Mark Cloutier, the executive chairman and group chief executive at Aspen, has been elected as first deputy chairman by the board of the Association of Bermuda Insurers and Reinsurers.

Abir said Mr Cloutier had replaced Christopher Schaper, now American International Group’s global chief underwriting officer, who stepped down as Validus Re chief executive after RenaissanceRe’s acquisition of the company in November.

Pina Albo, the chairwoman of Abir and chief executive of Hamilton Insurance Group, said: “First, I want to thank Chris for his service to Abir. He has been a strong voice representing the interests of the Bermuda market and a consistent advocate for robust, open and well-regulated global insurance markets.”

She added: “We are delighted that Mark has agreed to bring his extensive industry experience and leadership pedigree to the role of Abir deputy chair. It is a measure of the deep bench of talent in the Bermuda re/insurance market that we are able to replace one world-class executive with another.”

Abir said Stephen Catlin, the executive chairman of Convex, would continue to serve as Abir’s second deputy chairman on a slate of officers that also includes past chairmen Marc Grandisson, the chief executive of Arch Capital Group, and Kevin O’Donnell, the chief executive of RenaissanceRe.

Abir said Mr Cloutier, who was appointed to lead Aspen in February 2019, had more than 35 years of insurance and reinsurance industry experience in multiple jurisdictions including the United States, Britain, Canada, continental Europe, Asia, China, South Africa and Bermuda.

Before joining Aspen, he held senior leadership roles for seven years at the Brit Group, first as chief executive and then as executive chairman.

He led a major restructuring of Brit’s global business and oversaw a successful initial public offering and listing on the London Stock Exchange in 2014 and the subsequent acquisition of the business by Fairfax Financial Holdings in 2015.

Previously, Mr Cloutier served as chief executive of the Alea Group, chief executive of Overseas Partners Re and president of EW Blanch Insurance Services.

He was a member of the franchise board and audit committee of the Society of Lloyd’s between February 2015 and June 2020 and was appointed to the nomination and governance committee in February 2017.

Mr Cloutier also serves on the board of overseers of the Maurice R Greenberg School of Risk Management, Insurance and Actuarial Science, which is partnering with Abir and Bermuda College to provide the open-to-all “Special Topics in Insurance” online course for a fourth consecutive year.

Mr Cloutier said: “I feel honoured to be serving as deputy chair of the Association of Bermuda Insurers and Reinsurers. I am inspired by the work that Abir does to ensure Bermuda is represented and recognised as the international insurance and reinsurance hub that it is and I look forward to engaging in the meaningful and collaborative conversations that Abir is leading on so many important topics for our sector.”

Continuing to serve as leaders of Abir’s policy committee are co-chairman Jevon Williams, general counsel of Chubb Bermuda; co-chairman Jim Paugh, general counsel of Arch Reinsurance; and deputy chairwoman Shannon Lowry Bender, group general counsel of RenaissanceRe.

Abir said it continued to advocate for the island’s leading international re/insurers in matters related to the changing taxation landscape.

It added that the passage of Bermuda’s landmark Corporate Income Tax Act in December highlighted the importance of the work of Abir tax directors.

Joy Tegtmeyer, SVP, head of Group Tax at RenaissanceRe, and Jeff Thompson, global head of Tax at Arch Capital Group, serve as co-chairs of the group.

John Huff, the chief executive of Abir, said: “The Bermuda Government has worked collaboratively with industry and tax experts through consultation to develop this technical framework and closing it out in 2023 with the legislation was an important and essential first phase.

“Likewise, the next two phases of the CIT in 2024 will be critical to success, including reducing the cost of doing business by reviewing existing taxes and building ‘qualified refundable tax credits’, along with establishing a tax administration framework to codify the Government’s commitment to fiscal responsibility.”

Abir said it had established the Abir Chief Investment Officer Forum, a new group with Benjamin Meuli, chief investment officer of Convex, as its initial chairman.

The organisation said the forum’s objective was to strengthen cohesion across the Bermuda insurance and reinsurance industry with respect to investment management by bringing together CIOs to share ideas and challenges around financial markets, macroeconomics and regulation in the context of today’s challenging, volatile and complex investment environment.