Spear’s Review

Henry Komansky is a Bermuda qualified inhouse counsel and chief risk officer for the Bermuda insurance operations at Axcelus Financial.

With a background in trust and life insurance litigation – he also spent time as a special agent in the US Federal Bureau of Investigation and as the head of analysis in the Financial Intelligence Agency – Komansky specialises in private placement life insurance (PPLI) solutions for UHNWs and institutional clients. 

He tells Spear’s that UHNW clients typically need bespoke insurance policies given their complex finances; PPLI can also be an effective tool in helping families to transfer wealth across generations. ‘My demographic is large multinational folks that don’t have a specific residence and are trying to restructure their wealth for multigenerational purposes,’ he explains. ‘Our policies help because they can span generations and jurisdictions depending on how you set them up.’

Komansky, who says the average policy size at Axcelus is $40 million, often liaises with asset managers, tax planners and lawyers to craft policies that possess the sensitivity that his clients require. He notes that the company is currently expanding to encompass insurance structures incorporating digital assets.