Bill Cooper
Managing Director
Managing Director
Bill Cooper joined Howden Capital Markets & Advisory in July 2019 as Head of Capital Advisory based in Howden (UK).
Prior to joining Howden, Bill worked at Lloyds Bank where he led the bank’s corporate banking business in the insurance sector. During Bill’s long tenure at Lloyds Bank, he helped guide the bank to its current position as a leading financier of firms within the UK and global insurance industry. Bill led transactions in the broker/managing general agency market, as well as for numerous firms in the Lloyd’s of London market. Additionally, Bill has significant financial restructuring experience, having worked closely with a number of over-leveraged firms in the financial services sector during and after the financial crisis.
Bill holds a Master’s degree in History from The University of Cambridge.
Global Head of ILS
Philipp Kusche joined Howden in April 2016 as Partner and Global Head of Insurance-Linked Securities (ILS) and Capital Solutions where he built up Howden Capital Markets & Advisory’s ILS platform focusing on origination, structuring, placement and trading of CAT bonds, sidecars and other ILS structures across many different areas of the insurance and reinsurance landscape, including developing relationships with institutional investors globally. This includes many innovative transactions across different line of businesses, fund raising for ILS managers and providing access points for capital markets and institutional investors looking to access insurance risk.
Philipp comes from Swiss Re Capital Markets in New York where he most recently was the Head of their ILS Structuring and Origination team covering Insurance Companies, Hedge Funds, Governmental Entities, and Corporate Clients in the U.S., Latin America, and Asia. He joined Swiss Re Capital Markets in New York in 2006 and was responsible for and instrumental in creating and executing billions of dollars worth of CAT bonds, sidecars, contingent capital structures, and other alternative capital products for clients globally, while maintaining a strong focus on product development. As part of such activities, he developed relationships with many key ILS and other institutional investors and maintained a close dialogue with other stakeholders in the ILS space. In addition to such sell-side activities, he structured, priced, and executed a large number of CAT derivatives, mainly on a parametric basis, providing protection to a variety of clients. Philipp joined Swiss Re in 2002, and was initially based at its headquarters in Zurich as a management trainee. Working mainly in the Chief Underwriting Office, he quickly advanced into the global Energy Practice as a property underwriter in London and Zurich.
He graduated with a Bachelor Degree in Civil Engineering from the Bauhaus University in Germany and a Masters Degree in Civil Engineering from the Swiss Federal Institute in Zurich (ETH). His Masters Thesis, supported by Credit Suisse, was on public-private partnerships and their potential in Switzerland.
