Howden adds JP Morgan’s Sébastien Bamsey as MD in capital markets unit

Howden Capital Markets & Advisory (HCMA), the insurance and reinsurance broker’s capital markets and insurance-linked securities (ILS) specialist unit, has hired J.P. Morgan’s Sébastien Bamsey as Managing Director (MD), as the firm continues to build out its European team.

Based in London, Bamsey takes on his new role at HCMA on July 15th, 2024, and brings more than 18 years of international expertise and experience in providing corporate finance and capital markets advice to insurers and reinsurers.

Most recently, he served as J.P. Morgan’s Head of European Insurance Debt Capital Markets, where he led the finance dialogue with all of the bank’s national and global insurance and reinsurance clients headquartered in Europe, with a focus on public and private markets.

During his time with J.P. Morgan, Bamsey led numerous complex and strategically critical workstreams, encompassing acquisition financing, regulatory and rating agency relationships, alternative forms of risk transfer and also bespoke, underwritten solutions.

“At HCMA, we are committed to providing our clients with best-in-class M&A, capital and ILS transaction advice and support to achieve their global growth and capital needs,” said Jarad Madea, Chief Executive Officer of HCMA. “I’m delighted to welcome Sébastien to the team as we continue to expand our European reinsurance and capital markets capability. Through a broad bench of leading industry talent, and the diversified resources across Howden, we provide state of the art data-driven insights and analytics, giving our clients a strategic advantage in today’s competitive market.”

Bamsey added, “I am very excited to be joining an investment banking franchise with an exclusive focus on the insurance and reinsurance sectors, incredibly deep industry knowledge, and extensive capabilities across strategic advisory and all forms of capital raising and ILS/risk transfer. I have been impressed working opposite the Howden team on prior innovative transactions in the insurance space and I feel fortunate to be joining such a talented group of individuals.”

HCMA notes that Bamsey joins the firm during a period of record activity. In the past year alone, the company has participated in 28 announced transactions with a combined value of more than $7.5 billion. This includes buy-side and sell-side M&A, catastrophe bonds, reinsurance sidecars, new company formations, reciprocal exchange and Lloyd’s transactions.