Willis, the global insurance broker, has established a new political and credit risk team for the Asia-Pacific region. Jim Quirk, who was previously regional director at Marsh, has been brought over to head up the team based in Singapore along with Alistair McVeigh who has been seconded from Willis’ London office where he has been based for the last seven years. Quirk has nearly 20 years of experience in the business, 15 of which spent at Marsh in the US, Japan and more recently Singapore.

The mission in Singapore is to create a presence for Willis’s political and credit risk team in the region. The team aims to complement its already considerable team in London and New York by both producing regional business as well as supporting its extensive global client base that have regional operations which require a local servicing role .

Willis have additionally hired a team of five, all previously from Marsh, to be based in Mumbai, including Rajiv Agarwal, Abishek Chhajer and Rammohan B. They will be focusing on developing political and credit risk insurance along with some other financial lines insurances. The Indian team will be endeavouring to continue the success that it has already had in structuring insurance programmes for major Indian corporates and financial institutions, particularly with respect to domestic and export receivable financing.

Paul Davidson, managing director of Willis Financial Solutions in London, comments, “Asia was the one missing link in our operations. We have now established an experienced and dynamic team in the region which along with our existing teams in London and New York and our ‘One Flag” ethic gives Willis a truly global platform from which to service our clients requirements and only further enhances Willis’ market leading status in this field.”