Specialty lines insurer HDI Global Specialty SE has hired senior underwriters Ed Arghand and James Morrell to its new political and credit risk team in London.

Launched earlier this year, the unit is led by Nick Robinson (pictured), head of political risk and structured credit.

Arghand starts his new role on November 1 and joins from Zurich Insurance, where he was most recently country manager, credit and political risk, for Singapore. Before this, he worked at Brit Insurance as a political and credit risk underwriter.

“We are thrilled to have Ed join the team as a senior underwriter. He will bring his underwriting expertise in bank business and public agencies to our book in London,” Robinson tells GTR.

Meanwhile, Morell joins the company next year from Brit Insurance, where he was a class underwriter of credit and political risks. He has also held underwriter roles at Beazley and Atradius.

Both hires will be based in London and report to Robinson.

The plan is to add more people to the team in London and then consider additional investments in overseas locations as the account grows, says Robinson.

The new London unit saw Robinson and Anthony Vaughan, senior analyst and underwriter, join from specialist insurance provider Neon Underwriting earlier this year.

Robinson has more than 20 years of political risk insurance experience including establishing and growing a PRI book at Marketform, latterly Neon. Meanwhile, Vaughan started out at the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority in 2002. He then spent nine years with SMBC in various positions, including as a credit analyst in London. He joined Neon Underwriting in 2017 and played an important role in setting up its structured credit business plan.

“Political risk and credit is a new business line for the London office. I am very excited to lead the unit, which forms part of a substantial and strategic investment by the group. In the medium term, we plan to be a significant market leader,” says Robinson.

HDI Global Specialty SE is a joint venture of Hannover Re and HDI Global SE.