Canopius has made another hire for its newly-created trade political risk (TPR) unit, bringing in Claire Kennett as a trade and political risk underwriter.

Kennett will start in mid-January and will report to Crispin Hodges, who was appointed to head the team in October.

In her role, Kennett will be focusing on protecting and growing the political risk and contract frustration book and maintaining the credit element of the portfolio.

She joins from Acapella Syndicate where she most recently served as a political risk underwriter for three years. Prior to this she held roles at Aon Underwriting Managers and Liberty Specialty Markets.

Kennett will be based in London and joins Andrew Tongue, whose appointment as an underwriter on its TPR unit was announced earlier this month.

A spokesperson for Canopius tells GTR that the trade political risk unit will have a team of five once Kennett and Tongue start, with the possibility of a further hire in Q2 of 2020.

The insurer’s new trade political risk unit sits alongside existing profit and loss units within the credit, political and crisis (CPC) division of excess of loss trade credit (XTR), credit and political risk (CPR) and crisis management (CM). It comprises the syndicate 1861 political risk book formerly managed by AmTrust at Lloyd’s.

“Claire’s appointment further signals our intent to capitalise on the huge potential created by the combination of AmTrust and Canopius’s political risk capabilities, says Hodges. “We are delighted to welcome Claire to Canopius, whose highly-relevant experience will be of huge benefit in the expansion and development of our dedicated trade political risk unit.”