New E. W. Blanch Holdings, Inc. Trading Group Head is Derivatives Pro

E. W. Blanch Holdings, Inc. has hired Robert Bredahl to lead their Capital Markets and Trading Group and to manage EWB's investment in Catex, the on-line insurance information and risk exchange.

Mr. Bredahl spent the last eleven years with Barclays Capital (formerly BZW Securities), the investment banking division of Barclays Bank Plc., where he was a managing director and most recently head of derivative sales in North America. Over his career, Mr. Bredahl has also had leadership roles in debt origination, capital markets, structured finance and fixed income sales. He began his career at Chemical Bank where he was a lending officer after completing Chemical's management and credit training program.

Rod Fox, president of E. W. Blanch Co., Inc., stated, "The convergence of the insurance and the financial markets is likely to accelerate, providing opportunities for institutions with risk management and transactional expertise in both marketplaces while jeopardizing the viability of those that are entrenched in the traditional ways of doing business. EWB is committed to being a leader in the transformation of the reinsurance market."

Mr. Bredahl believes that the financial markets will influence the reinsurance market in two significant ways. First, he says, is by adding risk-bearing capacity through the continued development of a fixed income investor base that buys insurance risk in the form of catastrophe bonds and derivatives. Second is providing an example of real time, dynamic risk management.

E. W. Blanch Holdings, Inc. is a leading provider of integrated risk management and distribution services, including reinsurance intermediary services, risk management consulting and administration services and wholesale insurance services. The Company is headquartered in Dallas, Texas with branch offices in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Cincinnati, Denver, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, New York, Philadelphia, San Antonio, San Francisco and Wilmington.