Bermudian start-up reinsurer Conduit Re hit the ground running writing about $160 million of gross premium during the January 1 reinsurance contract renewal season,.

The new company, backed by $1.1 billion of capital raised in an initial public offering of shares last month on the London Stock Exchange, said the outcome was “in line with our plan and consisting of a targeted series of January attaching contracts”.

The Class of 2020 reinsurer also announced that it had hired Elaine Whelan as chief financial officer, replacing Mark Heintzman, who has left the company.

Ms Whelan is well known in Bermuda, having worked for more than 14 years at Lancashire Group, most recently in the role of group chief financial officer.

Angus Hampton will also be joining as head of international casualty.

Neil Eckert, Conduit’s executive chairman, said: “Conduit Re is off to a strong start and we are on track to deliver on the business plan we set out to our IPO investors in December.

“The hiring of Elaine is obviously a major step for the business and she brings enormous experience from her previous role at Lancashire where she was CFO for nine years.”

He added that Mr Heintzman had “done a very good job in helping take Conduit Re through all of the milestones in its start-up phase. We would like to extend our deepest thanks to Mark for his contribution."

Trevor Carvey, chief executive officer and chief underwriting officer, said: “We are very pleased with our first renewal season’s trading which has met our expectations and we believe addresses any concerns that may have been raised over our ability to gain traction in the market in a responsible manner.

“We have been extremely well supported by brokers, clients and our reinsurers and we look forward to continuing to execute on our business plan through the rest of the year.

“In addition, I'm delighted to welcome Angus Hampton to Conduit Re to lead our international casualty business which completes our senior underwriting team.”

In its statement, Conduit said it had established formal trading agreements with 12 of the world’s leading reinsurance brokers.

The company said it had a “specific focus on key quota share contracts to deliver a balanced start to our trading” and that pricing, terms and conditions were “in line with management expectations”.