PHLY to Ramp Up E&S Lines

Philadelphia Insurance Cos. has long been known as a primary carrier that will provide coverage for specialty lines that are otherwise unavailable except through the excess-and-surplus market. This spring, though, it decided to go a step further and institute its own E&S division.

“The E&S market represented growth last year for the first time in a number of years,” explains John Glomb, executive vice president and chief underwriting officer. “That dynamic made it something we wanted to consider. It’s an exciting time in our history.”

Although it’s too early to give details, Glomb adds, Philadelphia’s new E&S division will work more closely with its sister companies under the Tokio Marine umbrella.

“We had an E&S company earlier, but it was more of an opportunistic play, not a concentrated focus on growth,” he says. “The attempt now is to build an E&S company that is going to be able to help fuel our growth and distribution with our agency partners.”