Bill Wharton has been promoted to head of Argo Insurance Bermuda.

Bermudian-based global specialty (re)insurer Argo Group International Holdings said the appointment is effective immediately and follows former leader Nigel Mortimer’s move to a new role heading up the company’s international Casualty business from its London office.

Mr Wharton will also continue as head of professional lines in Bermuda. He will be reporting to head of international Matt Harris in his new role.

Mr Harris said: “We have a strong international platform with a deep bench of high-performing leaders.

“This latest change leverages Bill and Nigel’s respective areas of expertise and proven records of success to continue to profitably grow the business.”

Mr Wharton has more than 20 years of industry experience, having first joined Argo in 2015 as an underwriting manager. Previously, he was head of financial lines, Asia at Catlin. Before that, he served as chief underwriting officer for XL Group’s professional lines, underwriting activities outside the US and Bermuda.

In separate news, Argo Group announced the renewal of Harambee Re Limited as its sidecar reinsurer for this year. The sidecar was launched in 2013, and has helped the company build relationships with third-party capital providers to support its insurance and reinsurance portfolios.

Mark Watson, chief executive officer of Argo Group, said: “We’re excited to have completed this, the sixth renewal for Harambee Re, which reflects the strong and enduring relationships we have built with our third-party capital partners.

“Harambee Re continues to enable us to materially increase underwriting capacity and provide a more valuable product offering, which ultimately benefits our clients and intermediary partners.”

The sidecar provides Argo with additional catastrophe capacity for specific property portfolios underwritten by Ariel Re, which has operated as Argo’s reinsurance platform since its acquisition in the first quarter of 2017.