Marsh, one of the largest insurance brokers in the world with USD4.78 billion in revenue, is working to set up a weather derivatives desk in New York to broker plain-vanilla weather derivatives. Marsh plans to broker deals on behalf of its insurance clients, according to a company official. The company has hired Partho Ghosh, a weather derivatives marketing manager at Enron in Houston, to help lead the effort. Ghosh declined to comment.
Marsh has just embarked on examining weather derivatives and the timing of the new desk's launch has yet to be determined. The company is looking at weather derivatives now because more of its clients are looking at the products, the official said.
The desk will broker plain-vanilla deals, such as heating degree-day and cooling degree-day contracts, the official said. Gosh, who was a top-performing marketer during his four-year stint at the bankrupt energy giant, joined Marsh last week. He is part of a three-member team. The other members of the group have not started yet. The official declined to provide further details on the new hires. Ghosh reports to Jamshid Ehsani, president and ceo of MMC Enterprise Risk. Ehsani did not return calls. While at Enron, Ghosh reported to Mark Tawney, head of weather derivatives in Houston.
