Marsh Australia will step up its efforts in the small and medium enterprise (SME) space with the launch of a brokerage specifically targeting the market.

Marsh Advantage Insurance – a separate entity to the parent – will be in operation before the end of this year, Marsh Australia CEO and Pacific Region Head John Clayton says.

The brand is more than 10 years old but has previously operated as an internal business division with 60 authorised representatives.

“That business has essentially been built from almost nothing to be quite a significant piece of our business today, but it’s still relatively small in terms of its overall market share,” Mr Clayton told insuranceNEWS.com.au.

The operation aims to double its number of authorised representatives and significantly grow its market presence.

Adding complementary business models, expanding geographically and opening “greenfield” start-up sites could all be on the agenda, Mr Clayton says.

“This company will grow organically and hopefully through some acquisitions to be a national brokerage in its own right, serving that SME lower-end to mid-market business and affinity business.”

Marsh Advantage Insurance will mostly target SMEs with more than 20 employees that require a “fair amount of advisory”.

For more on Marsh’s plans, see the full interview with Mr Clayton in this month’s Insurance News (the magazine).