AmTrust Financial Services, Inc., is a New York City-based multinational property and casualty insurance company, offering workers’ compensation, general liability, business owners policies (BOP), cyber liability,
employment practices liability Employment practices liability is an area of United States labor law that deals with wrongful termination, sexual harassment, discrimination, invasion of privacy, false imprisonment, breach of contract, emotional distress, and wage and hour law vio ...
(EPLI) and more. Operating through its subsidiaries, its operations are divided into three segments: small commercial business insurance, specialty risk and Extended Warranty insurance, and Specialty Middle-Market Property and Casualty insurance. The company's main regions of operations are
North America
North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...
,
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...
, and mainland
Europe
Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...
. AmTrust is rated “A-” (Excellent) by
AM Best Company.
Barry Zyskind is the chairman and
CEO
A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...
.
History
AmTrust Financial Services was founded by brothers
George Karfunkel
George Karfunkel (born 1948/1949) is an American businessman, the co-founder of companies including AmTrust Financial Services, and a survivor of Operation Entebbe.
Early life
George Karfunkel was born in Hungary, the son of Louis Karfunkel (19 ...
and Michael Karfunkel in 1998.
In 2005, Ronald E. (Ron) Pipoly was appointed as
CFO
The chief financial officer (CFO) is an officer of a company or organization that is assigned the primary responsibility for managing the company's finances, including financial planning, management of financial risks, record-keeping, and financ ...
.
AmTrust began trading on the
NASDAQ Global Select Market on November 13, 2006.
In 2016,
Barry Zyskind, Michael Karfunkel's son-in-law,
[ was appointed as chairman in addition to existing roles as chief executive officer, president and chairman of the Amtrust executive committee.] Zyskind was listed by ''Forbes
''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also re ...
'' as the best performing CEO in the insurance industry in December 2014.
In 2017, Adam Karkowsky was appointed as CFO
The chief financial officer (CFO) is an officer of a company or organization that is assigned the primary responsibility for managing the company's finances, including financial planning, management of financial risks, record-keeping, and financ ...
.
In November 2018, AmTrust completed a go-private transaction, merging with Evergreen Parent, L.P., an entity formed with private equity funds managed by Stone Point Capital LLC, together with the Karfunkel-Zyskind family.
In January 2019, AmTrust voluntarily delisted and deregistered all series of preferred stock and subordinated notes. Adam Karkowsky became president of AmTrust in December 2019.
In January 2019, AmTrust Financial Services, Inc. entered into a quota share agreement with Swiss Reinsurance America Corp (“Swiss Re”) for 2019 covering U.S. small commercial business totaling approximately $2.9 billion in projected written premiums, with Swiss Re projected to assume approximately $1.05 billion on an inforce, new and renewal basis.
On June 17, 2020, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filed a complaint against AmTrust Financial Services, Inc. and its former CFO, Ron Pipoly, which alleged that the company’s disclosures through the end of 2015 of its actuarial process for estimating loss reserves failed to disclose the company’s process for reporting its management’s best estimate of loss reserves. Without admitting or denying the allegations, the company agreed to accept a $10.3 million civil penalty and Pipoly agreed to a civil penalty, disgorgement payment and interest in the total amount of $237,499 in full settlement of the claims.
Affiliated companies and subsidiaries
Most of the company's business is contracted worldwide through more than 20 insurance companies and subsidiaries
A subsidiary, subsidiary company or daughter company is a company owned or controlled by another company, which is called the parent company or holding company. Two or more subsidiaries that either belong to the same parent company or having a sa ...
. The following are some of their U.S. subsidiaries:
The company's foreign insurance subsidiaries include:
* AmTrust Assicurazoni S.p.A.
*AmTrust International Insurance Ltd. (AII)
* AmTrust International Underwriters Designated Company Activity (DAC)
* AmTrust Europe, Ltd. (AEL)
* Motors Insurance Company Ltd. (MIC)
*Primero Seguros, S.A. de C.V.
Core business segments
Small Commercial Business Insurance
The Small Commercial Business segment of AmTrust provides worker's compensation to small businesses which operate in low and medium hazard classes. Included in this class are restaurants, retail stores, physicians and other professional offices. They also offer commercial package and other property and casualty insurance products to small businesses.
Specialty Program Business Insurance
This segment provides workers’ compensation, general liability, commercial auto liability, excess surplus lines insurance programs and other specialty commercial property and casualty insurance through managing general agents.
Specialty Risk and Extended Warranty
This segment is engaged in providing custom designed coverages. Included are accidental damage plans and payment protection plans sold in connection with the sale of consumer and commercial goods in the United States and Europe.
Recognition
AmTrust Financial Services was named as a Northcoast 99 Best Places to Work Winner for 2017 and 2018.
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Charges and Settlement
On June 17, 2020, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filed a complaint against AmTrust Financial Services, Inc. and its former CFO Ronald E. Pipoly, which alleged that the Company’s disclosures through the end of 2015 of its actuarial process for estimating loss reserves failed to disclose the Company’s process for reporting its management’s best estimate of loss reserves. Without admitting or denying the allegations, the Company agreed to accept a $10.3 million civil penalty and Pipoly agreed to a civil penalty, disgorgement payment and interest in the total amount of $237,499 in full settlement of the claims.[{{Cite web, title=SEC.gov {{! Insurance Company and Former CFO Charged With Faulty Loss Reserves Disclosures, url=https://www.sec.gov/news/press-release/2020-135, access-date=2020-06-17, website=www.sec.gov]
External links
Official website
References
Insurance companies of the United States
Companies listed on the Nasdaq
Financial services companies based in New York City
Financial services companies established in 1998