BMS Re hires O’Brien (formerly Nephila) to support secondary cat bond trading

BMS Re, the reinsurance arm of the international broking group, has hired former Nephila Capital employee Brendan O’Brien to further build out its Bermuda reinsurance and retro offering, as well as to support its secondary catastrophe bond trading plans.

BMS Re has ambitions to expand its capital market and insurance-linked securities (ILS) capabilities in Bermuda, with part of that being the set-up of a secondary cat bond trading desk, under the watch of Director Erik Manning.

O’Brien has been hired to help implement and support this among other initiatives, we’ve learned.

His background includes six years spent at ILS investment manager Nephila Capital in Bermuda.

At Nephila, O’Brien began his career as an Assistant Fund Controller, becoming a Fund Controller two years later, looking after certain of the Nephila ILS funds.

While working at Nephila, O’Brien spent a considerable amount of time working on the investment managers catastrophe bond trading desk, as well as being involved in the outwards reinsurance and retro strategy.

He left Nephila in late 2021 and emerged at Assured Guaranty, as an underwriter of structured finance products where he worked for almost a year and a half.

Now, O’Brien has joined BMS Re as a Vice President and returns to his ILS roots, with a focus on developing the catastrophe bond trading initiative and building out that part of the brokers business, alongside property catastrophe reinsurance and retrocession responsibilities.

He will contribute to many of BMS Re’s alternative risk transfer initiatives, in a position covering both property catastrophe and non-catastrophe lines, including credit reinsurance, further bolstering BMS Re’s existing offering in the market.

O’Brien will report to to Chris McDowell, CEO of BMS Re Bermuda.

McDowell commented, “Brendan holds the expertise and experience to join our Bermuda office and contribute from the word go. His knowledge of the demands and opportunities of a cat bond desk will prove invaluable to us as we build out our secondary cat bond trading initiative. I am delighted to welcome him to BMS Re and am excited to see both the impact he will have on our cat bond initiative as well as the wider input he will have on our growth.”

O’Brien added, “I’m pleased to join BMS Re during a time of extraordinary growth. BMS Re has a well-established global reputation, and I look forward to contributing towards the execution of the group’s various initiatives, learning from the exceptional people, and participating in a remarkable culture.”