I’m putting Markel International ‘on the map’, says president
The London Market is the largest speciality insurance hub in the world, controlling $70bn+ of insurance business, so it’s no surprise that US insurer Markel International has put the City at the heart of its expansion strategy.
New York-listed Markel launched into the London market 25 years ago, and today, 800 employees manage 30 global businesses from the group’s headquarters, located in the Walkie-Talkie Tower in the centre of the City.
Despite its long-standing presence in the City, Markel’s market share is still less than one per cent.
However, as international president Simon Wilson told Morning Wire, the company is now laser-focused on growing its presence in the city.
“In the last three or four years, we’ve made a concerted investment [in London] as Markel aims to up our position within the market, with the brokers, and increasingly, we are being seen as the leading organisation in certain lines,” Wilson stated.
He pointed out maritime, energy, personal indemnity, cyber, as the lines people view as Markel’s strongest areas. Wilson noted the company is “very ambitious”, and the group wants “to make our international presence a much greater contributor to the overall Markel capability”.
The overall premium at Markel International “has more than doubled over the last five years and there is no desire to stop that growth trajectory at the moment, albeit, market conditions are a little bit more difficult today than they were in the last four or five years.”
Wilson added that one of the things he is trying to do in his role as president of the international arm is to put the insurer on the map.
Insurance market as London’s powerhouse
Insurers like Markel have recorded a surge in demand for risk protection in recent years – especially for complex queries – a side effect of growing economic and geopolitical risks.
A recent report by Lloyd’s of London warned a potential geopolitical conflict could devastate the global economy, triggering £11.9 trillion in losses over the next five years and upending global trade.
While British insurers were hit with an eye-watering £1.4bn bill in property claims for Q2 of 2024 as a result of severe weather issues across the country.
Wilson noted that London’s ‘unique’ position in the insurance market can handle the most complex risks.
He cited the example of a South Korean wind farm in a part of the country “no one’s ever built a wind farm in before”.
Due to the complexities of this risk, none of the local insurers in South Korea or the region will touch this, and the last place the wind farm ends up is London.
“The ability of the marketplace to take a wind farm in South Korea and say ‘we’re going to get our heads around this’ with engineers, financial professionals and geologists so we can understand it, and we can actually give you a price for how much it will cost to insure the building of that wind farm.”
“This is probably the only place on the planet that you could get something like that done,” he added.
Building a team of specialists
To deal with these new and complex risks, Markel is focusing on bringing together skills from different sectors.
Over the last year, the insurer hired 143 new staff for its London office and it’s looking for those who can “create that futuristic environment”.
As part of its growth plans, the company is also looking to increase its headcount in Leeds by 40 people (25 per cent) over the next two years.
Attracting people to join an insurance company has its challenges, Wilson noted.
“We’re increasingly going to climate conferences, cyber conferences, marine conferences, energy conferences,” he stated adding that there might be government workers, people doing security software or chief information security officers in attendance.
“That’s where we meet people and that’s where [Markel’s] reputation gets enhanced,” he added.
However, attracting talent is not the only issue, trying to maintain talent, especially after spending time to build up a specialist team, is the key.
Wilson stressed the importance of selecting individuals who do not undermine others to advance themselves to maintain a good working environment.
“The biggest job we have, certainly from my side, is keeping the culture and making sure we don’t select people who are like that. If you do inevitably select someone that’s like this, ensuring that they leave the organisation quite quickly,” he stated.
Adding that the turnover rate of people in London is around six – seven per cent, “much lower than you find somewhere else”.
On top of this, the insurer has been splurging out on new tech, as Wilson pointed out, the group has spent around $60m over the last four years, buying tech from different vendors.
“If you wake up in five years time you’ll see an organisation which is much more global, lots more people in London, but lots more people in places like Munich, Madrid, Singapore, Shanghai, and Melbourne,” Wilson added.