Facultative Reinsurance

Bobby Swarup

Managing Director

Imara

Bobby has nearly 20 years of insurance industry experience across the London Market, Asia and Africa.

During his career, Bobby was Chief Financial Officer at a London-based investment fund which owned and operated insurance businesses in high-growth markets in Africa and Asia. Prior to this, he was a Director at EY, overseeing all aspects of providing assurance and advisory services to a client portfolio of large and listed global re/insurance groups.

Recently, as a board member of a Nigerian insurance company, he played a central role in greatly improving the firm’s performance prior to the company’s sale to Allianz.

Bobby has worked with boards and C-Suite executives of insurance businesses to set their vision and strategy, and has mentored teams to become more client-centric, improve their operations and grow profitably.

Bilal Zafar

Managing Director

Imara

Bilal is a seasoned re/insurance professional, with experience across underwriting and pricing roles in London, Zurich and in high-growth markets.

Prior to joining Volante, Bilal was Director of Underwriting at a London-based investment fund which owned and operated insurance businesses in high-growth markets in Africa and Asia. He oversaw the successful turnaround of underwriting performance across the group.

As a board member of portfolio companies, he drove portfolio shifts towards profitability, implemented a strong governance culture and enabled a step-change in operational efficiency through the use of state-of-the-art underwriting technology.

Previously, Bilal spent several years at Swiss Re in underwriting and pricing roles, where his clients included some of the largest global insurers, advising them on reinsurance structures, solvency optimisation and risk management.

Laxmeekant Walikar

Managing Director, Indian Subcontinent

Imara

Laxmeekant is an accomplished professional with over 16 years of re/insurance experience in India and the Global re/insurance industry. He started his career with Swiss Re, India after completing his MBA and worked for 10+ years in the Middle East. He was most recently Chief Underwriting Officer of AXA, XL India building and managing a profitable reinsurance portfolio.

Laxmeekant has diversified re/insurance experience and in-depth understanding of Indian and Global re/insurance markets. He holds various professional qualifications including Fellowship from the Chartered Insurance Institute of UK, the Insurance Institute of India and ANZIIF Institute Australia. He also holds a certificate from Harvard Business School on Sustainable Business Strategy and diploma in ILS- Insurance Linked Securities.

Sofiane Azzoug

Portfolio Director

Imara

Sofiane joined Imara as Portfolio Director in July 2022, to develop the Treaty and Facultative portfolio in North & West Africa.

He has over 12 years’ experience in the reinsurance industry. Prior to joining Imara, Sofiane was Head of International Inwards Reinsurance as Director at CCR Algeria, serving as member of its Underwriting Committee, Risk Management Committee, among others. During his time at CCR, Sofiane successfully developed a profitable book of Treaty and Facultative business emanating from Africa, Middle East and Asia.

Sofiane has an Engineering degree from the Institute of Planning and Statistics, Algeria, with specialisation in Finance and Actuarial Science. He also holds a Postgraduate degree from the Arab Maghreb Development Finance Institute. He is fluent in Arabic, French and English.

Kamlesh Khuntwal

Senior Underwriter, Liability

Imara

Kamlesh started his career as a property underwriter for 3 years, before moving to liability underwriting. Prior to joining Volante, he served as the Deputy Vice President for the Financial Lines at Tata AIG. He has also worked at Bajaj Allianz, Raheja QBE, and Reliance General Insurance in India.

With over 17 years of experience, he has extensive knowledge of underwriting a variety of product lines in the liability space, ranging from Management Liability (D&O, POSI), Cyber Insurance, Professional Liability (Tech PI / E&O, Construction Project PI), Kidnap and Ransom, Financial Institution (PE/VC, MFAP), and Casualty Lines (CGL, Product liability with Recall, Clinical trial).

Among his professional credentials are a Diploma from the Chartered Institute of UK, a Fellowship from the Insurance Institute of India and Master of Business Administration (MBA) from National Insurance Academy, Pune with specialisation in General Insurance and Marketing.

Rakhi Rawat

Underwriting Assistant

Imara

Rakhi started her career with Genpact India in 2013. She has over 10 years of insurance experience in North America as well as Asia Market. Prior to joining Volante, she worked with AXA XL in underwriting assistance, credit control, cash application and invoicing.

Santosh Kumar

Underwriting Assistant

Imara

Santosh has 13 years of experience in Operation, End-to-End Knowledge, and expertise in P&C Insurance Underwriting across multiple geographies. He also has experience in Transitions and Quality Improvement with an objective to lead and achieve organisational and individual goals by implementation of quality principles. As well as providing UW Expertise such as policy administration support for all pre and post bind activities like NB & RB Submission, Quote preparation, Policy Issuance and maintenance for Property and Casualty lines of business of insurance. Prior to Volante, Santosh started his career with Genpact in 2011, in multiple processes Like Optum, Swiss RE, AON Affinity, Ryan Specialty.