HDI Global eyes new growth with WA debut

Leading international insurer HDI Global is eyeing continued growth in premium volumes and solid underwriting returns in Australia as it opens its new Perth office.

The company was only relaunched in Australasia in 2011 by new managing director and regional head of ASEAN and Australasia Stefan Feldmann.

HDI Global’s Property Underwriting Manager for Australasia, Dale Graf, says the company’s local team has grown from eight to 57 since then.

Even more impressive has been HDI Global’s tenfold increase in premium volumes, complemented by solid underwriting returns.

‘‘Given our history as a mutual insurer, in which we were ‘created by Industry for Industry’ to service the needs of our clients, we like to work closely with our clients and brokers for the long term,’’ Graf says.

‘‘A number of our clients visit our head office in Hannover and have direct access to our board members and global underwriting heads.’’

Now HDI Global is looking to Western Australia as a new area of business growth.

After opening the original Sydney office, then in Melbourne in 2015 and Brisbane in 2016, the insurer opened in Perth on May 21.

David Gibbs, who previously worked for a large global insurer in various senior property underwriting roles in Perth, Melbourne and Sydney, has been appointed as HDI’s new Underwriting manager for Western Australia.

‘‘His vast experience coupled with his broader knowledge of the Western Australian market, makes him the ideal person to establish a permanent presence for HDI Global within that region,’’ Graf says.

Gibbs believes HDI’s broad risk appetite, technical underwriting expertise, market-leading claims, risk engineering, and multinational capabilities will add significant value to the WA insurance market.

‘‘We are excited about the opportunities that a local presence will present, and furthermore, will enable us to provide our valued customers with an even greater level of access to our services and personnel,’’ he says.

The move continues the global expansion of the respected global insurer, which actually began as a mutual insurer of the German and Iron steel industries as the Liability Association of German Industry in 1903.

HDI forms part of the Frankfurt, Hannover and Warsaw-listed Talanx Group, which has a market capitalisation of EUR 8.7 billion.

Talanx AG, which is Standard & Poor’s A+ rated, is also the parent of the global reinsurance giant, Hannover Re.

HDI, which operates as the Industrial Lines division of Talanx AG and has more than 3,000 employees, generated more than EUR 4.5 billion in gross written premium in 2017.

‘‘While HDI is traditionally considered as a lead insurer for complex risks in core European markets, for more than two decades we have been expanding into targeted international markets, both inside and outside of Europe,’’ Graf says.

‘‘HDI now has primary offices in 41 countries and through foreign branch offices, subsidiary and peer companies, and network partners, has operations in more than 150 countries.

‘‘As such we are able to offer local coverage in many countries for our customers with global operations, ensuring consistent insurance protection and service.’’

Amid HDI’s global expansion, one of the insurer’s best growth stories has come from Australia.

Graf says success has come from offering tailor-made solutions to a broad range of organisations, rather than constricting themselves to a specific client type.

‘‘Although a large proportion of our premium volume is generated from traditional Corporate and Mid-Market segments, we avoid pigeonholing our operations in this fashion.

‘‘We do cater for smaller businesses across a number of lines of business.

‘‘We are an intermediary focused business, meaning that all of our business is generated through insurance brokers, and not directly from our clients.’’

Graf says HDI has also been careful to avoid segmenting its underwriting teams, unlike a number of the insurer’s competitors.

That means no matter the size or complexity of a program, the client brokers are able to access the same underwriters.

‘‘We have one team, one approach and we basically provide all of our services to the brokers,’’ he says. ‘‘We want to make it very easy for brokers to deal with us.’’

Graf explains that HDI has also endeavoured to form a deeper understanding of its clients’ risks and help provide solutions amid industrial change.

‘‘Where a client has international operations we are well equipped to provide the appropriate global solution through our network,’’ he says.

‘‘The strength of tripartite relationships with our clients and brokers is crucial to our success.’’

Graf says over the past seven years Stefan Feldmann has worked hard to build strong underwriting teams across multiple markets.

‘‘We have market-leading capabilities in property, power, and energy, liability, crisis management, directors’ and officers’’ liability, cyber, marine, construction and engineering.

‘‘Our underwriters are empowered to deliver solutions for our clients, and are supported by our market-leading Claims and Risk Engineering teams.’’

Graf is particularly bullish in his outlook for property insurance, where the insurer is experiencing solid growth.

‘‘We’re finding that a number of our competitors are taking remedial action in relation to their portfolios, by reducing capacity or stepping away from particular industries or occupations,’’ he says.

‘‘At HDI our approach has remained consistent, which should augur well for a continued growth story.’’