Arch Underwriting at Lloyd’s (Australia), which was launched in Sydney in December, will focus initially on commercial property.

Adam Matteson, Regional Director Australasia for a Lloyd’s syndicate established by Arch Insurance Europe, says he’s working to a lean, flexible hybrid model looking to support facultative reinsurance markets and retail markets.

“Certainly we see the property market in three different areas – corporate captive, commercial and SME – so our appetite will match where the opportunities are in those markets,” he told insuranceNEWS.com.au.

Mr Matteson has come from Munich Re where for the past 10 years he had national responsibility for property product.

“The response has been quite good,” he said. “If you look in the reinsurance market there have been a lot of exits over the past 10 years in the facultative market, and to have someone here focusing on it in the corporate space has been seen as quite a positive.”

Mr Matteson says Arch is poised for the next wave of market activity, whether that comes from mergers and acquisitions or elsewhere.