Specialty growth, Australia, Dubai operations fire up Markel’s APAC growth
November 1 2024 by InsuranceAsia News
Markel International’s “solid growth trajectory” in Asia Pacific has been underpinned by its strong performance in Australia and Dubai and driven by growing demand across specialty lines, according to Christian Stobbs, managing director for APAC.
“In 2024, we expect to have grown over 40% in premium terms and are set to deliver the fourth consecutive year of profitability,” said Stobbs.
“Each of our offices has contributed to this growth; however, this has been most pronounced in Australia, where we were a new market entrant in Q4 2023, and in Dubai, where regional economic strength has provided favourable tailwinds,” he noted.
Markel provides a wide range of products across most specialty classes, including energy, marine, professional and financial risk, casualty, terrorism and political violence and trade credit.
“We’ve seen growth across all these specialty lines in 2024 and this has been most pronounced in the war, renewable energy, and casualty classes,” Stobbs said.
The growth in war premiums was a result of the continued geopolitical events in Ukraine and the Middle East. The Red Sea is one of the world’s major shipping channels and providing certainty to vessel and cargo owners during this period has contributed to this growth.
“Markel has been a leader across this insurance class and our team of underwriters in Asia Pacific continues to collaborate daily with our teams across the globe to provide dynamic insights to clients and brokers,” he said.
“Elsewhere, the exponential investment growth we’ve witnessed in the transition to renewable energy across the Asia Pacific has led to a significant increase in demand for protection in both the construction and the operational phases of this transition,” he said.
Market trends
“At the headline level, we’re expecting pricing levels to continue to transition in 2025 with a growing level of capacity in the region leading to increased competition,” according to Stobbs.
A secondary challenge is for the insurance industry to continue its focus on improving the efficiency of our processes and client experience, he said.
“Over the past five years we have quadrupled our headcount in the region, reflecting Markel’s firmly held belief that to be successful as a specialty insurer, clients are best served by empowered underwriting and claims colleagues, located in close proximity to the underlying risks of a business.” Christian Stobbs, Markel
“We’ve seen a shift in some markets, namely London, where there are increased levels of digital trading and data exchange. This has largely been led by Lloyd’s, which whilst growing in Asia Pacific, does not have the comparable scale to drive those changes here in the same way.
“It’s therefore important that major industry participants, on both the carrier and broking sides, collaborate to find solutions that drive positive outcomes for policyholders,” Stobbs noted.
Talent strategy
“Over the past five years we have quadrupled our headcount in the region, reflecting Markel’s firmly held belief that to be successful as a specialty insurer, clients are best served by empowered underwriting and claims colleagues, located in close proximity to the underlying risks of a business,” Stobbs said.
Markel has been growing its headcount in the region and is prioritising the recruitment of local talent across the Asia Pacific.
Our experience suggests that clients favour accessing decision makers on the day and in the time zone.
As such, we have been scaling up our capability in each of the nine offices we have in the Asia Pacific and will end 2024 with a headcount of more than 120 people in this region, Stobbs aid, claiming that this is a large footprint and is unique for a Lloyd’s syndicate operating in Asia Pacific.
“Specialty insurance requires high levels of expertise, and our hiring has reflected this with several senior recruits – who are market leaders in their respective fields – joining the business,” he added.
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