Commercial property insurer FM Global has opened an office in Perth to service clients and broker partners in WA.

The mutual insurer, which offers risk consultancy and sends engineers to client locations to gauge exposures and recommend improvements, also has offices in Sydney and Melbourne. 

Anthony Brown has been appointed Account Manager, and Scott Chapman Account Engineer. Mr Brown was most recently senior loss adjustor at Charles Taylor Adjusting and previously worked in the civil construction and mining in Australia, the UK and UAE.

Last year, FM Global celebrated 50 years since the US-headquartered insurer came to Australia. 

Operations Senior VP Australia and New Zealand Andrew Stafford says the expansion into WA is a significant milestone.

“This expansion directly responds to clients’ need for closer contact and support in the region. We are here to help businesses manage risk more effectively and empower them to build resilience,” Mr Stafford said.

FM Global has a team of over 1200 engineers and is one of the world’s largest commercial property insurers. It employs more than 5400 people in 67 offices.

In May, FM Global announced it had credited members a record $US800 million ($1.2 billion) after an outstanding year in which successful risk mitigation efforts led to fewer losses. FM Global policyholders were eligible for a credit of 5-to-15%.

The mutual insurer has now returned more than $US5 billion ($7.51 billion) in credits since 2001.

VP Client Service Manager Australia Greg Duncan told insuranceNEWS.com.au in May FM Global gave around $30 million back to Australian clients in the form of a credit, and that the operation here has more than $350 million in premium.

“We've become a substantial player in the local property insurance market. We've experienced some strong growth over the past five years or so which really has just been a result of the quality of the product that we're providing,” Sydney-based Mr Duncan said.