Somerset Re Appoints New Chief Financial Officer and Chief Legal Officer as Firm Builds on Record-Setting Year

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Somerset Re Appoints New Chief Financial Officer and Chief Legal Officer as Firm Builds on Record-Setting Year

2026-02-04 22:04 Last Updated At：02-05 12:17

HAMILTON, Bermuda--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb 4, 2026--

Somerset Reinsurance Ltd. (“Somerset Re”), a leading provider of asset-intensive reinsurance solutions to the life and annuity market, today announced the appointments of Steve Belcher as Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and Joelina Redden as Chief Legal Officer (CLO). Mr. Belcher is responsible for the firm’s financial and capital management, as well as its accounting, tax and financial reporting. Ms. Redden is responsible for complete legal oversight of the firm’s operations.

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These leadership appointments follow a record-setting year for Somerset Re, marked by the firm’s highest deal count to date and one of its strongest periods of premium growth. The year featured robust annuity flow activity and the completion of Somerset Re’s second-largest U.S. in-force reinsurance transaction – a multi-billion-dollar deferred annuity deal that further strengthened the firm’s position as a trusted partner to life and annuity cedants globally.

“This is an important moment for Somerset Re,” said Danish Iqbal, Chief Executive Officer of Somerset Re. “Bringing on Steve and Joelina underscores the growth we’re seeing in our business and our commitment to investing in the right leadership to support our next phase of growth. Both leaders bring deep expertise and leadership that align with the increasingly complex, multi-jurisdictional nature of the transactions we are executing today.”

Steve Belcher – Chief Financial Officer

Mr. Belcher brings more than 34 years of global knowledge and expertise in life and annuity insurance. Prior to joining Somerset Re, he spent 15 years at MetLife, where he most recently served as Senior Vice President, Global Controller and Reinsurance CFO, overseeing accounting and related financial reporting for MetLife’s global insurance and reinsurance subsidiaries. During his tenure at MetLife, Mr. Belcher held several senior finance leadership positions, including U.S. Controller and Global Head of Accounting Policy. Prior to that, he held senior finance leadership roles at AIG, including Global Head of Accounting Policy and Chief Accounting Officer of its global life and annuity subsidiary, American Life Insurance Company.

Mr. Belcher served as Chair of the Accounting Committee of the American Council of Life Insurers (ACLI) from 2017-2021 and as Chair of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants’ (AICPA) Insurance Experts Panel from 2017-2019. Since June 2022, he has served as a member of the AICPA’s Finance Reporting Executive Committee. He is a CPA and holds a master’s degree in accounting from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

Joelina Redden – Chief Legal Officer

Ms. Redden joins Somerset Re with over 23 years of experience in the Bermuda (re)insurance industry. Before joining the company, she was General Counsel, Chief Compliance Officer and Corporate Secretary at Athora Life Re Ltd., and Senior Counsel and Corporate Secretary at Athora Holding Ltd., where she was responsible for legal, regulatory, corporate secretarial, governance and compliance matters. Before that, she was Vice President, Associate General Counsel at Allied World Assurance Company, Ltd., and, prior to that, Counsel at Appleby (Bermuda) Limited, where she advised on all aspects of (re)insurance-related corporate, regulatory, compliance and transactional matters.

Ms. Redden graduated with a Bachelor of Arts (cum laude) in Anthropology and International Development Studies from Saint Mary’s University, Halifax, Canada. She earned a Post Graduate Diploma in Law from City St George’s University of London, England and completed the Legal Practice Course at BPP Law School, London. She has been a member of the Bermuda Bar Association since 2002.

Looking Ahead to 2026

With a strong foundation built in 2025, Somerset Re enters 2026 with significant momentum. The firm remains focused on delivering customized, capital-efficient reinsurance solutions to insurers seeking growth, balance sheet optimization and long-term partnership. “We are excited to carry this momentum forward into 2026,” added Mr. Iqbal. “With our strengthened leadership team, we are well positioned to deepen support for our current clients and forge new partnerships throughout the global life and annuity market.”

About Somerset Re

Somerset Re is a leading provider of reinsurance solutions for life insurance and annuity business globally, helping its clients with growth, managing capital efficiency and improving their financial results. With offerings that encompass new business support, legacy block management and capital-driven reinsurance solutions, Somerset Re delivers tailored strategies to meet the diverse needs of its clients. Notably, Somerset Re earned the highest overall Business Capability Index (BCI) rating according to NMG Consulting's 2025 U.S. Structured Financial Solutions study for the Asset-intensive Segment. For more information, visit www.somersetre.com.

About Aquarian

Somerset Re is owned by Aquarian Holdings, a diversified global holding company with a strategic portfolio of insurance and asset management solutions. With a team of distinguished and driven professionals led by founder Rudy Sahay, Aquarian has grown to approximately $25.8B in assets under management as of September 30, 2025. The firm invests across capital structure and creates tailored financing solutions that enable great, high-quality companies to grow and evolve. Aquarian Insurance acquires and operates companies providing retirement income solutions for millions of people. Aquarian Investments deploys capital into opportunities that seek to yield attractive risk-adjusted returns with downside protection for its clients. For more information, visit aquarianlp.com.

Evacuations begin for passengers on MV Hondius cruise ship off Tenerife hit by hantavirus

TENERIFE, Canary Islands (AP) — The first passengers to be evacuated from the hantavirus-hit cruise ship that is off Spain's Canary Islands arrived Sunday afternoon in Madrid, where they are being taken to a military hospital.

Spanish nationals were the first to leave the MV Hondius, which remains anchored off Tenerife, the largest island in the Spanish archipelago off West Africa's coast. The ship arrived early the same morning.

Planes carrying French and Canadian nationals left Tenerife after the Spanish plane. A Dutch plane was due to depart with Germans, Belgians and Greeks, while an American plane was expected to reach Tenerife around 5:30 p.m. local time (1630 GMT), according to FlightRadar 24, which shows live aircraft flight tracking details.

Maria van Kerkhove, the World Health Organization's top epidemiologist, said that a number of other flights were expected to arrive Sunday, including ones to repatriate passengers to Turkey, the United Kingdom and Ireland.

None of the more than 140 people on the Hondius has shown symptoms of the virus, officials from Spain's health ministry, WHO and cruise company Oceanwide Expeditions said.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus sought to reassure the public, repeating on Sunday that the risk for the general public from the outbreak is low.

Even so, those disembarking and personnel working at the port of Granadilla in Tenerife wore protective gear during the evacuation process, including face masks, hazmat suits and respirators. Video obtained by The Associated Press showed passengers on the tarmac donning similar suits and being sprayed down with disinfectant.

A WHO spokesperson didn't immediately respond to a question from the AP about why such security protocols were being taken, despite officials' repeated reassurances about the low general risk from the virus.

Passengers and some crew members from more than 20 nationalities on board will be evacuated throughout Sunday into Monday.

After reaching Madrid, those evacuated on the first plane will be under quarantine, Spanish health authorities say. Only the 14 Spanish nationals on board will quarantine in the country.

Authorities have said that the passengers and crew members disembarking will be checked for symptoms, have no contact with the local population and will only be taken off the ship once evacuation flights are ready to fly them to their destinations. Tedros and Spain’s health and interior ministers are supervising the operation in Tenerife.

Pope Leo XIV on Sunday thanked the Canary Islands for allowing the arrival of the Hondius.

Hantavirus usually spreads when people inhale contaminated residue of rodent droppings and isn’t easily transmitted between people. But the Andes virus detected in the cruise ship outbreak may be able to spread between people in rare cases. Symptoms usually show between one and eight weeks after exposure.

Three people have died since the outbreak, and five passengers who left the ship are infected with hantavirus, which can cause life-threatening illness.

Passengers and crew members disembarking are leaving behind their luggage, and are allowed to take only a small bag with essential items, a cellphone, a charger, and documentation.

Some crew, as well as the body of a passenger who died on board, will remain on the ship, which will sail on to Rotterdam, Netherlands, where it will undergo disinfection, Spanish authorities said.

The expected sailing time to Rotterdam is around five days, the cruise company said.

The United Kingdom will send planes to evacuate its citizens. Americans on board will be quarantined at a medical center in Nebraska.

Twenty-nine people will be on board the Dutch charter flight, including Dutch nationals and people of other nationalities, the Dutch Foreign Ministry said.

The five French passengers being repatriated Sunday will be hospitalized for 72 hours for monitoring, after which they will quarantine at home for 45 days, France's Foreign Ministry said.

U.K. passengers and crew will be hospitalized for observation once they are flown home, British authorities say.

Australia is sending a plane, expected to arrive on Monday, to evacuate its nationals and those from nearby countries such as New Zealand and unspecified Asian countries, Spanish Health Minister Mónica García said. Its plane will be the last to leave Tenerife, she said.

Norway has sent an ambulance plane to Tenerife with personnel trained to transport patients with high-risk infections, its Directorate for Civil Protection told public broadcaster NRK.

The ambulance plane is owned by the European Union, but operated by Norway.

British Army medics have parachuted onto the remote South Atlantic territory of Tristan da Cunha, where one of the 221 residents has a suspected case of hantavirus.

The patient was a passenger on the MV Hondius and disembarked last month.

The U.K. defense ministry says a team of six paratroopers and two medical clinicians jumped Saturday from a Royal Air Force transport plane, which also dropped oxygen and medical equipment.

Tristan da Cunha is Britain’s most remote inhabited overseas territory, about 1,500 miles (2,400 kilometers) from the nearest inhabited island, St. Helena. The group of volcanic islands has no airstrip and is usually accessible only by boat on a six-day voyage from Cape Town, South Africa.

Meanwhile, a Spanish woman in the southeastern province of Alicante suspected of being infected tested negative for hantavirus, Spanish health authorities said Saturday.

The woman was a passenger on the same flight as the Dutch woman who died in Johannesburg after traveling on the cruise ship.

Suman Naishadham reported from Madrid. Angela Charlton in Paris, Jill Lawless in London, and Kirsten Grieshaber in Berlin, contributed to this report.