In mid-2008, Pacific Life purchased Scottish Re Holdings Limited’s UK-based reinsurance business. Scottish Re, facing severe financial difficulties, needed to sell. For Pacific Life, who was looking to diversify its risks and geographic footprint, the deal was attractive. Scottish Re’s platform was set up to write international reinsurance, its people were experts at longevity analysis, and its parent company was open to a reasonable price.

Pacific Life closed the acquisition for $71.2 million just as the global financial crisis was becoming a major distraction, even for a financially stable company like Pacific Life.

The fortuitous timing paid off. The new subsidiary, rebranded as Pacific Life Re, wrote business in the United Kingdom, Ireland and a few markets in Asia. Today, Pacific Life Re has an expanding presence in Europe, North America, Australia and Asia, and the subsidiary is earning $1.5 billion in annual premium income.

Its success is driven by a culture that takes an innovative approach to risk. Almost every year since 2008, it has been rated number one for innovation in the reinsurance markets of the United Kingdom and Ireland.

Recently, Pacific Life Re has invested in a new technology platform called UnderwriteMe that allows financial advisors to fill out one application and see quotes from multiple insurers. By simplifying and expediting the process, UnderwriteMe is gaining traction in many of the company’s markets.

“The real power of the tool will show up in five years’ time, when the clients who work with us [know] that they're working with the reinsurer who understands all the underwriting results across the market, and how each little tweak of each answer has given slightly different results,” said David Howell, CEO of Pacific Life Re. “We see that giving us an advantage that our competition is not going to be able to replicate.”