As competition intensifies across Bermuda's property insurance market, Price Forbes is making a decisive play for market share with the appointment of industry veteran Gareth Davies as executive vice president and head of property.
Davies, who brings three decades of experience to the role, joins from Lockton, where he served as head of property. He will be based in Bermuda and report to Carrie Kelley, CEO of Price Forbes Bermuda.
The move comes as the island's property market enters a new phase. A spring 2025 update from WTW noted that "robust competition has returned to the Bermuda property market" following the longest stretch of firm trading conditions in recent memory.
Amwins' 2026 outlook echoes that assessment, flagging softening rates and further carrier reductions – while no fewer than six new domestic property carriers or MGAs are set to open on the island this year.
Price Forbes Bermuda, launched in 2019 as part of Ardonagh Specialty, has positioned itself as a non-conflicted path to the world's second-largest reinsurance market. The office operates three divisions spanning property, casualty and liability, and reinsurance.
The firm has notched several milestones since its founding, including obtaining an insurance managers license from the Bermuda Monetary Authority (BMA) and launching a captive management unit in 2021.
In 2024, Ardonagh Specialty consolidated its wholesale brands under the Price Forbes name, and Kelley was elevated to CEO of the Bermuda office in October that year.
Davies' arrival also follows the recent expansion of the firm's Lectio automated follow facility to Bermuda, initially offering a property line with premium scope estimated at around $85 million.
That brings total Lectio premium scope to approximately $1.3 billion – a nearly fourfold increase since the facility first launched in April 2021 with around $350 million in scope, as reported by the Royal Gazette.
Before Lockton, Davies held senior roles at JLT Specialty and RK Harrison, and earlier in his career worked at AIG, Marsh, and Johnson & Higgins.
Kelley said his market knowledge positions him to make an immediate impact, calling his hire "a testament to our strength" in attracting established professionals.
Davies, for his part, described the Price Forbes property team as the strongest in the Bermuda market. "I am hugely excited by the opportunity to leverage my experience to help this talented group," he said.
