London-based independent specialist (re)insurance broker BMS Group has recruited Mr Towneley as the group’s chairman of international operations as part of the company’s global, long-term growth strategy.
Mr Towneley, who has more than 37 years’ experience in the international insurance market including MENA, will split his time between developing business for the London wholesale, property and energy teams and working closely with BMS managing director of international David Battman to lead the development of international corporate strategy, with a particular focus on the MENA market and its growing US and international energy business.
Speaking about his plans to drive BMS’s expansion strategy in MENA, Mr Towneley said, “For a company entering any market for the first time, several things need to be accomplished. First, you need to know what you are aiming to achieve, then you need to be sure that you are able to recruit the right people, and finally you have to be sure that what you are doing adds value to the client base you are seeking to serve, the markets you are seeking to work with and therefore by default the economy and community of which you are seeking to be a part.
“To this end, there is an old saying: ‘time spent in reconnaissance is seldom wasted’. Luckily, I know many stakeholders in the region on all sides. Simply speaking with them is always informative and helpful, even with competitors. There is much we have in common and need to share if we are to ensure a healthy industry, which is vital for all clients.”
He added, “Our ultimate goal, like all businesses in a competitive environment, is to grow profitably and to garner a disproportionately larger share of the market by proving ourselves to be the best option for risk management and transfer advice and execution. If we can do this, we will also be significantly contributing to the excellence of our region. And to be a regional force is certainly our aim.”
Disruptive opportunities
At the time of his appointment, Mr Towneley said the MENA market has plenty of disruptive opportunities for BMS, which has the appetite and clear vision to grow successfully in the current conditions.
Disruption has various different meanings but in his opinion, three resonate most. The first is upsetting of equilibrium, challenging the status quo and preventing ossification and complacency in the broking community, he said.
He added, “Second is to make ourselves part of the choice for insureds and therefore part of their solution. I don’t just mean choice in terms of another name on the docket or tender list, but a choice in terms of style and approach. At BMS, I have already seen in my short tenure there how service-focused we are – always seeking a client’s advantage or benefit rather than an internally suitable solution. Everything flows from this and we believe our own success depends upon it.
“For too many years the region has been dominated by three, now two, major providers. I have never believed this to be healthy for clients, insurers or for the dynamic growth and diversification that all industries need in order to flourish. In spite of the many strengths of those companies, and for whom I have great respect – after all, you cannot ignore their dominance (temporary I hope) – they remain, by dint of their size, with unwieldy internal processes and what might be termed their internalised social structures inclined to complacency.
“Their performance for shareholders has been tremendous, no doubt, but at what expense to the client base? Remote and unknown people providing delayed and frequently incorrect documentation, people often unknown to the brokers and client teams and never seen by the clients themselves despite their key value.”
At BMS, “we believe in the importance that each person in the chain brings to the client and we aim to make this difference count in the accuracy and efficiency of our product and its delivery, wherever we are in the world”.
Market dynamism
With his immense experience and understanding of the MENA markets, Mr Towneley puts the current operating environment in perspective, “Political, cultural, social, legal, regulatory, economic and even natural events – all these combine to affect our present and our future. People far cleverer, far better read and far more experienced have been hoist on their own petards trying to prophesy what will happen next.
“I would say that, rather counterintuitively, I feel optimistic, even confident. Confident enough to be looking at BMS’s entry and significant growth in the region. I feel that there is plenty of room for the economy to take advantage of the many opportunities in the world today. Geographically, we are well placed between East and West.
The UAE in particular is still a significantly stable home for a myriad of expatriate professionals based here, and there are many other countries in the region where investment opportunities are available.
“We can see already that the insurance sector is fully vested in such growth. Regional capacity, by which I mean indigenous companies, not branches of internationally headquartered ones, is vibrant and developing a global vision. We are blessed in the region with a growing number of insurers with global ambitions and increasing financial strength, demonstrated by many of them with high credit ratings from the international rating agencies. The ever advancing professionalism in these and other companies shows the vision of their management. Such companies would not have existed in such numbers only a decade or so ago. This is a cause for celebration and optimism.”
When asked to identify issues that can have the most impact on the industry, Mr Peregrine said a move away from fossil fuel economies seems inevitable even if the timeframe is measured in generations rather than a few years. “This will pose its own challenges, not just economically, but socially and politically, both within the region and in the international market. The insurance industry will have a part to play in finding solutions to some of these challenges. Healthcare, cyber risks and new technology risks – all these will require us to find new risk management answers. And I will not even attempt to foretell what political changes might occur domestically or internationally.”
Whatever the changes, “I am determined that BMS will play a major part in developing some of the solutions in our chosen sector with dynamism and constantly engaged client service. If we all look beyond ourselves and continue to maintain regulatory and financial discipline, then our industry will continue to underpin confidence in our regional businesses and foster economic growth”, he said.
Managing COVID-19
The ongoing pandemic is also a challenge for businesses. “COVID-19 might have some long lived and perhaps even permanent impacts on us all. Some are enforced by governments following scientific advice, while some are self-imposed through socially-driven behavioural changes – office attendance or the acceptability of travel without good reason for example. Even the necessity of physical meetings might be brought under scrutiny in a cost and time analysis. None of this fills me with any joy,” said Mr Towneley.
On how broker business models might evolve in the wake of COVID-19, he said, “Personal relationships are still absolutely key in our region. Of course, we are a sophisticated sector, and algorithms, models and other innovative tools are at our disposal, but the personal is where it all starts.
“While we will certainly adopt some of the habits that have become ingrained over the past 12 months, I do not believe that millennia of social interaction is about to be so radically altered as to change things too dramatically. ‘The way we were’ pre-pandemic, even if subtly altered, will be similar as ‘the way we are’ post-pandemic. There goes the prophesying!”
Priorities for 2021
In terms of his expectations for 2021, Mr Towneley has two priorities. He said, “One is a work-related one, and that is to repay the faith that my new colleagues in BMS have placed in me to create and execute opportunities for profitable growth with David and the team.
“The other is to remember and act on all the things we have learned from the pandemic with regard to family. I have had the advantage of being at home for six months on gardening leave prior to joining BMS and during the first lockdown in the UK, and now working from home with BMS during the second and third lockdowns. I learned from the first one just how much happens at home without me, and from the second just how important that is to enable me to do what I do. So, this priority is to remember that my family is not only a central reason why I do what I do, but is also the support structure that allows me to do it. I must remember to acknowledge and show appreciation for that.” M