By Navneeta Nandan

Aug 14 - (The Insurer) - PIB Group-backed MGA Acquinex has announced the hire of Chubb's Josh Cowen as CEO, along with other senior leadership appointments.

Henry Pearson has been appointed head of UK warranty and indemnity (W&I), while Matthew Andrews has been named head of title.

In his new role, Cowen will be responsible for the day-to-day running of the business, reporting directly to PIB Group’s specialty business.

He was previously senior vice president of international transactional risk at Chubb. He has also held roles at Aviva, AIG and Fusion Specialty.

Co-founders Chris Jackson and Chris Thompson will move into new roles at PIB Group when Cowen steps into his position this week.

Jackson will be responsible for PIB Group’s specialty MGA strategy, an initiative that began earlier this year with the acquisition of Litica.

Acquinex and Litica will report to Jackson as specialist brands leading niche markets.

Thompson will be head of product development within PIB Group’s wider MGA business.

Pearson joined Acquinex in June from Liberty Global Transaction Solutions, where he was most recently head of UK, CEE and MEA. He has also worked at Ambridge Europe and Pembroke Managing Agency.

Andrews joined Acquinex in May from Aviva, where he was a senior member of the title team.

In January, The Insurer first reported that 20-plus members of Acquinex's W&I insurance team, led by head of transactional risks Paul Smith and North Europe team leader Adam Love, resigned to join Howden's MGA Dual. This was followed by legal action launched by Acquinex against Howden for poaching. PIB Group and Acquinex claimed that Howden used "recruiting sergeants" who formed a WhatsApp group to orchestrate the hiring of its W&I insurance team.

In May, Smith and Love said that they left Acquinex out of unhappiness over its "culture of incompetence and short-termism".