Vantage bolsters property cat & analytics support for AdVantage ILS strategy

Vantage Risk, the Bermuda headquartered insurance and reinsurance company, has made two leadership adjustments of relevance to the firm’s insurance-linked securities (ILS) strategy under its AdVantage collateralized insurer.

Recall, Vantage raised close to $1 billion of capital for deployment into property catastrophe reinsurance opportunities in 2023 using the AdVantage collateralized insurer class of company at the end of 2022.

Today, the company announced that it is bolstering its leadership in property catastrophe risks and giving new responsibilities in its data and analytics function, all designed to better support the AdVantage ILS strategies continued growth and development.

First, Brian Steinhoff has been promoted to Senior Vice President, Property Catastrophe risks, effective immediately.

Steinhoff had been with Vantage Risk since 2021, working as a VP and property catastrophe lead underwriter.

Now, as Head of Property Cat, Steinhoff will be based in Bermuda and report to Peta White, President of Vantage Risk Ltd., while leading a team of property catastrophe reinsurance underwriters.

He will also lead the property catastrophe reinsurance u nderwriting efforts on behalf of Vantage’s partnership capital platform AdVantage Retro I Ltd.

He and his team will be responsible for producing and underwriting portfolios within target investment parameters, for capital partners allocated to the AdVantage ILS platform.

In addition and under Steinhoff’s direction, Vantage’s expertise, analytics, and reporting will also be extended to investors interested in opportunities in the property catastrophe market, the company explained.

Commenting on Steinhoff’s appointment, Chris McKeown, Vantage’s CEO of Reinsurance, ILS and Innovation, explained, “The $1B capital raise sets us on sound footing to accelerate AdVantage’s growth. With the development of our partnership capital model gaining steam, Brian’s underwriting expertise and extensive market contacts will be invaluable to investors seeking non-correlating returns in the Property Catastrophe reinsurance market.

“We’re happy to have him take on this important role and build on Vantage’s early success in managing partnership capital.”

Steinhoff added, “I’m excited to support Chris and the team developing and executing our AdVantage strategy. We’re committed to providing best-in-class service to cedents and third party investors, while bringing creative and meaningful capacity to the market.”

On the data and analytics side, Brent Poliquin, Reinsurance Data & Analytics Lead at Vantage Risk and a well-known figure from the risk modelling world and with extensive insurance-linked securities (ILS) experience, will gain expanded responsibilities, the company said.

Poliquin will now lead strategic operational planning and investor reporting activities related to the AdVantage partner capital and ILS platform, adding his experience as Vantage continues to seek to build-out the ILS offering.