AXA XL Names Leaders for Its Newly Created Group Captives Unit

AXA XL's Primary Casualty business has appointed Mark Benz and Joseph Davina to lead the company's newly created Group Captives unit.

Based in New York, Mr. Benz and Mr. Davina report to Chris Kopser, president and chief underwriting officer Primary Casualty, Americas, at AXA XL.

As head of Group Captives Primary Casualty Americas, Mr. Benz's primary responsibility is leading the Group Captive portfolio, including oversight of the underwriting, operations, distribution, and overall performance of the unit.

Mr. Davina, who takes the role of underwriting manager, Primary Casualty Americas—Group Captives, is responsible for managing the day-to-day underwriting and operations expertise within both casualty and the group captive business.

"As we continue to grow and diversify our US risk management portfolio, we see great opportunity in underwriting open broker multi-line group captives," Mr. Kopser said in a statement. "Mark and Joe's combined experience in the captives space will be an exceptional asset to the broader primary casualty and captives teams who are currently supporting our growing list of clients in the space."

"The new unit and appointments recognize AXA XL's continued support for our clients who desire utilization of captive insurance companies and further enhances our leadership in the captive industry," Steve Bauman, AXA XL's global programs and captives director, Americas, said in the statement.

Mr. Benz joins AXA XL from AIG, where he most recently served as head of captive solutions. He has nearly 2 decades of experience leading operations across a variety of sectors, including transportation, energy insurance, and captive insurance solutions.

Mr. Davina has spent 16 years in the insurance industry and has led captive insurance and multinational underwriting teams and served as the lead underwriter for energy and casualty lines at AIG.