Specialty insurer expands across Canada in five product lines

Specialty insurer Mosaic Insurance has expanded its offerings across Canada in five product lines — cyber, transactional liability, financial institutions, professional liability and environmental liability. 

The global firm first opened an office in Toronto in July 2022 and now serves clients across Canada in the five highly technical specialty lines of business. 

“The underwriting hub will remain in Toronto, which is a common approach in the marketplace for specialty lines,” Mosaic’s head of Canada, Ian Fraser, told Canadian Underwriter Friday. “That being said, our team of underwriting specialists do travel coast to coast. 

“They travel nationally on a quite frequent basis, and we do have touch points with our key broker partners in all Canadian jurisdictions.” 

Fraser, who has more than 20 years of experience in the specialty space and underwrites cyber, financial institutions and professional liability, is joined in the Toronto hub by a team of four specialists: 

Ricardo Philip — VP, underwriter, environmental liability, has more than 25 years of environmental insurance experience in loss control, underwriting, and portfolio management at AIG, ACE INA Insurance (now Chubb) and Markel Canada. He started his environmental-risk consulting company in 2018 and most recently worked for an Ontario environmental contractor, carrying out estimation, tender negotiation, and project management. His background is in environmental risk assessment (ecotoxicology) and biochemistry. 
Kyle Gray — VP, underwriter, cyber, has 14 years of underwriting experience in specialty insurance, previously leading a start-up Canadian cyber MGA. Before that, he developed and led profitable cyber, errors & omissions (E&O), and directors & officers (D&O) portfolios at CNA Canada and Trisura. 
Reynaldo Batac — VP, underwriter, professional liability, cyber & financial institutions, has more than 16 years of experience in several sectors of the insurance industry, including claims adjusting, risk engineering, insurance placement, and underwriting. He has spent most of his career focused on underwriting management liability exposures. Previously, he developed and led the financial, professional, technology and cyber divisions at Sovereign Insurance in Toronto. 
Charlie Zilvytis — VP, underwriter, transactional liability, focuses on complex Canadian and international M&A transaction risks. Previously, he worked as a corporate associate at Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP. Zilvytis represented clients in a broad range of corporate matters, including M&A and private equity transactions.  

Mosaic’s underwriting team in Canada (from left): Ricardo Philip (environmental liability); Kyle Gray (cyber); Reynaldo Batac (professional liability, cyber & financial institutions); Charlie Zilvytis (transactional liability), and head of Canada Ian Fraser. Photo credit: Mosaic Insurance

Mosaic operates in seven countries: Bermuda, U.S., Canada, U.K, Germany, United Arab Emirates and Singapore. “The first office we set up outside of the U.S. or U.K. was in Canada,” David White, Mosaic’s EVP, underwriting director, told CU. “We’re very familiar with Canadian business, and saw Canada as a key part of our broader distribution strategy.” 

Mosaic’s hybrid global model combines capacity from its own Lloyd’s syndicate 1609 with capital from a consortia of carrier partners seeking regional access and underwriting expertise in non-commoditized specialty lines. Mosaic retains decision-making control over rates, line sizes and claims settlement. 

“Canada has always been a sophisticated and developed insurance market, and naturally Lloyd’s has been a key source of insurance capital for Canadian brokers and their largest clients and most complex risks,” Fraser said. “We now have the unique opportunity of providing the Lloyd’s syndicated approach in Canada, and with that, an ability to domestically provide solutions that clients don’t commonly have access to without accessing Lloyd’s through a London placement.” 

Mosaic launched primary cyber coverage in May this year. That was followed in June by the opening of its environmental liability unit in Canada, offering energy clients multi-line coverage across other specialties, including cyber and professional liability. 

The company also accommodates financial institution clients across product lines, including D&O, E&O, crime and cyber coverage. 

Feature image by iStock.com/da-kuk