Pen Underwriting expands construction and casualty team with four hires

Pen Underwriting has expanded its UK construction and casualty practice with four underwriting appointments.

The moves see Dawn Strong join as senior casualty underwriter in the MGA’s Liphook office, Ravi Banger appointed casualty underwriter in Birmingham, while Ollie Jochimsen and Josh Murphy have joined the London construction and casualty team as casualty underwriter and assistant underwriter respectively.

Strong joins from Zurich Insurance, where she spent the past three years as a trading underwriter, bringing more than 20 years’ commercial insurance experience across broking and underwriting.

Banger joins from NFU Mutual, having previously held underwriting roles at Zurich, LV, Wesleyan and Direct Line Group.

Meanwhile, Jochimsen joins from Lloyd’s broker Bridge Specialty International, while Murphy joined the business earlier this month.

Paul Murphy, managing director of construction and casualty at Pen Underwriting, said: “Every specialist underwriting business with ambitious growth plans needs to keep investing in people.”

Regional expansion

Murphy added that the four appointments would deepen the firm’s casualty underwriting expertise across its regional markets.

He said: “With a comprehensive construction footprint able to cater for the vast majority of trades, from high risk to general builders – and a specialist liability team whose expertise stretches well beyond construction into retail, recycling, manufacturing and much more – our broad underwriting appetite needs great people to keep delivering quality service and coverage to our broker partners and their clients.”

The hires expand the MGA’s underwriting presence across Birmingham, Liphook and London as the MGA continues to invest in its specialist construction and casualty proposition.