Credit and political risk insurance broker BPL Global has hired Gregory King-Underwood as director and head of global reinsurance and portfolio solutions, a newly-created role.

He moves from Guy Carpenter, where he headed up the reinsurance broker’s trade credit, political risk, and surety and bond practice. He was previously a barrister at Carmelite Chambers.

BPL Global says in a statement that it has created the role in a bid to bring reinsurance expertise in-house. King-Underwood is charged with helping the company “capitalise on the growing synergies between the credit and political risk insurance and reinsurance markets” as well as providing portfolio-based cover for efficient risk transfer and better use of capital for both financial institution and corporate clients.

Commenting on his new role, King-Underwood says he will “explore the many growth opportunities afforded by the current period of market volatility and the demand for capital relief transactions”.

James Esdaile, managing director at BPL Global, adds that King-Underwood’s reinsurance experience will be “invaluable in informing our strategy at a time of rising synthetic securitisation in the market, and as we receive an increasing number of enquiries related to the potential use of captives, our client base will also benefit directly from his insights”.