underwriting Officer for Hiscox Retail in 2018. Prior to Hiscox, Joanne spent almost 10 years working in a variety of actuarial, pricing and reserving roles at AXA and Aviva in both the UK and Asian markets.

In her current role, Joanne is responsible for all retail underwriting across the Hiscox Group, including Hiscox UK, Hiscox Europe, Hiscox USA, Hiscox Special Risks and Hiscox Asia. In the last two years, she has overseen profitable growth in GWP of almost 25% across the retail portfolio and helped our retail businesses to navigate increased volumes of regulatory change. She already sits on a number of subsidiary boards in the Hiscox Group, as well as being Active Underwriter for Syndicate 3624 and a Hiscox Partner. In addition, Joanne is actively involved in industry initiatives, having been an ABI industry forum member since 2013 and serving as a workstream Chair of the Chartered Insurance Institute's Insuring Women's Futures initiative since 2017.

Bronek Masojada, Hiscox Group CEO, said: "After a thorough search where we considered a number of strong internal and external candidates, I am pleased to appoint Joanne as our next Group Chief Underwriting Officer. Joanne's deep understanding of our business and experience of managing underwriting portfolios in our key markets will be critical for our next stage of growth. She has overseen strong, profitable growth in our retail casualty and property portfolios and has confidently led the business through a number of changes in course when market conditions have been tough. Joanne's commerciality, long-term view and ability to challenge will make her a valuable member of our Executive team."

Joanne added: "Profitable underwriting is the backbone of Hiscox and I could not be more delighted to serve the Group in this broader role. Being part of the evolution of Hiscox over the last 17 years has given me many experiences and opportunities across the whole of our business and I am excited to be taking up this next challenge."

There are no other details that are required to be disclosed in respect of the appointment of Joanne Musselle under 9.6.13R of the Listing Rules of the Financial Conduct Authority.

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About The Hiscox Group

Hiscox is a global specialist insurer, headquartered in Bermuda and listed on the London Stock Exchange (LSE:HSX). Our ambition is to be a respected specialist insurer with a diverse portfolio by product and geography. We believe that building balance between catastrophe-exposed business and less volatile local specialty business gives us opportunities for profitable growth throughout the insurance cycle. It's a long-standing strategy which in 2018 saw the business deliver a profit before tax of $137.4 million in a challenging year for insurers.

The Hiscox Group employs over 3,300 people in 14 countries, and has customers worldwide. Through the retail businesses in the UK, Europe, Asia and the US, we offer a range of specialist insurance for professionals and business customers as well as homeowners. Internationally traded, bigger ticket business and reinsurance is underwritten through Hiscox London Market and Hiscox Re & ILS.

Our values define our business, with a focus on people, quality, courage and excellence in execution. We pride ourselves on being true to our word and our award-winning claims service is testament to that.