Brokerslink CEO reflects on 20-year anniversary

The evolution of Brokerslink is testament to the idea that you can’t have a strong building on weak foundations. Two decades into its growth story, the business has grown in every direction, now serving 133 countries and commanding some $70 billion in premium, but it has never lost sight of the purpose at its core – to create a truly international business and a “human” broking community.

Discussing the firm’s growth trajectory in celebration of its 20-year anniversary, the group’s CEO and president José Manuel Fonseca (pictured) shared how it was another two-decade anniversary that sparked the firm’s creation.

At the time a relatively small player in the Portuguese broking market, MDS had recognised the opportunity to bring together businesses to prevent international clients from going to “the usual suspects” of the large corporates. Its 20-year anniversary provided the perfect opportunity to bring together colleagues and partners from across the market – among them brokers from France, Spain, Portugal, London and Brazil.

Working with his marketing team, Fonseca designed a draft logo, branding scheme and brochure, and invited the brokers for a lunch, where he discussed the potential power of such a partnership. “We started to talk about it all, and they asked me what the next steps would look like,” he said. “So, I opened up my suitcase and brought out the brochure, the branding, the logo – and Brokerslink was born that day. This was in June 2004, and, at the time, we didn’t really have a vision of what Brokerslink could become but we had a lot of ambition.

“Our first meetings were very much just us meeting in rooms. But then we started to seduce other brokers from different countries. We started with Europe, and brought in some from Switzerland and the UK. At the time it was not so easy to convince other brokers to join us because there were already some other networks in the market, but these were very US-driven.”

Key milestones on the Brokerslink journey

The group was growing steadily when it hit the accelerant that was partnering with the PanAsian Alliance which closely shared its model and ethos, Fonseca said, and then, a year later, with a LATAM-based regional network. The partnership between the three networks soon saw members sharing business, clients, insights and best practices albeit in a largely unstructured way.

The next step in its evolution saw the group merge and rebrand its three networks in 2008, before adding a US broker in order to fulfil its ambition of being a “truly global network”.

The second phase meant becoming more structured and formalised, a move which saw Fonseca become chairman and CEO. Still, he was conscious of industry perception. “From the beginning, it was very important for the DNA of Brokerslink not to be seen as being led by a Portuguese broker just because it was started in Portugal,” he said. “We are very different to our competitors in the US or the UK because we don’t have a centre and that works very well for us, because it means our members don’t see us as a threat or someone looking to control and lead them.

“In 2015/16, we decided to transform Brokerslink from a formal, legal association of partners into an equity-based company. We incorporated in 2016, becoming a Swiss company and inviting our members to invest and buy shares in Brokerslink, which was a very important moment. It really distinguished us from our peers because we’re now a company owned by 55 shareholders from all the continents.”

What’s next for Brokerslink?

From day one, the objective was to make Brokerslink more than just a network of insurance brokers, Fonseca said, and to create a healthy microsystem of collaboration.

With well over 45,000 colleagues across 133 countries and a strong presence in every continent, he believes that ambition has been fulfilled but the journey doesn’t stop there. “We’ve built the infrastructure, we’ve built the brand,” he said. “But our target is permanent – we’re always looking to improve the network all the time, to make it the best it can be which sometimes takes some fine-tuning to control the quality of the network and its service. We’re also looking to expand into any markets where we are not, and to invest in our teams and capacities to add more and more value to our members.

“[…] We’ll go on investing in our marketplace with new products, new facilities and new solutions for our members. We’re going to go on building a very human community which our members love to be part of and have a strong sense of belonging and exclusivity. Building out our ecosystem is a never-ending story as we look to continue to find new solutions to help our members go on building for the future.”