Berkshire Hathaway Specialty Insurance enters marine insurance market in Canada

Berkshire Hathaway Specialty Insurance (BHSI) announced on Tuesday that it is introducing inland and ocean marine insurance in Canada.

John Evans, vice president of marine with BHSI, said in a press release that with Gord Rider, who was named senior marine underwriter, at the helm, “BHSI in Canada has launched ocean marine products – including ocean cargo, stock throughput and project cargo insurance – as well as a full line of inland marine products. All of these products come with BHSI’s hallmark clarity of coverage and formidable financial strength,” he said, adding that BHSI is pleased to welcome Rider to its team of marine specialists.

Rider joins BHSI from Chubb Insurance Company of Canada, where he was most recently senior marine underwriter. Before that, he was a marine underwriter at Chubb and at Coast Underwriters Ltd. He received a bachelor of commerce degree from Dalhousie University in Halifax.

Rider is based in the Toronto office of BHSI.

On July 19, 2016, BHSI reported that it has expanded into the transactional liability insurance market in Canada and the United States. The company named Robert Underhill as senior vice president, head of transactional liability. Dan Crosby was appointed vice president, transactional liability and Amy Bowman and Michael Brooks were appointed assistant vice presidents.

One day after it announced it had expanded into the transactional liability insurance market in Canada and the U.S., BHSI said that it was introducing four new executive and professional lines in Canada. The insurer also named Andrew Knight as national director of financial institutions, Executive & Professional Lines, in Canada.

The four new products include:

• Professional First Insurance Company Professional Liability Insurance for property & casualty and life insurance companies;
• Professional First Asset Manager Liability Insurance tailored for hedge funds, mutual funds, private equity funds, venture capital funds and other investment funds and firms;
• Professional First Bankers Professional Liability Insurance for banking and lending institutions, including credit unions; and
• Financial Institution Bonds, including manuscript/enhanced Forms 14, 24, 25 for Canada and fiduciary bonds.

BHSI provides commercial property, casualty, healthcare professional liability, executive and professional lines, surety, travel, programs, medical stop loss and homeowners insurance. It underwrites on the paper of Berkshire Hathaway’s National Indemnity group of insurance companies. Based in Boston, BHSI has offices in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Fort Lauderdale, Houston, Irvine, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, San Ramon, Seattle, Stevens Point, Auckland, Brisbane, Düsseldorf, Hong Kong, Melbourne, Singapore, Sydney and Toronto.