Convex has cleared regulatory hurdles to write excess and surplus (E&S) business across the US.
The start-up carrier has been added to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners quarterly listing of alien insurers, effective from 1 October.
Convex’s step towards US E&S business comes as admitted markets cut back their lines, prompting a flow of business into the E&S market and sparking rate increases.
This publication reported in August that, at the start of the third quarter, US E&S property rates were up on average by 25 percent to 35 percent on a risk-adjusted basis.
Convex, created by market veterans Stephen Catlin and Paul Brand, is targeting a business mix at maturity that will be split roughly evenly between insurance and reinsurance.
The carrier is aiming for 20 percent of the $4bn-$5bn gross written premium it plans to write to be in property reinsurance, 19 percent in casualty reinsurance and 16 percent in casualty, with specialty coming in fourth at 14 percent.
Convex launched in May with $1.8bn in funding including backing from PSP Investments and Canadian private equity fund Onex Partners.
Catlin and Brand have quickly staffed the business with leading underwriters in a number of lines, many of whom worked for XL Catlin or Axa XL.