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Equine and bloodstock insurance broker Lycetts will continue to back British National Hunt jockey Charlie Deutsch (pictured with Pink Legend), renewing its sponsorship which goes back to 2017.

“I’m delighted not only by Lycetts’ continued support, but by its longstanding dedication to the world of racing, especially during these challenging times,” said the Gloucestershire-based hockey, who achieved his first Grade One win at Sandown in February.

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As mentioned by Barnes, “cynical” is a word that’s been used to describe the recent development in the ongoing CII-PFS rift. Past presidents Sarah Lord and Garry Hale both chose this descriptor.

On LinkedIn, Lord – who is co-opted to attend and speak at PFS meetings until next year’s annual general meeting – also wrote: “As immediate past president, I strongly refute the allegations made by the CII.”

As previously reported, the CII had cited “serious and significant governance failures” at PFS, as well as a failed independent mediation between the two camps.

Meanwhile, Insurance Business can reveal that there’s a sign-up page asking PFS members to “act now to stop the CII coup” and make their voice heard.

It’s unclear who specifically set up the page, which displays a message asserting that the CII needs PFS members more than PFS members need the CII.

“The PFS is responsible for the vast majority of CII ‘group’ revenues, and all of the surplus,” reads the message. “When exam fees are included, we estimate this to be over 60% of group revenue. There is £19 million of surplus revenue, which was paid by, and belongs to, the PFS membership.”

Part of it, referring to the board appointments, also says: “Make it clear that the membership is deeply unhappy with this move.”

On the other side of the fence, new CII communications director Christopher Shadforth defended the wider body by posting a list of supposed myths and misperceptions surrounding the relationship between the CII and the PFS.

Shadforth, who came onboard in October, stated that it’s a myth that the CII has bullied its way on to the board of its subsidiary.

“The PFS Articles of Association establish that the PFS board should include institute directors, and there are provisions for the CII Group to appoint the majority of PFS board members,” he declared. “That is the mechanism that the CII Group board has needed to utilise, given the serious governance failings that have been observed.”

As of this writing, the said governance failings have yet to be outlined publicly.

Shadforth also denied the move as being a “cash grab,” while making a direct pronouncement that “there is no plan whatsoever” to deregister the PFS.

Meanwhile, it’s been reported that an emergency PFS board meeting failed to take place on Thursday due to a lack of attendees from the institute directors’ roster. All member directors, including Barnes, were present.

PFS member Anthony Villis, managing director of First Wealth, said “we have a right to be angry” on LinkedIn.

What are your thoughts on this? Share in the comments below.

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Howden Group business UKGlobal Leeds has acquired Logic Insurance Services for an undisclosed sum.

“We look forward to welcoming Craig Dinnewell and his clients into the business from January 3, 2023, and want to extend our thanks and gratitude to the people in both teams who helped make this happen,” said the expanded brokerage.

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Lonmar Global Risks, dba Ropner Insurance Service, has named John Naughton (pictured) as executive director, as part of its marine cargo team.

According to a release, Naughton’s appointment will help drive growth plans for its marine cargo team, particularly when it comes to freight and logistics. Naughton, who joins from Gallagher, will report to Lonmar managing director of cargo Simon Wilson.

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International insurance brokerage Howden has agreed to acquire Assimovie, a TV, film and advertising insurance broker based in Italy.

According to Howden, the transaction is part of its commitment to invest in expertise by creating a sport and entertainment specialty for the benefit of Italian clients. The deal will also give it one of the largest TV and film production books of business in Italy, with a goal of becoming a leading sport and entertainment broker in Europe.

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QBE Asia has announced that its P&I operations in Singapore will take on the name of British Marine, beginning Jan. 1.

The move brings back the British Marine brand in Singapore, after QBE acquired the company in 2005. Founded in 1876, British Marine is one of the largest fixed P&I insurance providers, specialising in marine insurance for owners of small, medium-sized and specialist vessels.

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The tribunal found that Olivier Argence-Lafon, a former ARK senior underwriter, had been unfairly dismissed under section 98 of the Employment Rights Act, but it did not have jurisdiction on one allegation relating to protected disclosures, and a claim under section 103A of the act failed. The tribunal also said it was not “well founded” that protected disclosures by the claimant had led to him being put on a performance review plan.

Claim concerns

Argence-Lafon, a senior underwriter with 17 years’ experience who joined ARK in 2018 when the business acquired part of PartnerRe’s marine and energy portfolio, had raised concerns about Italian oil company ENI and joint venture partner Essar E&P’s 2019 Ken Bau claim relating to an “underground blowout” when drilling a Vietnamese offshore well, according to a tribunal document.

Argence-Lafon raised concerns following a loss adjuster report that found the $63.7 million claim was covered and the acceptance of the claim by its insurers, of which ARK was one. He continued to raise doubts despite a second independent loss adjuster’s assessment that corroborated the initial report’s findings.

“Based on the information provided, I am convinced this is not a valid claim,” Argence-Lafon said in a September 2020 internal email.

Performance targets

That November, the claimant was set nine personal objectives and “expressed reservations” about three of them, according to a tribunal document. At the time, the team had underwritten a total of 283 risks, with another senior underwriter on the team having underwritten 203 of these, and the claimant having underwritten 22, “which was lower than the risks” underwritten by junior underwriting colleagues, the tribunal document said.

A series of performance related meetings took place between the claimant and his manager, at which Argence-Lafon disputed the “appropriateness” of his objectives but ultimately grudgingly accepted them, according to the tribunal judgment.

In an April 2021 meeting with ARK group CEO Ian Beaton that followed these, Argence-Lafon again raised concerns about the Ken Bau claim, as well as alleging that “negative competition and ego were at play” in the team, the tribunal document said.

A “complex” claim

ARK carried out an investigation into the ENI and Essar E&P claim that month, under Beaton’s instruction, and reviewed some 300 pages of documents. It concluded that there was “no evidence to support the claimant’s allegation that the ENI claim was fraudulent and no merit to the claimant’s view that there had not been an underground blowout”, according to the tribunal document.

“This is clearly a highly technical and complex claim,” the report said.

“Whilst there must be an element of subjectivity over the exact quantum and indeed the cause of the claim, based on preliminary investigation, there is little evidence to substantiate even a suspicion of fraud.”

The claimant continued to raise concerns around the energy claim’s validity, and in May 2021 submitted a report entitled “Why I consider the ENI Ken Bau loss is fraudulent”. He also continued to allege that three of nine of his performance objectives were not “realistic or achievable”. This is according to the tribunal document.

On May 6, the claimant was offered a settlement agreement that would see him exit the business, with salary to be paid until the end of the year, according to the document.

In a letter that followed in June appealing a grievance process, the claimant’s solicitors alleged: “In both cases our client believes that employees of Ark […] have deliberately ignored the ENI claim fraud and/or been complicit in it.”

“Our client has clearly stated that he believes that EB and PD set unreasonable objectives and created unjustified concerns about our client’s performance because of his protected disclosures about the ENI claim fraud,” the letter further alleged.

In August, the claimant was terminated, with the business having concluded there had been a breakdown of “trust” in the team and that his objectives had been appropriate for a senior underwriter.

Unfair dismissal

The tribunal ruled that while Argence-Lafon had made protected disclosures, this had “played no part” in the targets that the claimant was set, nor had later disclosures that were not protected led to him being put on performance review.

However, it did find that he had been unfairly dismissed.

Over 2.5 years at the business, “he had not had regular appraisals, he had not been set personal objectives, it had not been made clear to him what targets he was expected to achieve, it had not been drawn to his attention that what he was achieving in terms of risk and submission count and premium income was significantly below what was expected,” the tribunal said.

Under the 2020 targets, he had been expected to double monthly premium income and boost submission and risk count by 7.5 times and 5.5 times, according to the document.

“The respondent failed to conduct such investigation as was reasonable and, had it done so, it might have come to a different conclusion,” the tribunal said.

ARK also did not give advance notice that a “breakdown of trust and confidence” would be considered at the dismissal hearing, according to the document.

“For the reasons given above, we concluded that the dismissal was unfair,” the tribunal said in its December judgment.

Argence-Lafon and ENI were contacted for comment.

ARK declined to comment. The business had said it would look to reduce any compensation due in an application to the court “on the grounds that the claimant’s conduct had contributed to his dismissal and because of subsequently discovered misconduct”, according to the tribunal document.

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AXIS highlighted that under Benchimol’s guidance, the firm has led a multi-year transformation program, repositioning the company as a leader in specialty underwriting. Commenting on his tenure, Henry Smith, chair of the AXIS board of directors, said the firm is indebted to Benchimol for his leadership.

“Under Albert’s direction, AXIS has had a remarkable transformation, refocusing itself as a specialty leader while building a balanced and resilient portfolio and placing the company on a pathway for lasting profitable growth,” Smith said. “Albert has also been a great culture leader, growing a workplace environment that is both performance and people-oriented, and under his guidance, AXIS has become a best place to work in the industry.

“Underpinning all of this is a customer-service mindset that permeates every aspect of the company’s operations, resulting in strong and enduring bonds with brokers and customers – a testament to Albert’s legacy.”

In a Press release, Benchimol said that serving as president and CEO of AXIS has been “the most fulfilling and rewarding experience” of his professional career. He said he was grateful to his fellow colleagues, both past and present, for their support, commitment, and dedication, and “incredibly proud” of what they’ve accomplished together.

“Even with all the progress that’s been achieved, I believe AXIS has only begun to scratch the surface of what’s possible,” he said. “I have enormous confidence in Vince and his leadership, and I have comfort knowing that I am leaving the company in very strong hands.”

Smith stated that AXIS was very excited to announce Tizzio’s appointment as the future president and CEO. During his first year with the company, Tizzio had made an impressive impact, he said, challenging AXIS to build on its progress and identifying new avenues to grow the business.

“In addition,” he said, “Vince is an energising and committed people leader who will continue to help our team and company unlock their significant potential.”

Tizzio said it was both a “privilege and an honour” to succeed Benchimol as president and CEO of AXIS and to have an opportunity to build on the great work that he and the team had done.

“My experiences in my first year at AXIS only further intensified my belief that there’s tremendous opportunity to further profitably grow the business and deliver even greater value to our employees, shareholders, and customers,” he said. “Moreover, in today’s market environment where brokers and insureds are looking for specialised insurance and risk solutions, we were literally built for this moment.”

“Vince is deeply committed to our strategy of advancing AXIS as a leader in specialty,” added Benchimol. “In a short period of time, he’s made an enormous positive impact, mobilising the team to even further elevate our ambitions, leverage our extensive market knowledge and relationships, while delivering added value to our customers and the market.”

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The Financial Times revealed that Credit Suisse, which had a deep relationship with Greensill, provided the group with a $140 million loan in October 2020, less than five months before its collapse. The documents showed that part of the loan’s proceeds would be used to set up a “captive insurance firm” to provide the group with coverage for risky lending it carried out, according to people familiar with the matter.

A person involved in the negotiations around the loan deemed the deal “mind-boggling” that Credit Suisse believed that “Greensill would be allowed to build an insurance company,” despite the growing issues it was facing at that time.

On September 1, 2020, before Credit Suisse finalised the loan, Australian insurance firm The Bond and Credit Company – owned by Tokio Marine – confirmed that it would not renew a crucial policy that expired in six months.

Credit Suisse informed the Financial Times that it was “not informed about any insurance discontinuation until February 22, 2021.”

“Credit Suisse continues to pursue all possible angles in order to recover cash for investors in the supply chain finance funds,” the bank said, as reported by Financial Times.

After Greensill’s collapse, Credit Suisse was able to recover the loan as it had a first-ranking charge across the firm’s assets – with Financial Times reporting that the loan’s collateral included invoices to companies that denied ever doing the business stated on the documents. The bank has also overhauled its risk management safeguards since Greensill’s collapse and after losing $5.5 billion on the implosion of Archegos Capital.

Since its collapse, Greensill creditors have shown concern over if insurance contracts will pay out after the group’s collapse in 2021. Meanwhile, Lex Greensill – who previously blamed the non-renewal of his company’s trade credit insurance for the business’s demise – and other ex-directors of the insolvent firm are expected to face disqualification proceedings.

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“We’d seen them and their team at events and things, and they are very well-respected,” he said. “So, I spoke to them about what their succession planning was, and whether they had any plans for what they were going to do next. Over time, we agreed a deal and then it was just a case of getting the FCA to do their bit before, in November, they became part of The Needham Group.”

Why Corporate Insurance Solutions was the right fit

As with all the deals done by Needham in the past, Lowe said, CIS was the right fit for a variety of reasons – not least for its talented team and shared values. CIS’s book of business also provided great symmetry, he said, because it aligned closely with Needham’s core areas of business and was well within the group’s comfort zone. That the company directors and their team would come across under the terms of the deal was another critical advantage.

“It was key for us, as it was with Baldersons, that there was already a team in place, already a manager of the office there,” he said. “We’re not looking to change anything people-wise. The people still work with each other, with their clients. We’re just hopefully improving the offering that they can deliver to their clients. That’s really the aim.”

The key concerns facing insurance brokers

Whether considering or completing an acquisition, Lowe said, the philosophy of Needham is clear and it centres around the question, “what can we do to help the existing business to achieve more?” Looking across the market, he highlighted that two key pain points are frustrating insurance brokers at the moment – the level of compliance required and access to insurers.

Needham’s offering has proven very attractive to broking leaders looking for the next steps and keen to circumvent these challenges. The group has its own compliance team, he said, and is able to navigate the complex regulatory environment in which broking businesses operate. In addition, it recently went live on Acturis which has given the team access to a lot of very strong insurance companies.

The move to Acturis aligned with the group’s rebrand as when filling out new documentation, the team realised they needed a company name to bring all the businesses together. This was particularly important, Lowe said, as a critical part of Needham’s M&A offering is understanding the value and history of an acquired business’s name and ensuring they can keep that part of their identity.

To bring everything together under the umbrella of a company name was essential and as the group has a few more acquisitions planned for 2023, it made sense to do that sooner rather than later. It sets the business up for the next five-to-10 years of trading, he said, and makes it a great deal easier to sit down with other business owners and explain The Needham’s group philosophy and offering.

What’s next for The Needham Group?

“We’ve got a couple of other acquisitions lined up at the moment for next year,” he said. “And they’re following exactly the same philosophy where we’re sitting down with those owners and we’re asking them ‘what keeps you awake at night?’ And the answer is [always] increased regulation and having those relationships with insurers. They’re the two key drivers for them in thinking about who to partner with going forward.

“When we say, ‘well, you’ll keep your name’. That name that’s been part of your business for however long [you’ve been operating] will be retained, and you’ll become part of The Needham Group, and we’ll sort out all your compliance and we’ll give you access to some more markets, and higher-level access to some of the markets you’re already dealing with – well, that’s what they want, so they like that approach.”

Looking to Needham’s future, Lowe highlighted that M&A is only part of its growth strategy and one that has to work in tandem with continued organic growth as the business aims to hit a turnover target of £20-plus million GWP by 2025.

“So, the plan for 2023 is to keep speaking with more business owners, explaining our offering and seeing if it is of interest to them and the businesses,” he said. “I expect to have a lot of conversations next year with business owners promoting The Needham Group. I know some of them will love what we are proposing, and it will be suitable for us to take those discussions further. I’ve already had some conversations that may come to something, they may not, but we just need to keep talking to people.”

What are some of the key pain points you are seeing impact insurance brokers considering selling their businesses? Feel free to comment on your findings below.

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