You Re already in additional capacity talks after early traction

By Chris Munro

Feb 27 - (The Insurer) - Newly launched reinsurance MGU You Re has already written over a third of its first year projected premium volume, with CEO Yury Braun telling Program Manager that the startup is already in talks to expand its capacity panel.

This publication reported earlier in February that Braun had left his previous role at Hannover Re and launched You Re, named in reference to the founder’s first name.

You Re is focused on building a portfolio of casualty, non-catastrophe property, professional liability and cyber business.

As noted in its marketing materials, the MGU is “partnering exclusively” with AM Best-rated reinsurers that will provide it with underwriting capacity.

You Re said that being supported by rated balance sheets rather than collateralised capacity means its clients will receive full reinsurance credit without having to deal with some of the complexities associated with collateral management.

“The reinsurance industry is evolving, with increasing demand for greater transparency, smarter risk selection and more efficient capital deployment,” stated Braun.

“I was adamant about not going out as a collateralised reinsurance market, but having a proper rated reinsurance carrier behind me,” he told this publication.

“We have successfully achieved that, and it’s now paying off … There has been no significant pushback in terms of getting us on security lists – it’s been a matter of days rather than weeks.

“The demand in the market for knowledgeable, consistent capacity providers is big, and this is what we’re delivering on.”

EARLY TRACTION

Braun said the business has been well received, with the MGU already gaining traction in the market.

“After the first two months, we're at about 35% of the projected premium for the whole year,” said Braun.

“It does not slow down for a second. I'm looking at probably a new submission every two days.

“Now the hit ratio is low by design. We love to see everything and digest everything, and use the knowledge gained for other opportunities. We're trying to maintain a laser-sharp focus, but also being open to things that are outside of a predefined box.”

Braun departed Hannover Re in 2024 after 14 years with the German reinsurer.

Based in the reinsurer’s home city, Braun most recently served as vice president for underwriting, North American specialty, leading a team of 11 underwriters and developing Hannover Re’s insurtech and agency portfolio in the U.S.

During his time at Hannover Re, Braun worked for a period within the reinsurer’s E&S casualty team, and as such, he was exposed to many different sub-segments within the sector.

He began to focus more on the programs and MGA space almost four years ago. Having shied away from the U.S. programs market with the sale of Clarendon Insurance Group to Enstar in 2010, Hannover Re once again sought to make a play in the space earlier this decade.

In the years prior to leaving Hannover Re, Braun led the reinsurer’s U.S. programs and MGA business, growing the team fourfold to 12 staff and almost tripling the amount of premium that flowed into the carrier via that channel.

Being part of Hannover Re gave Braun and his team plenty of tools and capabilities to utilise in the programs and MGA market.

However, as he noted, “there is value that can be created outside of the approach of a large reinsurer”.

As such, Braun sought to go out alone. And because he did not have access to hundreds of millions of dollars to launch a balance sheet business, Braun said “the next best thing was to go ahead and do something in the reinsurance MGA model”.

“We’re trying to build the largest value proposition on both ends (of the value chain) – for the cedants, so for those seeking capacity, but also for our reinsurance partners,” said Braun.

“Certainly the largest value currently in this start-out phase can be generated for both ends by focusing on niche segments,” explained Braun.

“Those have, inherently, the largest reinsurance margin available for our reinsurance partners.”

ADDITIONAL CAPACITY TALKS

The company already has capacity partnerships in place, and Braun said You Re is in talks with other potential backers.

“We are going to be in the market approaching additional partners because we want to build this panel. We want to bring this value proposition to others as well.

“What we're bringing to the table is a diversified portfolio by design. It's not severity-driven, it's also limited in tail at this point in time, and high margin. It’s really as good as one could wish for.”

You Re is in the process of building out its ranks, with Braun aiming to have the MGU’s core team of four underwriters in place by the end of the second quarter of this year.

BROADENING REACH

That group will be focused on the U.S., but Braun said the hope is another group of underwriters will join focused on business in the London market, with others potentially joining in the future targeting other areas of the world.

“We're having those conversations. We had those initially when we talked to the capacity providers,” said Braun.

“They asked us ‘Can you also do London market with the same kind of margins and with the same approach? Can you do some of the other geographical areas?’

“We took that into consideration, but obviously the question was how large of a team do we want to onboard right away, and so the decision was made to take it step by step, focus on the U.S. market – the largest one – to build the basis, and then take it from there,” explained Braun.