Willis Names Walkiewicz Managing Director Insurance Investment Banking

May 22, 2014

Willis Group Holdings has appointed Rafal Walkiewicz as Managing Director of its insurance investment banking division, Willis Capital Markets & Advisory (WCMA).

He will be based in New York “following the end of his notice period in August, and will play a key role in developing further the firm’s capital raising and mergers & acquisitions (M&A) business,” the announcement said. “He will report directly to WCMA’s CEO, Tony Ursano, and his appointment will further strengthen WCMA’s executive leadership.”

Walkiewicz joins Willis from Goldman Sachs where he spent the past 10 years in its Financial Institutions Group, focused on the insurance space. Before this he was President and CEO of BMT Financial Services, a Polish SEC registered stockbroker, asset manager and investment banking boutique. Prior to beginning his business career, Walkiewicz, who received his MBA from the Harvard Business School, also spent seven years working as an Assistant Professor at Warsaw School of Economics.

The bulletin also indicated that he “brings a wealth of insurance industry knowledge and expertise, and has executed over $50 billion of M&A and financing transactions. These include the $2.3 billion sale of insurance broker USI from Goldman Sachs’ private equity fund to Onex, the $865 million sale of Ally’s Mexican P&C insurance business ABA Seguros to ACE, the $16.2 billion sale of Alico to MetLife, ACE’s $2.4 billion acquisition of Aon’s Combined Insurance, and GE’s $9.1 billion sale of its reinsurance unit to Swiss Re.”

Ursano said the appointment “deepens and broadens WCMA’s already formidable pool of expertise. He brings with him an outstanding selection of strategic industry relationships, in-depth knowledge of the insurance market and extensive experience of executing high profile transactions. I have confidence that he will make a significant contribution to our team assisting us in continuing to build a world-class insurance investment banking platform.”

Source: Willis Group Holdings

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