Financier Worldwide profiled Managing Director and Head of Middle Market, Simon Chung as one of their Power Players – Exceptional Experts in Transactional Risk & Insurance for 2023. See below for Stan’s profile and a Q&A with Financier Worldwide. 

Personal Biography

Simon Chung is a managing director and head of middle market at Euclid Transactional. He has been underwriting representations and warranties insurance policies since 2015, focusing on middle market transactions. Prior to his career as an underwriter, he was an associate at Proskauer and McKenna Long & Aldridge (now part of Dentons), where he advised clients on corporate, employee benefits and tax matters. He received a JD degree from Emory Law School and an LLM in tax from New York University.

Q&A With Simon Chung

Could you provide an insight into how you approach your work? What drives and motivates you?

Relationships matter. I am grateful and appreciative that I work in an industry that has so many repeat players. At Euclid Transactional, we have built meaningful relationships with brokers who continually send us great risk opportunities, insureds who have purchased multiple policies from us, and the insureds’ legal counsel who help promote the use of our products. It is also very exciting when we are given an opportunity to work with an insured who has never purchased a representation and warranty (R&W), tax or contingent liability insurance policy. In this situation, we do not take the trust and faith that brokers and insureds’ counsel place in Euclid Transactional for granted when recommending us. The relationships we maintain with our partners drive us to deliver an efficient and commercial underwriting process, along with providing excellent claim services.

In what ways do you endeavour to support the career development of your colleagues rising through the ranks?

At Euclid, I am very fortunate to work with many colleagues who are at the beginning of their professional careers, along with those who have been in the industry for many years. Supporting the development of my colleagues’ professional growth is extremely rewarding to me. We have the privilege of having many analysts and associates who express a strong desire to learn more about this industry, whether it involves explaining a specific area of law that I am well-versed in, sharing my past experiences in handling similar issues or discussing the risks associated with various industries. As head of middle market at Euclid Transactional, I am very proud to lead a team of middle market underwriters that all began their careers at Euclid Transactional as analysts.

Reflecting on your area of expertise, how do you see this sphere of the market shaping up over the coming months? Are any exciting trends or developments on the horizon?

With M&A activity still down from prior years, middle market transactions have played a larger role within our industry this year and will continue to be important. Our excellent broker partners have done a tremendous job in finding opportunities and proving that R&W insurance can be a useful tool in most transactions, regardless of the size of the deal. With respect to middle market transactions, we must continue to be efficient and responsive during the underwriting and claims process. I am excited to be at Euclid Transactional where we have a dedicated team for middle market transactions and the largest dedicated claims team in the industry.

“With M&A activity still down from prior years, middle market transactions have played a larger role within our industry this year and will continue to be important.”

Representative Engagements

• Underwrote over 600 transactions since 2015, mostly primary policies for middle market sized deals.
• Underwrote multiple cross-border transactions, including for target companies based in Asia, Latin America and Europe.
• Excellent retention and repeat business with private equity firms (underwrote more than 10 policies for three different firms), a result of thorough yet streamlined underwriting process.