Accelerant hires Peter Shen as Head of Capital Markets

Accelerant, the insurtech that helps members exchange or transfer risk more effectively and connects them with long-term capital, has appointed its first Head of Capital Markets, hiring Peter Shen for the position, an executive with experience in investment banking and insurance-linked securities (ILS).

Shen was most recently at insurtech Cover Whale where he spent two years working in Strategy and Corporate Development for the company, prior to which he worked in a number of ILS focused positions.

Shen joined Accelerant this month in the Head of Capital Markets position, a new role at the company.

Accelerant. which is led by industry luminary Jeff Radke, has a track-record for seeking to connect efficient sources of risk capital with its member underwriters, to support their needs for reinsurance and growth capacity.

In 2022, the company launched a reinsurance sidecar, Flywheel Re, to support its members capacity needs.

The company then later that year launched the Accelerant Risk Exchange, a platform through which it seeks to efficiently connect its member specialty underwriters, which include MGA’s, with sources of insurance, reinsurance and third-party capital.

Shen, in announcing his new role on LinkedIn, said “I’m incredibly excited to be joining Accelerant as Head of Capital Markets, where I’ll be helping to connect risk capital with specialty underwriters.”

With the appetite of insurance-linked securities (ILS) investors having expanded beyond the realms of catastrophe risks in recent years, to include areas such as specialty lines, as well as casualty and cyber, companies standing at the intersection of risk and capital have an increasing opportunity to help investors access portfolios of risk, which perfectly fits the Accelerant mission.

Shen’s background saw him working for a short time at reinsurance broker Guy Carpenter in its GC Securities ILS-focused unit as a summer analyst, after which he spent almost a year at Piper Jaffray in investment banking.

Then, in 2017, Shen joined TigerRisk Partners and spent almost four years at the broker working in investment banking and capital markets related roles.