Valor Appoints Bermuda Management Team
Valor Group Ltd. [which recently acquired Bermuda International Insurance Services Limited and merged it with VL Assurance [Bermuda] Ltd.] announced the appointment of its Bermuda management team.
The Bermuda management team, through Valor Management Ltd. will be responsible for the distribution, underwriting and administrative operations for VL Assurance [Bermuda] Ltd. as well as VL Assurance Inc. [a Barbados registered 953d carrier].
Louis Zuckerbraun has been appointed Chief Executive Officer and Michael Lima [formerly of Bermuda International] joins the company as General Manager and Executive Vice President. Karl Lupson, remains with the new organization and has been named as Chief Operating Officer and Mark Waddington has been appointed as Chief Financial Officer.
Mr. Zuckerbraun is based in Zurich and Bermuda and was previously co-CEO of a Swiss life and annuity company, Zenith Vie, that provided traditional life, savings and annuity products to Swiss and international clients. Prior to that, he was one of the founding partners of the Crown Global Group of Insurance Companies in Bermuda, Grand Cayman and Delaware and held the position of Managing Director.
He is a former Partner of swisspartners Wealth Management, Zurich and a former Director of swisspartners Insurance Company, Grand Cayman. Mr. Zuckerbraun has also held positions at Transatlantic Re and Hannover Re.
Mr. Lima is recognised globally as an expert in the international life insurance industry and has been involved in the insurance industry for over 30 years. Mr. Lima was instrumental in developing Sun Life Assurance Company of Canada’s international offshore programme as General Manger.
In January 2005, he joined the BF&M Group in Bermuda and launched Bermuda International as the General Manager. Prior to joining Valor Management in March 2015, he decided to leverage his experience and knowledge to start his own consulting firm, Millennium International Insurance Consultants Limited in 2013.
Mr. Lupson has more than 25 years of sales and marketing experience. He previously worked for Mutual Life of Canada, now Sun Life Financial, in various marketing positions. He has also worked for an American-based firm and resided in over 20 countries developing and launching proprietary loyalty and rewards programmes for luxury brand hotels. Prior to his transition to Valor Management, he worked for Bermuda International since 2006 and is based in Bermuda.
Mr Waddington is based in Bermuda where he has spent more than 20 years in the insurance and reinsurance industry. Prior to joining Valor Management, Mr. Waddington spent the last 12 years with American International Company Ltd, a local subsidiary of AIG, primarily in the role of Director of Investment Accounting and Fund Administration before assuming the role of Associate Director of Risk Management for his last two years there.
Louis Zuckerbraun, Chief Executive Officer, Valor Management, says: “We are excited about the acquisition of Bermuda International. With Valor Group’s US$6 billion assets under management, a financially secure parent company and experienced management team, we are well positioned to service our clients.
“Furthermore, we have developed an operational centre in Bermuda to provide administrative and underwriting support and will be adding significant resources in the areas of underwriting, marketing, products and industry experience that will position us well for future growth.”
Valor Management is part of the Valor Group, a multi-billion dollar financial services group of companies that provide private placement insurance solutions for high net worth clients worldwide.
Valor Group is a publicly traded company on the Bermuda Stock Exchange under ticker wah.bh. The group includes insurance companies and other financial institutions with licenses in Barbados, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Ireland and now Bermuda.
