New entrant Howden Broking will operate across the local insurance market from corporate to SME, with the recent consolidation at the top end providing a range of opportunities, the company’s newly appointed Australian division CEO says.

As reported last week by insuranceNEWS.com.au, Matt Bacon has joined Howden Australia from Marsh, where he was CEO of the Mercer Marsh Benefits business for the Pacific region. Prior to the 2019 merger with Marsh he headed up JLT’s People Risk consulting business for Australia and New Zealand.

Former Marsh deputy leader for Corporate, Commercial & Affinity Stuart McKellar also joined Howden Australia last week as its Head of Commercial & Affinity, along with former Marsh deputy head of Financial & Professional Services Nick Chubb as Head of Financial Lines.

The trio have joined Chairman Andrew Louw and CFO Igor Fijan – also former senior Marsh executives – to build Howden Australia into a national operation focusing on product segments such as financial lines, corporate risks, commercial and affinity, workers’ compensation, group risk and alternative risk transfer solutions.

UK-based Howden Broking employs more than 6500 people worldwide and has a global network operating in more than 90 territories.

Mr Bacon told insuranceNEWS.com.au the Australian operation will be “vertically integrated with specialists and specialisms. We’ve got skillsets that apply to the top end of town but which also apply all the way through to the SME space.

“Being an expertise-driven broker, we know the smaller risks can often be complex and therefore require specialist intervention. So the SME space is absolutely a space that we’ll be playing in, as well as mid-market and corporate.”

He says the consolidation at the top end of the market following the Marsh/JLT and Aon/Willis mergers provides “a real opportunity to provide choice for clients and employees, for brokers and for insurers”.

“It has certainly opened up a gap as far as we’re concerned, and that’s a gap we’re determined to run through.

“One of Howden’s key mantras is ‘local specialisation with international reach’, and we will look to challenge incumbency and complacency.”

His comments echo the thoughts of Howden Broking CEO José Manuel González, who said last week the current environment of consolidation in the Australian broking market means “now is our time. We are very excited about the opportunities this market presents.”

While Howden Australia is based in Sydney, Mr Bacon says the company already has a small presence in Melbourne “and people on the ground in Queensland, SA and WA. “As we grow that capability out we will be totally national. That’s absolutely our goal.

“We have an accelerated growth agenda here, and we’re going to have to be national to achieve all that we want to achieve. But we will grow in a sustainable way, providing excellence and choice.”

While he would not discuss details of the company’s growth strategy for Australia, Mr Bacon says Howden is seeking specialist talent from across the market.

“We want to have hand-picked specialists on the ground to deliver what Howden has been able to deliver around the world,” he told insuranceNEWS.com.au.

“We’ll grow headcount as we need to. I don’t think we’re going to have an issue attracting people.”