Specialist MGA Amiga Specialty has strengthened its financial institutions (FI) proposition through a new capacity arrangement with AXA XL, as it looks to scale its international book in management and professional risks.
The partnership will initially focus on FI business, supporting Amiga's portfolio across directors' and officers' (D&O) liability, professional liability and crime. The deal provides access to FI capacity backed by a large, well-rated balance sheet at a time when some markets have pulled back from more volatile financial lines segments or tightened terms on higher-risk sectors.
Jamie Ricketts, who joined Amiga in October last year as managing director of financial institutions, said: “Financial Institutions has been a core focus for Amiga from day one. This partnership strengthens our ability to support brokers and clients with a consistent, globally relevant proposition across D&O, professional liability, and crime, delivered with the underwriting focus and responsiveness that define Amiga.”
The move comes against a backdrop of changing market conditions for FI risks. After several years of pronounced hardening D&O rates in many territories have broadly stabilised but underwriters remain selective around sectors exposed to macroeconomic headwinds, insolvency risk, regulatory intervention and securities litigation, particularly in the US and other highly litigious jurisdictions.
Professional indemnity for financial institutions continues to be influenced by heightened regulatory expectations on conduct, product governance and operational resilience, especially in the UK, EU and key Asia-Pacific markets. Crime and fidelity covers are also under pressure as financial institutions face increased exposure to social engineering, internal fraud and cyber-enabled crime. Underwriters are paying closer attention to controls around payments, vendor management, privileged access and incident response, often using higher retentions or sub-limits where controls are weaker.
AXA XL’s international footprint and financial strength provide a platform for Amiga to write FI risks across the UK, Europe, Asia-Pacific and North America, while giving clients and brokers the comfort of a well-known capacity provider behind the binder. For AXA XL, the relationship supports participation in specialty lines via a delegated model that can access broker niches and mid-market business more efficiently.
The partnership is intended to support Amiga Specialty in expanding capacity and deepening its FI offering across key territories. The arrangement is expected to allow Amiga to deploy broader limits in core markets, provide greater continuity for clients, and underpin targeted growth across D&O, professional liability and crime.
By consolidating capacity with a single large carrier, Amiga aims to offer brokers a more streamlined route to placing FI risks, with clear underwriting points of contact and consistent appetite across multiple territories. In practice, this can help reduce friction for brokers building multinational programmes and layered towers, and provide clients with more certainty around renewals and limit availability.
Since its launch in summer 2025, Amiga Specialty has been developing a specialty proposition spanning management liability, professional lines, cyber and transactional risks. The AXA XL deal sits within a broader strategy of establishing long-term capacity partnerships with major insurers to support disciplined growth across those lines.
Globally, MGAs and MGUs remain an important distribution channel in financial and professional risks, particularly where brokers are looking for tailored products, sector-specific expertise and faster decision-making than some traditional markets can offer.
Amiga said it is expanding quickly, with each selected partnership intended to help the MGA deliver broker-led solutions across the UK, Europe, Asia-Pacific and North America.
