Independent reinsurance broker Price Forbes Re has named Erik Matson (pictured above) as senior advisor for North America, as the firm steps up its push into the US market with a series of high-profile hires across multiple geographies.
A former senior US military officer, his career has been shaped by a structured, disciplined approach to risk assessment.
At Transverse, Matson pioneered what he termed the "hybrid-front" model – a structure in which a carrier underwrites a program but retains only a portion of the risk, ceding the remainder to reinsurers and alternative capital.
The approach found broad industry traction; the US hybrid fronting market has since grown to over $14 billion in annual premium.
Patrick Rastiello, CEO of Price Forbes Re, North America, said Matson's background would give the firm a more nuanced view of the market.
"His understanding of how insurers and reinsurers evaluate risk, partners and program structures will be of value as we continue to grow our US business," he said.
Price Forbes Re is a unit of Ardonagh Specialty, part of the broader Ardonagh Group, which manages around $18 billion in premium globally. The US expansion has been driven in large part by Rastiello himself, who joined in early 2024 with a specific mandate to build out the firm's North America reinsurance operations.
The Matson hire is one piece of a broader strategic buildout. Earlier this year, the firm extended its Lectio automated follow facility to Bermuda, a previously announced move that brought the facility's total premium scope to approximately $1.3 billion – nearly four times its $350 million starting point at launch in April 2021.
Lectio is designed to streamline placements by providing near-guaranteed follow capacity once a lead insurer has priced and taken an initial line on a risk.
In a separate move announced in March, Price Forbes Re added four senior treaty reinsurance producers to a newly formed platform in Singapore – Bruce Ford, Goh Thian Leong, Mark Foster, and Florence Lam Puoy Yin.
Chris Bonard, president of Price Forbes Re, said the hires "cement our position as a reinsurance broker of choice across facultative and treaty lines in Asia."
