Sector developments and company hires

General QM delay proposed
The CFPB has released a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) to delay the mandatory compliance date of the General Qualified Mortgage (QM) final rule from 1 July 2021 to 1 October 2022 (SCI 24 February). The CFPB is proposing to extend the compliance date to ensure homeowners struggling with the financial impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic have the options they need. If this NPRM is finalised as proposed, the old DTI-based General QM definition, the new price-based General QM definition and the GSE Patch would all remain available as long as a lender receives a consumer’s application prior to 1 October 2022. Comments on the NPRM must be received by 5 April 2021.

In other news…

Capital formation group launched
Arrow Global Group has established a clients and capital formation group within its Arrow Capital Management business. The new unit will partner with Arrow’s clients to provide differentiated investment solutions and world-class insights from Arrow’s core areas of expertise in European non-performing and non-core debt. The group will be responsible for setting Arrow’s capital formation strategy and broadening the firm’s investor set, by enabling global capital pools to access the opportunities presented by the European NPL market through Arrow Capital Management.

To lead this new function, the Group has appointed Kamran Anwar as global head. Anwar brings a wealth of experience in financial services, having spent 23 years at Citi in leadership roles across the Middle East, Europe and Asia, covering M&A, transaction banking, private equity, real estate and corporate strategy. Most recently, he led SS&C Technologies’ private equity services franchise in EMEA.

Anwar will be based in London and report to Zach Lewy, founder, group cio and ceo, fund management.

EMEA
Andy Murphy has rejoined DMS Governance as md, head of strategy - structured finance, based in Dublin. Murphy was formerly md at Trustmoore, having previously served as director at DMS Governance, which he joined in 2016. Before that, he worked at BNY Mellon, Citco, Citi and Computershare.

Holger Kapitza has been named director, sales, institutional clients at Wealthcap, based in Munich. Kapitza was formerly director, credit and high yield strategy, securitisation and real estate at UniCredit. He joined the firm in 2007 and previously served as portfolio manager, structured real estate and senior credit analyst, securitisation/ABS.

Equity stake sold
Monroe Capital has sold a passive minority equity stake to Bonaccord Capital Partners, a division of Aberdeen Standard Investments. Bonaccord's investment will provide Monroe with additional resources to scale its platform and pursue strategic initiatives, without impacting its day-to-day management or operations. The investment is non-voting and the firm's decision-making processes will remain unchanged.

North America
Peter Dailey has joined Aeolus Capital Management in the new position of head of research. He will report to Frank Fischer, partner and chief analytics officer. Dailey joins from Risk Management Solutions, where he was vp of model development.

Insurtech platform Arbol has named Hong Guo evp and chief insurance officer, responsible for leading all insurance-related strategy and operations for the company. He most recently served as an md at GC Securities. His 23-year career at Guy Carpenter touched on many different businesses areas, including reinsurance broking, product innovation, global client management, strategic advisory and ILS. Hong began his insurance career with PICC in Beijing.

Thomas Parcell has joined Lockton Re’s new Bermuda platform as chief broking officer. He joins Lockton Re from Aon Benfield, where he was most recently global head of the ILW practice.

RenRe rebrand
RenaissanceRe has rebranded its ventures business as ‘RenaissanceRe Capital Partners’. Chris Parry, svp, global head - capital partners, will lead this business and report to president and ceo Kevin O’Donnell. The unit will remain focused on managing RenaissanceRe’s third-party capital relationships, joint ventures and managed funds, including DaVinci, Medici, Top Layer, Upsilon and Vermeer.

As part of this rebranding, the strategic investments pillar of the business has been renamed ‘RenaissanceRe Strategic Investments’. Jonathan (JJ) Anderson, svp, global head - strategic investments, will report to cfo Bob Qutub and be responsible for managing public and private investments that generate attractive risk-adjusted returns while advancing RenRe’s business objectives.