Willis Re hires Kirsten van Exel, former Aegon ILS underwriter

Global reinsurance broker Willis Re, part of the Willis Towers Watson group of companies, has announced the hiring of Kirsten van Exel, who was most recently an insurance-linked securities (ILS) underwriter for Netherlands headquartered global life insurance company, annuities provider and pension investment manager Aegon.

Aegon shuttered its insurance-linked securities (ILS) investment operations this year and we understand is running off the remaining reinsurance positions it had invested in, which left the team open to moves.

Kirsten van Exel is an experienced insurance and reinsurance underwriter and actuary, having worked for companies including Nationale Nederlanden, ING and NN Re, all in reinsurance and actuarial focused roles.

van Exel joined the Aegon ILS unit in 2018 and spent two years assisting in its build-out of processes and an initial portfolio of catastrophe bonds and collateralised reinsurance transactions, before the life and pensions specialist decided that ILS investing was not to be a core component of its business and elected to shutter that unit.

van Exel is joining Willis Re’s Dutch team as an Executive Director and will be based at its headquarters in the country.

She brings over 20 years of experience and will form part of Willis Re’s integrated reinsurance client team for the Dutch market and begins in the role on 15th July 2020, reporting to Gerrit van Emst.

Dirk Spenner, managing director, head of EMEA North/ East, Willis Re, commented, “We are delighted to welcome Kirsten to Willis Re. Her extensive experience in both life and non-life (re)insurance will strengthen the value of our offering in the Dutch market and emphasises the commitment to our clients in this region. Kirsten is a welcome addition to the wider Dutch team, which has 20 colleagues with a wealth of experience, including 10 Dutch speakers based in both our local office and the head office in London.”