News & Insights

Starr is pleased to announce that Gregg Cunningham has joined the company as Head of U.S. Middle Market Retail Property. With over 30 years of commercial property insurance and reinsurance experience, Gregg brings extensive industry knowledge and leadership from both the broker and carrier sides of the business. In this role, he will direct the ongoing growth of Starr’s retail property platform, advance underwriting capabilities, and enhance distribution strategy throughout the U.S. market.

A series of exclusive events at Lloyd's of London will bring together senior business leaders and Goalhanger's leading political voices to examine the issues shaping the world and the decisions that follow.

Starr, a global investment and insurance organisation, has launched a suite of lead market, proprietary Commercial Directors’ and Officers’ (D&O) policy wordings for UK and US public companies, designed to provide brokers and clients with greater certainty, consistency and flexibility in an increasingly complex risk environment.

Starr’s new Bermuda reinsurer, IQUW Re Bermuda Limited, today announced that global credit rating AM Best has upgraded its Financial Strength Rating to A (Excellent) and its long-term issuer credit to a+ (Excellent). The outlook for both credit ratings is positive.

As data centers look for greater power resilience and operational flexibility, Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) are being implemented in many projects currently under construction, most often those using lithium-ion cells. These systems can improve reliability and drive cost savings, but they also introduce new, complex hazards including the risk of thermal runaway. In a thermal runaway event, a battery cell’s temperature escalates uncontrollably, quickly spreading heat and potentially causing fire, toxic gas release, or even explosions. A single failure in a densely packed data center environment can put the whole facility at risk.

Data centers are among the fastest-growing areas in the U.S. construction sector, fueled by massive investments in artificial intelligence. These and other trends are accelerating data center construction projects, and along with them, a wide range of property and liability risks. This white paper explores the boom in data center development and operations through a risk management lens and offers recommendations for project owners, operators, developers, contractors, and insurance brokers.