Reflecting on our first six months
By Adrian Lynch, CEO
As we head into the summer and crazy travel season, I wanted to take a moment to reflect on the Blue Ocean Reinsurance Group journey thus far. It's hard to believe we have been at this for almost six months now. Every journey is punctuated with notable stops along the way, and like any good traveller, our intention is to keep moving and enjoy the journey. Some of our highlights so far…
First and foremost, and extended and heartfelt thanks to the entire Blue Ocean Reinsurance Group team: Graham, Ruwan, Chad, Martina, Apsara and Dilu. It’s been a phenomenal six months, and I am delighted to be on his journey with you all.
We wish to thank Cayman Islands Monetary Authority for quickly turning around our ‘Blue Ocean Insurance Management Services Ltd.’ License, making us official as of April 2024. We have other internal licenses in the pipeline, so stay tuned towards the end of the summer for exciting updates
Our partners at FFP have had an interesting week (https://tinyurl.com/2ntztuxz), and while it doesn't surprise us, we are thrilled and delighted for the entire FFP team. We greatly appreciate their support and sage advice along the way and look forward to continued collaboration.
Thanks to our Deputy Premier, Hon. Andre Ebanks MP and his Ministry (Ministry of Financial Services) for their unwavering support and visionary leadership. Our shared ideology for the future of the reinsurance space and the wider financial services industry underscores our mission and acts as a guiding light for Blue OceanReinsurance Group, ensuring we remain aligned with Cayman's innovative and forward-thinking approach.
Same goes to Steve McIntosh and the Cayman Finance team for their ongoing hard work and dedication to to promoting and supporting the Cayman Islands as a leading financial services centre. Your efforts in fostering a conducive environment for reinsurance and other financial services have been invaluable to our growth and success.
Thank you to IMAC and their Executive Committee for allowing us to join as members. It was getting slightly awkward looking in from the outside 😊
We are grateful to CIRCA for their support, which we hope to reciprocate soon. It was so nice of them to put on Cayman’s inaugural reinsurance conference in time for our launch 😉. Jokes aside, we are excited about the future and our shared goals of elevating everything Cayman-related.
Special thanks to Gemma at four+ for helping us with our marketing and website. We are learning that any website, unless updated regularly, becomes outdated quickly. And there was me, thinking I was done with the demanding toddler time 😉
When Graham, Ruwan, and I started whiteboarding a concept, it was difficult to envision what success might look like within year one. Our budget considered 3-4 solid B(iii) mandates by the end of 2024, and either Graham as President and CFO is a total sandbagger, we vastly underestimated the market opportunity, we did a good job of selling, or it was just a case of right place, right time. Whatever the case, it took just 6 weeks to surpass those targets.
With a focus now on execution, we are building the operating model, standards, and talent needed to deliver to our clients, who have entrusted us with an aggregate premium flow of close to US$5bn by the end of 2024. With the support of CalQRisk in building our GRC platform and Viewpoint, we are starting strong with excellent technology backing our offering. We will not disappoint.
We are excited to have Chad Smith on board, helping drive the Finance and Account Executive Function, and he will be joining us in Cayman this September. Martina Jackson is already in situ in Cayman, leveraging her expertise in the P&C Actuarial space. We have a CFO hired (whose announcement is forthcoming), and who I know will bring rigour to our financial infrastructure. Our newly hired SVP/Account Executive, along with two Reinsurance Accountants, will soon be joining us in Cayman, each bringing superb industry-specific experience. Ruwan has been busy building out our Governance, Risk, and Compliance team, with Dilu and Apsara joining earlier this year, and another soon to be revealed member meaning we should be closing out the year with 11 team members.
We are thrilled to announce our growing Cayman presence, with a new office lease signed too. We are already working from our new offices and will officially take up residence in The Strand in Cayman after the summer, following a few cosmetic updates. We have a Ferrari of a coffee machine, so we look forward to hosting – just bring the cookies and patties!
And so as far a travel companions for the journey go, it has been a privilege working alongside Graham and Ruwan. Learning is continuous, and each day these guys are teaching me something new. It's a pleasure to work with two good guys, or as we say in Ireland, just 'sound fellas'!
Thanks to all who have reached out and supported us so far – it means a lot. We are excited for the future, so watch this space... we are just getting started.
Enjoy the summer all. Oh, and thanks, Mum!