QIS hires Sutherland

Jonathan Rest

JAMES SUTHERLAND, the man once charged with leading Lloyd’s international development, has joined Qatar Insurance Services (QIS), the reinsurance trading system, as chief executive. QIS is expected to go live in the first half of 2009 and, once fully operational, it is hoped it will provide a solid foundation for Qatar’s objective to fight off Dubai and Bahrain to become the region’s leading insurance and reinsurance centre. Sutherland has strong ties with Qatar, having spent almost a year there as director of business development, insurance and reinsurance, at the QFC Authority, the commercial, administrative and legislative body responsible for driving the commercial strategy of the Qatar Financial Centre. Previously he was with Lloyd’s, where he was responsible for international development and operations. Earlier in his career he spent over a decade running insurance operations in south-east Asia and eight years with a global insurance broker in London.