WR Berkley’s new CEO Tony Wheatley has revamped the company’s management structure to position it for expansion geographically and into new lines.

He has appointed Christian Garling as National Facilities Manager, to focus on facilities, binders and managing general agency support.

Mr Garling says an increasing amount of small and mid-market business is managed via binder and agency arrangements. “While we already have a strong focus in this area, the role is designed to add more emphasis and capitalise on the market shift in terms of distribution,” he told insuranceNEWS.com.au.

Mr Wheatley, who joined WR Berkley from Axis in July, says his brief is to consolidate the business and establish a structure “designed to achieve growth via geographic expansion, strengthening existing teams and new product development in our target market segments”.

He believes the growth in facilities, binders and managing general agencies is a sign of the bottoming-out of the market, with intermediaries looking for additional income and insurers seeking greater distribution.

WR Berkley Australia has always focused heavily on professional lines and there is significant opportunity to expand to other areas, Mr Wheatley told insuranceNEWS.com.au.

He declined to name the lines being targeted, saying the management team is still investigating opportunities.

He has also established a new role of national underwriting manager, appointing Matthew McPhee to manage the state-based open-market underwriting teams.

Barbara Stenning is the new National Head of Claims, with the company bringing claims management in-house.

CFO Nick Goritsas and Head of Business Support Karen Milton complete the senior management team.

Mr Wheatley will appoint an additional underwriter in Melbourne and a new manager in Brisbane, with announcements on appointments in WA and SA, plus new product lines, to follow.

Standard & Poor’s recently upgraded WR Berkley from A to A+.

“Upgrades are few and far between in the current environment, and an A+ rating provides an even greater level of security for our brokers and clients, particularly in long-tail classes of business,” Mr Wheatley said.