XL Group announces new senior VP of capital markets

XL Group plc’s reinsurance operations announced Thursday it had appointed Craig Wenzel senior vice president of capital markets. In this newly-created role, Wenzel will be responsible for managing and developing relationships with third party capital providers in support of XL’s global underwriting activities.

XL was the sponsor for Cyrus Re, one of the first post-Hurricane Katrina sidecars — an example of early capital markets involvement in the reinsurance industry.

Related: XL Group reports boosted net income in Q3 2012 over same period last year

Wenzel comes into the role from Deutsche Bank Securities Inc., where he was most recently a director in the Capital Markets and Treasury Solutions division in New York.  

During his tenure there he was responsible for coordinating the catastrophe product origination effort globally and executed numerous catastrophe bonds, sidecars and alternative capital and risk transfer solutions, including the Cyrus Re financings in 2005-2007.  Prior to joining Deutsche Bank in 2005, Mr. Wenzel worked in Debt Capital Markets at J.P. Morgan Securities Inc.

In his new role with XL, Wenzel will report to Charles Cooper, president and chief underwriting officer of XL Re Ltd – XL’s Bermuda-based reinsurance operations. He will also work closely with XL’s CFO Pete Porrino and other executive management.

Related: XL Group’s reinsurance operations appoints Tim Fisher as Canadian branch manager

“Capital market investors continue to show interest in the Insurance Linked Securities (ILS) market and are searching for innovative ways to access attractive non-correlated yields,” Cooper commented in a statement on the appointment. 

“Craig’s background in finance and the ILS market makes him the ideal person to lead XL’s continued advancement in the reinsurance/capital markets convergence space.”