BPL, an independent broker specialising in credit and political risk insurance (CPRI), has launched a dedicated Funded Solutions team aimed at enhancing its insurance-linked capital and credit management strategies. The new team will provide a range of services, including repackaging, for financial institutions across various sectors.
The Funded Solutions platform is designed to serve both BPL’s established credit insurance clients and newcomers from the banking, insurance, asset management, and investment industries. The platform will facilitate cash-collateralised and insured risk participation transactions, allowing risk sellers to manage capital and credit exposure more efficiently. For buyers, it offers the opportunity to access lower-risk assets with the potential for higher yields, while credit insurers can continue expanding their client relationships and portfolios in line with existing objectives.
The launch comes at a time when the credit insurance market has seen substantial growth, with increased capital allocation to insured assets and a rising demand for credit lines. BPL’s insured portfolio now exceeds USD 100 billion, underscoring the market’s expansion.
In addition to continuing support for banking clients, the Funded Solutions team is targeting institutional investors—historically a group with limited access to CPRI products. This new offering allows investors to leverage insured credit strategies to access investment-grade assets with potentially enhanced returns.
Leading the new team are Directors George Biddulph and Harriet Rowland Clark. Biddulph, with over 23 years of experience in fixed income and credit risk at Willis and Credit Suisse (now UBS), will focus on developing the platform to help banking clients distribute, insure, and fund or acquire risk. Rowland Clark, who previously headed Insured Strategies at Aegon Asset Management, will design bespoke repackaging solutions for BPL’s existing clients.
The team is further supported by Riz Sheikh, BPL’s Significant Risk Transfer lead, and Gregory King-Underwood, who leads the Reinsurance and Portfolio Solutions offering.
Charlie Radcliffe, Chief Commercial Officer at BPL, commented: “We’ve noticed growing demand for a while, and we believe our Funded Solutions offering is unique on the broking side, given the level of expertise we now have. It positions both our current and prospective clients to take full advantage of the innovations in the market that have driven its impressive growth.”
Biddulph added: “This initiative will directly support the increasing mobilisation of capital into targeted areas for development, commercial, and investment banks, while providing insurers with a mechanism to demonstrate their continued relevance in supporting this growth. The objective is backed by investments made by credit insurance markets to enhance their knowledge and systems in order to handle such risks.”
Rowland Clark further remarked: “After spending eight years as a buyer of credit insurance, it’s exciting to return to the insurance market and broker these innovative structures. The level of interest from non-bank financial institutions in this asset class reflects how critical credit protection will become for a much wider range of financial institutions.”