Reporting to Paul Schultz, CEO of Aon Securities, Mayer will manage a global centre of excellence for parametric products, coordinating their structuring and distribution across Aon’s solution lines and regions.
He will identify opportunities across Reinsurance Solutions and Commercial Risk Solutions, as well as Aon Securities, and deliver parametric products to clients while using capital from associated markets, Aon said.
Mayer joins from Swiss Re, where he was most recently senior vice president and senior structurer within its Innovative Risk Solutions division. He previously held senior underwriting roles at the firm.
Schultz said: “As a firm, we have long recognised that parametric products can be used not just by insurance and reinsurance companies, but also commercial organisations, especially those with extensive asset portfolios that are exposed to potential natural hazard events.
“With Cole leading our global parametric efforts, we are reinforcing our commitment to deliver additional capital to our clients across the firm at a time when many are facing capacity constraints in traditional markets when seeking coverage for their unique exposures.”
Parametric pay-outs are based on certified and measurable indexes, which might pertain to weather factors, including windspeed or rainfall, or commercial metrics such as hotel occupancy rates.
Parametric triggers, which have long been a feature of insurance-linked securities, particularly catastrophe bonds, have become popular with cedants seeking to base their coverage on factors other than company or industry losses, Aon noted.
Aon Risk Capital CEO Andy Marcell said: “There is increasing demand from commercial risk and reinsurance clients for innovation around risk transfer, and so to continue to deliver client value Aon needs to be ever more coordinated in its global network and approach.
“Cole’s new role evidences our quick progress in this regard, enabling the more efficient delivery of parametric solutions through global collaborative initiatives.”
Aon recently appointed Marcell to oversee its commercial risk and reinsurance businesses, with Lambros Lambrou moving to lead its human capital operations as the next step in the evolution of its model.
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