Kansas City-headquartered Lockton, the world's largest privately held, independent insurance broker, has announced the formation of a new global reinsurance business, Lockton Global Re.

Reinsurance is a critical pillar of Lockton’s aggressive growth plan, Lockton said in a statement.

“This new global business will be a major build out of Lockton’s reinsurance capabilities and incorporate Lockton’s Internationally successful specialty team based in London,” the statement said.

This investment in the US and across the globe will be led by an elite leadership team, including Tim Gardner, current CEO of North America operations for Guy Carpenter, Claude Yoder, current managing director and global chief innovation and product development officer for Guy Carpenter, and Nick Durant, current managing director for Guy Carpenter.

“By adding this outstanding, experienced and innovative leadership team, Lockton is going all in on reinsurance,” said Mr Ron Lockton, president and CEO of Lockton. “We are filling a void in the marketplace, building our platform the right way by focusing on value creation for our clients. With encouragement from our key trading partners who hunger for choice and innovation, we make this commitment to the reinsurance space.”

This new leadership team will incorporate with Lockton’s reinsurance capability, Lockton Re US, and Lockton Re UK, the statement said.