Mosaic expands tax line-up

Mosaic Insurance has added four tax-risk specialists and promoted another employee to strengthen its North American and international transactional tax-liability teams.

The insurer’s tax team now includes nine specialists focusing on merger-and-acquisition-related and standalone tax risks. The product protects policyholders against financial loss during deal-making.

Heather Eskey joined as senior vice-president, supporting tax risks in North America. She previously led Chubb’s transactional risk tax group and worked as a tax attorney at law and accounting firms, as well as in-house corporate tax counsel at AIG.

Caleb Smith joined Mosaic’s New York office as vice-president in the tax-liability unit. He previously worked as a tax attorney with Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP in New York City, advising on US and international tax consequences of corporate transactions. Before law school, he held public-policy roles in Washington, D.C.

“The market for tax insurance in North America continues to grow, as taxpayers seek transactional certainty in uncertain times,” said Jon Hutchens, Mosaic’s global head of tax, transactional liability. “It couldn’t be a better time to bring Heather to our team, with her years of sophisticated tax underwriting and advisory expertise. And we’re equally excited to bring Caleb into the market, positioning us well to meet current and future demand for solutions tailored to our policyholders’ needs.”

Ze’ev Deutsch, who joined Mosaic’s New York office in 2022, has been promoted to senior vice-president in the tax team. He previously worked at Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP and has expertise in evaluating tax risks in the US and Canada. Roktim Kaushik, vice-president and former tax attorney at KPMG, also supports the New York-based team.

In the UK, the international tax underwriting team has added Byron Thomas, senior vice-president, and Li Hong Gosen, assistant vice-president, as tax underwriters. Thomas, a barrister, previously led the international tax underwriting team at Themis Underwriting and spent more than 10 years as an international and M&A tax adviser at EY.

Gosen worked in M&A tax lawyer roles at KPMG and EY in the Netherlands and London, specialising in cross-border structures and transactions.

“Growth of our global tax business is a strategic priority for Mosaic as we further build our market-leading underwriting capabilities to meet demand in this growing sector,” said Bill Monat, global head of transactional liability at Mosaic.

The group operates on a global platform backed by capacity providers, including Mosaic’s Lloyd’s syndicates and other insurance carriers.