[By NBC-1TV H. J Yook]ACE Group announced today that it has appointed Anthony O’Brien as its Head of Marine Insurance in Asia Pacific. Anthony will be based in Hong Kong and will report to Paul McNamee, Deputy Regional President and Regional Head of Property & Casualty for Asia Pacific.

Mr. O’Brien comes to ACE with 20 years of transport insurance experience in Australia and over the past eight years, has conducted reinsurance business in many Asian countries when he worked for two global reinsurance companies. His primary underwriting experience covers motor, transport liability and marine portfolios.

Throughout Mr. O’Brien’s career, which has included management roles with an international insurance company, a Lloyd's managing general agent and a specialist transport insurer, he has developed products and risk management solutions for a diverse range of transport segments. He has a broad range of experience encompassing channel management, marketing, portfolio management, product development, reinsurance and risk management.

Anthony holds a Bachelor of Business from the Queensland University of Technology, a Diploma of Financial Services from the National Insurance Brokers Association in Australia and is a Certified Insurance Professional via the Australian & New Zealand Institute of Insurance & Finance.

On this new appointment, Mr. McNamee said, “There is much potential in the Asia Pacific region for us to accelerate the expansion of our marine portfolio especially in cargo insurance as trade lanes grow. Anthony brings a fresh perspective to the business which will invigorate our ability to develop and market our risk management solutions in marine. I’m confident that under Anthony’s leadership, given his depth and breadth of experience in the insurance industry, that ACE is poised to be a leader of marine insurance in this vast and expanding region.”