Capital, expertise
and alignment.
Vector Risk Group is a founder-led holding and advisory vehicle built on two decades of reinsurance experience across African and emerging markets.
"The African reinsurance market is evolving, but urgently needs additional capacity to meet growing needs."
Ilyes Hassib — Platformafrica.com, 2024Ilyes Hassib
Ilyes Hassib is an accomplished reinsurance executive with extensive experience across African and emerging markets. His expertise encompasses facultative and treaty reinsurance, retrocession strategy, portfolio and enterprise risk management, and the end-to-end design of sophisticated reinsurance platforms—including underwriting frameworks, capital and capacity structures, governance models, protected-cell companies, and captive solutions.
His career has been defined by building and leading reinsurance operations at scale across the African continent, culminating in his role as CEO of SanlamAllianz Re, the captive reinsurer for Africa's largest non-banking financial institution. He brings to Vector Risk Group a rare combination: institutional credibility, technical depth, and a network spanning international brokers, retrocession markets, and African regulators.
Foundations in African Reinsurance
Began building expertise in facultative and treaty reinsurance across North African and Sub-Saharan markets, developing a deep understanding of the region's risk dynamics and regulatory environments.
Cross-Border Treaty & Facultative Practice
Led underwriting teams across African markets, specialising in facultative retrocession, PML/SMP methodology, and structuring cross-border reinsurance programmes for local and regional cedants.
CEO, SanlamAllianz Re
Appointed CEO of SanlamAllianz Re — the captive reinsurer for the SanlamAllianz group, the largest non-banking financial institution in Africa — overseeing captive design, treaty placement, and strategic reinsurance across 27 countries.
Founding Vector Risk Group
Established Vector Risk Group as an independent holding and advisory vehicle, deploying capital and expertise into founding equity positions in regulated specialty (re)insurance platforms across African and emerging markets.
How we think
about capital.
Three principles that govern every equity position and advisory engagement Vector Risk Group undertakes.
Capital plus expertise
We do not write passive cheques. Every equity position is accompanied by active underwriting input, regulatory guidance, and market relationship access — making our capital structurally more valuable than financial capital alone.
Long-term alignment
We take founding positions and hold them. Our interests are fully aligned with the platforms we back — we succeed only when they succeed. No advisory fees that diverge from equity outcomes.
Governance-led
Every platform we invest in must meet the same governance standards we apply to our own operations. Robust board structures, transparent reporting, and regulatory compliance are non-negotiable conditions of our involvement.
The four principles
we never compromise.
Disciplined underwriting
Risk selection drives every decision. We apply the same rigorous underwriting criteria to our equity positions as we do to the treaty and facultative programmes we advise on.
Capital efficiency
Optimal capital structures — whether through protected cells, captive designs, or regulated platforms — are a prerequisite, not an afterthought.
Transparent governance
We operate with institutional-grade transparency. Our counterparties, co-investors and regulators can rely on clear reporting, honest communication, and no conflicts of interest.
Alignment with partners
We structure our engagements so that our success is inseparable from the success of the platforms and clients we serve. Skin in the game is the baseline.
Interested in exploring an equity partnership or advisory engagement?
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