PRICE F O R BE S (P T Y ) LT D
Broadening insurance options for South Africa and beyond www.priceforbes.co.za
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Success is on the
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Through successful talent selection and working with like-minded organisations, globally recognised insurance Group, Price Forbes is successfully demonstrating its capabilities in a new market Writer: Emily Jarvis • Project Manager: Callum Philp
ince its establishment in 2012, Price Forbes Group Limited’s South Africa division, Price Forbes (Pty)Ltd, has witnessed exponential growth in a mere three years, in part due to its extreme client focus, Greenfield business and Group backing. The origins of the Price Forbes name can be traced back to 1893. The business today is the result of a 2004 merger of two highly professional brokers, Prentis Donegan and Price Forbes. 2006 saw the formation of Price Forbes & Partners Limited, a truly independent London and Bermudabased global, specialist broker that is 100 percent owned by management and its employees. “The establishment of Price Forbes (Pty)Ltd in South Africa in 2012 was a significant step towards achieving the goal of being a global insurance specialist,” says Warren Bolttler, CEO of Price Forbes (Pty) Ltd. “Even with
the well established brand name, we are still the new kids on the block in Africa. Therefore, we need to quickly demonstrate our capabilities to a new market. “As our customer base grows in this area, we can offer more competitive rates than ever before. Additionally, backed by the Price Forbes brand that has existed for almost a century as a global household name from its base in London, UK, we have been able to leverage the Group’s reputation to fulfil our South African operating model; known for its direct partner relationships and unique value propositions that offer something completely different,” adds Bolttler, who was keen to emphasise that growth in South Africa was organic and based on a local retail model. The Group’s South Africa operations serve to broaden the offering available to insurance and reinsurance buyers of domestic corporate and commercial insurance; providing enhanced
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access to international markets and introducing specialist skills and greater competition into the country’s insurance market. “Following significant consolidation in the South African broking market, our books predominantly cover domestic risk and large domicile corporates in South Africa and the neighbouring countries. We heavily utilise our extensive knowledge of the domestic market to provide our insurance products. “At present, the market is currently soft, therefore it presents a lot of opportunities for insurance buyers; where products are quickly commoditised and innovations are quickly replicated and moulded to suit the ever-changing regulations. This is a sign of a healthy and financially sound market, where there is capacity, competition and choice,” details Bolttler.
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MIRABILIS ENGINEERING UNDERWRITING MANAGERS
At present, the market is currently soft, therefore it presents a lot of opportunities for insurance buyers; where products are quickly commoditised and innovations are quickly replicated and moulded to suit the ever-changing regulations
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irabilis is the largest engineering underwriter in Africa. Our team includes qualified engineers with practical experience, in-depth expertise and understanding of engineering risks and insurance requirements. Our territorial scope includes continental Africa, the Middle East, Central and South East Asia and the Indian Sub-Continent. We can transact directly in various foreign currencies Accompanied by Santam Limited and our international panel of reinsurers, Mirabilis offers solid security for engineering risks and substantial capacity in our acceptances. We underwrite and facultative reinsure the full spectrum of engineering risks. T +27 (11) 880 8200
www.mirabilisafrica.com
CAMARGUE UNDERWRITING
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amargue Underwriting Managers is a specialist underwriting insurance firm with approved coverholder status at Lloyd’s of London, writing its business in both Southern Africa and certain SubSaharan countries on behalf of Lloyds of London and Mutual and Federal on a 50/50 co-insurance basis. Providing risk management solutions and specialised insurance products to a broad spectrum of industries in SA, Camargue’s product lines have received industry honours and support. Its M³ principle – to Manage, Mitigate and Migrate critical business risks through its over 400 legal professionals, risk managers, arbitrators and risk analysts – uniquely positions Camargue to assist clients with all related business needs. T +27 (0)11 778 9140 / 41 - 47 E camargue@camargueum.co.za
Warren Bolttler, CEO of Price Forbes (Pty) Ltd
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INSURING ENGINEERING AFRICA’S LEADING ENGINEERING INSURER
MIRABILIS OFFERS A COMPREHENSIVE RANGE OF ENGINEERING INSURANCE PRODUCTS: In addition to our standard products, we also provide seamless tailor made “Cradle to Operational” covers, designed specifically for financed engineering projects where a single insurer (Santam) covers all project risks from Marine to Operational including Marine, Marine ALOP, Contractors’ All Risks, ALOP, Contractors’ Third Party Liability, Project Professional Indemnity, Assets/Operational All Risks and Operational BI. OUR TERRITORIAL SCOPE INCLUDES CONTINENTAL AFRICA, THE MIDDLE EAST, CENTRAL AND SOUTH EAST ASIA AND THE INDIAN SUB-CONTINENT. Johannesburg I Durban I Cape Town Tel: 0861 100 100 / +27 11 880 8200 www.mirabilisafrica.com info@mirabilisafrica.com Underwritten by Santam. Santam is an authorised Financial Services Provider (3416)
AN AUTHORISED FINANCIAL SERVICES PROVIDER (28190)
Beyond Insurance Camargue is more than a policy. Camargue is more than a product. Camargue is a concept. The Camargue concept is driven by an inherent desire to continue challenging what is possible in the world of specialised liability management. Bringing risk management solutions and risk management services to an ever-increasing range of clients - with ever-increasing impact on business, society and beyond. The Camargue concept acknowledges people as the proponents of knowledge, making successful and sustainable business a reality. A concept dedicated to seeing the power of knowledge change the world. One business. One challenge. One victory at a time.
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In 2013, the entire African insurance market only accounted for 1.56 percent of the global premiums, standing at $72.4 billion, compared to the world total of $4.6 trillion. South African premiums however, accounted for $54 billion of this total and penetration levels were ranked second in the world at 15.4 percent, reflecting a saturated market and the potential for growth in key areas such as property insurance, mining, construction and manufacturing. “These are the four significant insurance classes on our books and success in these areas has allowed us to grow our business at a healthy rate,” explains Bolttler. Through a tailored insurance offering for each corporate entity seeking insurance, Price Forbes (Pty) Ltd is able to take advantage of high growth markets for sustainable revenue growth to secure a long-term future in South Africa. “A new high growth market for us is technology,
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where we have recently won some large global firms and will continue to seize the opportunity to build this book going forward. Not only this, but we must differentiate our product and service offering in a meaningful way to attract more retail customers,” adds Bolttler. He says that the growth of Price Forbes (Pty) Ltd is not just constrained to South Africa, and this is a result of significant infrastructure development that characterises the African landscape. “We find that the dominant classes of business are construction, engineering, marine & transportation and energy. In light of the significant offshore energy resources in East Africa for example, we have strategically positioned ourselves to be able to handle insurance in this area by providing a facility to service the local East African markets. Not only this, but we have made significant steps in our oil & gas specialisations for the South African market.”
ACE INSURANCE
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CE Insurance Limited South Africa is part of the ACE Group of Companies, and has been trading in the South African market since July 2006. Although ACE South Africa are licensed in and have traditionally primarily operated in South Africa, we are now actively developing and growing our facultative reinsurance business in SubSaharan and East African territories. We focus on the following specialist underwriting areas: • Property, Energy & Technical Lines • Financial Lines • Accident and Health • Casualty • Surety T +27 (0) 11 722 5700 E milenko.skoro@acegroup.com
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CONSORT TECHNICAL UNDERWRITERS
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ounded in 1999, Consort Technical Underwriting Managers (Pty)Ltd has over 200 years of collective Engineering Insurance experience and has become a well-respected source for brokers both locally and internationally when seeking sound, quality underwriting for this highly specialised class of insurance. Thanks to Consort’s reputation within the Engineering Insurance market, our Treaties have been backed by the likes of some of the world’s largest Reinsurance Companies both locally and internationally. Through strong relationships with our brokers, we seek to offer structured solutions for our mutual clients that meet their specific insurance requirements.
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As one of Southern Africa’s leading Construction and Engineering Underwriting Managers, we offer cover for the following classes of insurance: • Contractors All Risks (CAR) • Erection All Risks (EAR) • Plant All Risks (PAR) • Public Liability (PL) Insurance • Electronic Equipment (EEI) • Machinery Breakdown (MB) • Business Interruption (BI) • Deterioration of Stock (DOS)
TRUSTED ENGINEERING INSURANCE
For more information contact us Johannesburg; Unit 29, Consort House, Waterford Office Park, Fourways, 2055, Tel: +27 11 658 1156 Cape Town; Shop A1, Office 4, Westlake Square, 1 Westlake Drive, Tokai, 7945, Tel: +27 21 030 0054 United Kingdom; 1 The Hornets, Horsham, West Sussex, RH13 5RE, Tel: +44 7467 492586 Consort Technical Underwriting Managers (Pty) Ltd (Reg. No.: 1999/003909/07) is an Authorised Financial Services Provider (FSP No. 2273), and underwrites on behalf of Lombard Insurance Company Limited.
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uilt up from humble beginnings we have grown into a world-class industry leading technologyinspired software company within the insurance sector. Genasys Technologies is a tight knit company, with employees who thrive on their passion for their profession. Our employees take everything that one step further: they don’t sit on the sidelines and watch on, they get in there and push through any problem that might arise. We do whatever it may take to make things better for our clients. We remain committed to our everevolving product and becoming the leading provider in insurance software. T + 27 (0) 11 679 3151/61 + 27 (0) 21 851 4153
www.genasys.co.za Price Forbes has been able to secure a strong team for its offices in Johannesburg
Organic growth
The high level of innovation and organic growth in the South African market has helped Price Forbes (Pty) Ltd to identify its capabilities and potential in a short space of time. By investing in people and a bespoke IT system, the insurer has been able to secure a strong team of service professionals for its offices in Johannesburg. “We are looking to invest in the best people who will bring the business and knowledge with them to aid us in targeting particular client groups this year,” says Bolttler. “By ruthlessly sticking to the execution of our plans, the next 12 months will be about putting into action our strategies.” Already equipped with a robust book of business in the South African market, Price Forbes (Pty) Ltd will aggressively target growth in the rest of Africa by working with independent brokers and securing partnership agreements
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We are looking to invest in the best people who will bring the business and knowledge with them to aid us in targeting particular client groups this year
that can help local businesses prosper. “Our intention is to look for business opportunities with our partners in order to improve our chances of competing for multinational business. As a WBN (Worldwide Broker Network) member, we are well positioned to achieve this. “The entrepreneurial and innovative culture we instil in others combined with our African partners will encourage enterprise development and skills transfer across Africa,” Bolttler emphasises.
Macro-economic growth
As a young and dynamic company stemming from a globally renowned Group, beginning operations in the rest of Africa has not been without challenge. Perhaps the most significant challenge has been South Africa’s sovereign credit rating downgrade to BBB last year, the second-lowest investment grade level in line with Brazil and Russia. “This means even
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Z I M B A B W E We are a leading Insurance Broker and offer a full array of Insurance Products: Agricultural, Motor, Haulage, Business Bloodstock / Livestock Household, Marine hull Healthcare and Travel Life And All Others
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Oyster Bay Office Complex, 368 Msasani Road, Oyster bay P.O Box 7390, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania T: +255 22 266 4204/4209 M: +255 754 22 77 22 E: info@heritagetanzania.com www.heritagetanzania.com
We deliver beyond our promise
Telefax: +263 (04) 251551-7 Email: queries@hrib.co.zw www.hrib.co.zw HRIB Insurance Brokers is proud to be associated with Price Forbes.
Heritage focuses on corporate business, insuring nonlife corporate risk and has a fully qualified technical team to advise on Complete Risk Management Services.
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The Company encourages its staff to attend training conferences and seminars
though our local insurers have the individual credentials to warrant a far higher rating than this, they are immediately pulled down by S&P (Standard & Poor’s) to below the country’s sovereign rating. In a country and continent that heavily relies on foreign investment and lending, it poses a challenge when the foreign lenders and investors normally demand A rated insurers to cover the projects they are funding,” Bolttler further explains. This may impact the macroeconomic growth of the country’s insurance industry and can effect large insurance organisations with hefty international growth ambitions. However, Price Forbes (Pty) Ltd remains largely unaffected during the early stages of its business lifecycle as it is growing at such a rate that it outstrips both the country and the insurance sector’s average economic
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We want to get the message out that we are small enough to care, and large enough to handle big projects
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growth, mainly as a result of being small and agile in a market dominated a few large and cumbersome opponents. Initially operating as an independent South African broker, it quickly became apparent to Price Forbes (Pty) Ltd that it was imperative to gain access to partners beyond the borders in order to provide seamless insurance propositions for Pan-African clients. “Our methodologies allow us to provide more insurance capacity and a broader skill set to our allies across the continent. “We have to seize every opportunity; of course, we make sure it is right for us first. Through their continent-wide businesses, our clients have PanAfrican exposure and we have to be able to offer multinational insurance solutions that cover all areas which we service. In line with this, we now have partnerships in 11 African countries including Angola, Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Malawi, Uganda and the DRC. “Multinational policies can be tricky to satisfy all; it has to satisfy local legislation which can be known to change regularly. By working closely with partners, we continuously improve our approach to this challenge,” highlights Bolttler. In support of this, Price Forbes (Pty) Ltd has a number of initiatives that specifically focus on enterprise and skills development for black-owned organisations in South Africa. “We provide opportunities they would not normally have, developing local education and technical knowledge in insurance,” he adds.
The right expertise
From the outset, Price Forbes (Pty) Ltd were equipped with a comprehensive, multi-skilled group of staff; some extracted from the competition and some with more than 30 years’ experience in the insurance field. “These people formed the foundations of our expertise, but the next step
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Quietly and with quality capacity we support our selected intermediaries and their clients. Our expert inputs are willingly provided today and everyday. Honesty, integrity and transparency motivate our actions. T: 011 476 4420 www.inniu.co.za Authorised Financial Services Provided FSP No. 34049
was to secure younger people with the right entrepreneurial thinking to sustain the company’s future,” says Bolttler, further explaining that the company has a “healthy blend” of staff, with senior members of staff disseminating technical skills to the younger team members, and longstanding members of the team benefitting from the natural skills the young staff bring. “We have a liberal policy when it comes to training including encouraging attendance to conferences and seminars. Additionally, our new secondment programme will begin in Spring, where we leverage skills from our UK operation in order to allow staff to learn different practices and experience the different geographies of the world,” he adds. Creating a financially stable and viable insurance business in a saturated environment such as South Africa takes a little something extra, which
Bolttler believes Price Forbes (Pty) Ltd offers through its attention to detail and heightened level of time spent with clients. “And our short-term goals revolve around this,” he says. By smoothing out internal and external processes, Price Forbes is able to demonstrate that it has the capacity to deal with domestic corporate business in South Africa to an incredibly high standard. “We want to get the message out that we are small enough to care, and large enough to handle big projects. Price Forbes offer the best of both worlds with a personalised service tailored to the client. “In the long term we will leverage on our reputation in the industry. We’ve had the fundamentals in place built up throughout more than 100 years of history and through targeted acquisitions of like-minded people, Price Forbes will firmly root itself as an African insurance broker you can depend on,” he concludes.
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PRICE FORBES (PTY) LTD 1st Floor, Block A, Kingsley Office Park 85 Protea Road, Chislehurston, Johannesburg South Africa Tel: +27 10 003 7366 sophiemaggs@priceforbes.com
www.priceforbes.co.za