2 Lockton Insurance LOCKTON CELEBRATES SUCCESS · 2016-05-31 · 2 Lockton Insurance Belfast...

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Transcript of 2 Lockton Insurance LOCKTON CELEBRATES SUCCESS · 2016-05-31 · 2 Lockton Insurance Belfast...

Page 1: 2 Lockton Insurance LOCKTON CELEBRATES SUCCESS · 2016-05-31 · 2 Lockton Insurance Belfast Telegraph April 6 2016 LOCKTON CELEBRATES SUCCESS by moving to state of the art offices
Page 2: 2 Lockton Insurance LOCKTON CELEBRATES SUCCESS · 2016-05-31 · 2 Lockton Insurance Belfast Telegraph April 6 2016 LOCKTON CELEBRATES SUCCESS by moving to state of the art offices

2 Lockton InsuranceBelfast Telegraph April 6 2016

LOCKTON CELEBRATES SUCCESS by moving to state of the art offices

Mike Hammond, CEO Lockton International, Gary Ennis, Managing Partner Belfast, Jonathan ell, DETI Minister and Dame Mary Peters at the official opening of the new office

The Belfast office has been trading for over 25 years and has a reputation for first class service and outstanding associates. The team, led by Gary Ennis, have enjoyed 10 consecutive years of revenue growth propelling them to both Northern Ireland’s largest commercial broker and the largest Lockton operation outside of London.

Lockton in Belfast incorporates the former Bradstock and Alexander Forbes offices which gives it a 25+ year local Northern Ireland trading history.

There are more than 70 technical associates involved in broking, claims and risk management in Belfast and between them they have over 1,000 years of insurance market experience. The Belfast team are committed to delivering more than an insurance broking service - through claims and risk management they help clients control their ‘Total Cost of Risk’.

Lockton is unique in having in-house, Belfast based, dedicated claims and risk management teams.

They have grown consistently over the past 10 years, more than trebling their revenues, increasing staff numbers and securing their position as the leading Commercial Broker in Northern Ireland.

They now place over £50m of gross written premium into the local and UK insurance market. Belfast is a ‘hub’ for placement of UK covers for a wide selection of Lockton Global clients.

Lockton Belfast’s office specialities are:Affinity Groups and schemesAgri-foodsChildcare and Education sectorsConstruction including PPP and Owner Controlled projectsLeisure and Hospitality sectorLife SciencesProperty Owners and DevelopersPrintersTechnology and Software DevelopmentPharmaceuticalsYouth and Voluntary sectors

Lockton, the world’s largest privately owned, independent insurance

brokerage firm, is celebrating its 10th year in Belfast with a £700,000 investment in state of the art offices.

The company, which has recently moved into the ultra-modern offices in the Clarence West building just off Belfast’s Bedford Street, is also celebrating its 10th consecutive year of financial growth in a decade blighted by recession, stagnation and austerity.

Enterprise Minister Jonathan Bell, Dame Mary Peters, the CEO of Lockton International Mike Hammond, the Lockton Partner in charge of UK and Ireland operations Chris Brown and Chief Operating Officer Ian Cooper were among the VIP guests for the official opening of the new offices.

Clients, associates, representatives of Invest NI and friends of the company were also welcomed to the event by Lockton Belfast Managing Partner Gary Ennis. Over 120 guests had a tour of the state of the art offices as musicians played before the official business got underway.

The Minister, Jonathan Bell, said the opening of the new office was a great night for Belfast. He said he had recently completed a conference at Queen’s University at which delegates heard that Belfast is now the second safest city in the world according to the UN, second only to Tokyo. He said this was a good time to do business in Northern Ireland. “Our business costs are 84% of the rest of the UK, about 48% of London. We have the best talent when it comes to people.”

He said an executive at Allstate told him, “We came for your costs but we stayed for your people.”

Mr Bell said this is a great time for Belfast and referred to the impending lowering of corporation tax, the announcements of new hotels opening, the confirmation that 81 cruise ships are booked to dock in the city this year and that Titanic Belfast is about to clock up its 3 millionth visitor. He said the local tourism industry had already exceeded its targets for this year.

“Thank you to all of you who

have made Northern Ireland and Belfast and business such a success.”

Mr Bell paid tribute to Dame Mary Peters and welcomed Mike Hammond, CEO of Lockton, and his team. “I want to thank you for giving us the opportunity to share in this important milestone in the growth of Lockton Insurance in Belfast in celebrating the opening of this office and also celebrating 10 years since the Lockton brand came to Northern Ireland. It is a very significant event.”

Mike Hammond said there had been 10 years of tumultuous change for the business following its arrival in Northern Ireland. He said Gary Ennis joined Alexander Forbes just as it was about to be sold to Lockton and that in fact the sale went through on his first day there. He said Gary wasn’t just the leader but was ‘a force of nature’ and the heart beat of the company.

He paid tribute to Mr Ennis’ vision in turning a struggling company around, taking it from £2m to £7.5m or 375% growth in a time of recession.

He paid tribute to Northern Ireland’s entrepreneurs and said many of Lockton’s clients probably weren’t in existence 10 years ago. “When we moved our international business here to Belfast we did it for a reason - yes the cost base was better, but it was, as the minister said, the huge talent here and the well educated business community. We should be doing more business here.

“The fact that we have grown 375% during the worst depression since the 1930s is due to Gary and Belfast and the Northern Ireland business community. This

is a wonderful success story for Lockton but also for our insurance industry.”

Gary Ennis introduced Dame Mary to the guests, describing the Pentathlon Gold medal winner in the 1972 Munich Olympics as a beacon of light at a very dark time for Northern Ireland and paid tribute to her as an ambassador for the province.

Dame Mary said she had come to Northern Ireland through the insurance business - her father was an insurance agent in Liverpool and the family moved here when she was 10 years old.

She said she was lucky to meet the right people to help her win at Munich - a success which changed her life forever. “I like to be associated with success and what a success story this is.” She said the people of Lockton Belfast stood out. “People make the business.”

Dame Mary said on the tour of the office she had noticed a word board in the boardroom with words such as ‘competitive, respect and passion’. “I just feel that it’s all here and it’s all working.”

The Belfast branch began life more than 30 years ago as Bradstock Blunt and then Alexander Forbes and became part of the global Lockton family in 2006.

There was much praise for the original team members who are still with the firm and who have contributed much to its ongoing success. The workforce has more than doubled over the last 10 years while maintaining client retention at 98%.

Lockton is now a key player in the insurance industry in Northern Ireland and the region’s largest commercial and business broker.

Gary Ennis paid tribute to all those who have contributed to the Belfast office’s success, not least Mike Hammond, who had led the company since its first international foray, buying Alexander Forbes 10 years ago until today when it is truly international with offices everywhere from Canada to the Middle East, the Far East to South America and Australia.

He thanked Chris Brown for “pushing, challenging and supporting us”.

He said: “When we’re asked

We’ve grown 375% during the worst depression since the ‘30s

Belfast office bucks trend by recording 10 consecutive years of growth

LOCKTON BELFAST - the facts

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3Lockton InsuranceBelfast Telegraph April 6 2016

what makes Lockton different, it is that we are a privately owned company and don’t have shareholders; we have great philosophies, we invest in great people and we have great leadership.

“One of the most striking things about the company is that Mike and Chris look after clients and there are not many people who can say their boss looks after a client. They therefore understand what great client service is all about.”

He paid particular tribute to Lockton’s clients. “Without our clients we would be nothing and the last 10 years of growth have been a blast. We appreciate your support and we appreciate your business.”

He said he was always thrilled to hear reports back of clients appreciating the way they were looked after.

He also thanked the company’s market friends.

“The market is very important to us. We live in a tripartite relationship – we love our clients and we hope you love us - but without our partner insurers, the adjusters and the solicitors to defend the claims, we’d be nothing.”

He said their aim for the new office was threefold. “We wanted an office that reflected our position as the number one commercial broker in Northern Ireland, we wanted to create a space that we could share with our clients and finally, as our founder Jack Lockton said, our associates are our greatest asset. Without great people we can’t provide great service.

“I wanted to make sure that our staff felt we had invested as much in them as in the clients and the market.”

Working closely with local interiors firm 1080 over the past 18 months to find and create an exceptional space

for their team for the next 10 years of financial success, the new offices offer an inspiring, colourful workspace well-suited for a tight-knit and vibrant group of associates.

“Now we have state of the art meeting rooms and AV that will enable us to do more for our clients in terms of seminars and training.”

Gary explained: “The team has taken to the new office like ducks to water. We have always had a great spirit in the office but the standard of our new surroundings has created a fantastic environment.”

Lockton’s mission remains focused on growth, aiming to increase revenue by double digits every year. The company prides itself on serving every aspect of the Northern Ireland business community – from global companies to the smallest SME.

Lockton are committed to staff training and currently

fund the costs of team members taking CII and other examinations. There is also a bonus scheme in place for those achieving success in the CII programme.

Lockton actively encourage external activity and are currently involved with an Art in Business project with the Grand Opera House, Belfast providing mentoring and coaching for local school children alongside entertainer David Meade.

The staff are also active in local charity projects, the most recent being a sponsored cycle ride to Glasgow in aid of Cancer Focus.

To cement its commitment to further growth Lockton Belfast has also committed to a 10-year lease on its new offices.

For further information visit www.lockton.com or follow Lockton Belfast on facebook.com/LocktonBelfast or

Worldwide, Lockton Companies, founded in Kansas City in 1966, have:● Over 41,000 clients● Exceptional client retention rate (96%)● Over 5,300 associates● 65 offices in 17 countries in North America, Europe, Latin America, Asia Pacific, Middle East and Australia● Over $20 billion premiums placed● Over $1 billion revenues

What makes Lockton different● Private ownership - driven by a focus on clients rather than shareholders and the market and this drives value for money for clients.● A global broker but still a family business with

embedded family values● Enthusiasm and passion - just ask their clients● Niche expertise - they are good at what they do! ● Their structure is flat, therefore there is no waste on bureaucracy● The most important role in Lockton is to deliver client service. They offer consistency of service teams; associates are never ‘promoted away’ from clients.● The key personnel are all engaged in servicing and focus on what is right for their clients● The admin burden is taken off service teams allowing them more time to focus on clients ● Lockton prides itself on being big enough to make a difference but small enough to care

Founder of the company Jack Lockton set out his philosophies as to how all Lockton businesses should operate, they are:● Be committed to the highest standards of excellence in everything we do.● Practice the Golden Rule and sustain a highly ethical, moral, and caring culture. ● Recognise our Associates as our most valuable assets● Provide opportunity and support to allow all Associates to grow, improve, and achieve their ultimate potential.● Recognise and substantially reward exemplary Associate performance.● Respect, value, and nurture each of our client and carrier relationships.

● Be composed of people who demonstrate a passion for delivering unparalleled service - internally and externally.● Make a recognisable difference to our client’s business through innovative solutions to meet their insurance needs.● Be proactive in sustaining a meaningful corporate social and civic responsibility.● Maintain our independence and private ownership.● Manage our business for consistent and orderly growth.● Be a fiercely competitive and aggressive sales organisation.● Generate fair and healthy financial returns.

LOCKTON FACT FILE Lockton is the world’s largest privately owned independent insurance broker

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The team from 1080 which designed Lockton’s salubrious new offices just off Bedford Street were the toast of the official opening. Clients and members of the business community turned out in force to congratulate Northern Ireland’s number 1 commercial broker on its amazing success story...

Business community joins in Lockton’s celebrations

Brian McGinn (Bryson Charitable Group) and Jeff Graham (Senior Vice President, Lockton)

Archie Johnson (CNA Hardy), Tom McCreery (Lockton), Richard Leathon (Allianz) and Brian Higgins (Allianz)

Helen Hutchinson (Allianz) and Roisin McCarthy (Lockton)

Hannah McBride (AXA) and Jayne O’Doherty (Lockton)

Gary Ennis (Partner), Heather Telford and Mark Jobling

Katy Wheeler (James Fitzpatrick Solicitors) and Keith Holden (Lockton)

4 Lockton InsuranceBelfast Telegraph April 6 2016

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Jonathan McCluskey (Conexpo), David Magee (McLaughlin & Harvey) and Nigel McCluskey (Lockton)

James Ferguson (Ferguson & Co) and David Larmour (Larmour Investigations) Dame Mary Peters, Colin Kennedy, CEO, Mary Peters Trust, and Gary Ennis, Partner, Lockton

Michael Claney (Lockton), Heather Telford (Lockton) and Paul Black (Alpha)

Sandra Mitchell (Lockton) and Anne-Marie Benson (1080 Design)

David Lilley (Aviva), Moya Bannon (HSB Engineering) and Brian Trainor (Aviva)

5Lockton InsuranceBelfast Telegraph April 6 2016

Photos by Aurora PA

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Partner and Member of the Lockton LLP Board. He is responsible for the retail broking and client service strategy and operations for Lockton in the UK and Eire. He is heavily engaged with large and complex clients across a number of industry sectors, to identify risk financing solutions for their varied business issues. Chris joined Lockton in June 2007 and has worked in the London market for over 25 years.

Chief Executive Officer of Lockton International, based in London. He joined Lockton in June 2006 and immediately following Lockton International’s formation, Mike embarked on a major reorganisation of the business, hired a new Leadership team, and over 500 new Associates have since joined Lockton around the world.

Mike Hammond has only to look at the figures to demon-strate how Lockton Belfast has been

bucking the global trend over the past decade.

“We are 10 years old as Lock-ton having acquired Alexander Forbes in 2006,” says the CEO. “If you go back 10 years it was just the beginning of the finan-cial crisis, the big crash and if I look forward 10 years, the com-pany will end this fiscal year nearly 220% larger than when we made the acquisition.

“In a way, you would look at that raw statistic and think the insurance industry did extremely well throughout the crisis.”

He said the industry was quite robust and that the big-gest company to suffer losses, AIG, did so as a result of a hedge fund inside the business rather than anything to do with its insurance work.

“Having said that, the low interest rate environment and the surplus of capital that has

come into the market over the last five or six years has made it hard for brokers and insur-ance companies to grow other than by acquisition which is not the sort of thing we do.

“The industry, at a micro level, has had to pedal much, much faster to achieve its goals.

“The biggest merger in the industry we have seen occurred when Ace bought over Chubb for $28bn so we can see that consolidation has been occur-ring over the last 10 years - partly as a reflection on what happened in the financial crisis and the pressure on businesses to readjust their business mod-els and partly because of the flow of capital which has come into the business which has caused a depression in prices.

“Lockton has a number of things that make it very differ-ent to our competitors.

FAMILY OWNED

“First, we are privately held, and not by a private equity

firm. We are owned by a family in Kansas. The company is 50 years old this year and the fam-ily are all still in the business.

“The founder died 12 years ago but his younger brother David took over so it’s still in the first generation of leader-ship after 50 years. The four sons of the brothers are all en-gaged actively working in the business. That type of thing pervades all the way through the company. David has worked for the company all his life.

“When people join the com-pany they tend to stay and the clients tend to stay with them. If you are constantly losing people and changing people in a firm, the clients move too but if you hold onto your people, you hold on to your clients. That is reflected in most parts of the world whether in Aus-tralia, Hong Kong, Dubai, Lon-don, Sao Paolo or Belfast.

“When Lockton bought Al-exander Forbes the revenues of the Belfast operation had reduced by 30% over the three year period. We were the sev-

Top team shares the secret of Lockton’s local successMIKE HAMMOND, CEO OF LOCKTON INTERNATIONAL, BASED IN LONDON, AND CHRIS BROWN, WHO IS HEAD OF THE OPERATION IN THE UK AND IRELAND, TOOK TIME OUT FROM THE OFFICIAL OPENING OF THE NEW LOCKTON BELFAST OFFICE TO TALK ABOUT THE LOCAL OFFICE’S SUCCESS.

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Meet the people behind Belfast office’s growth

Managing Partner, Lockton BelfastGary leads the entrepreneurial Lockton Belfast team and is a highly respected advisor to a number of Lockton’s regional, national and multinational clients

Vice President, Account Executive, Lockton BelfastA key member of the servicing team, Wendy focuses on the property sector, advising Developers, Property Owners and Managing Agents. Wendy works with clients to deliver original solutions to meet their specific corporate risk challenges.

Senior Vice President, Lockton BelfastWith over 26 years of experience in the insurance broking sector, Jeff provides contractual and technical advice to clients to steer them through complex commercial risks. A recognised expert in the insurance issues for the Construction sector.

GARY ENNIS WENDY GRAHAM JEFF GRAHAM

MIKE HAMMOND

CHRIS BROWN

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enth largest broker and had brokerage and fees of £2m.

“Here we sit less than 10 years later ready to end the year on between £7.5-£8m, a 400% increase and we have gone from number seven to number one.

“I wish I could say I was the genius behind that but it’s down to the leadership of Gary Ennis and the loyalty and hard work of the people in the firm.

“We have gone from em-ploying 20 people in Belfast to a team of over 70 associates in this nice new building. We have become a bigger employer in the Belfast community and definitely have become a more prominent broker in the Bel-fast community.

“We have a lot of SME cli-ents here because the Belfast and Northern Ireland commu-nity is in many ways a reflec-tion of what makes the global economy tick which is small businesses but we also have large businesses, engineering companies, specialist services firms.”

Chris Brown elaborated on the pool of talent which has served to set the Belfast of-fice apart. “There are unique things here. Apart from the usual Lockton philosophy and

strategy around how organical-ly you build a business, there are things in Belfast that are unique to Northern Ireland and how it’s grown.

“When we look at our com-petitors a lot of them have moved functions and skill sets out of Northern Ireland. From the beginning Gary was saying we need to invest on behalf of our clients and associates in skills that we can keep in Bel-fast and use to the benefit of our clients locally.

SKILLS KEPT LOCAL

“We have a claims handling proposition, a broking prop-osition, client management service, where we deal with day to day dealings with the clients, we have risk manage-ment which is risk engineering, advice on health and safety and loss prevention and that’s unique and it’s staffed with fantastically talented people.

“What that’s meant is we can say to clients you will get a service proposition from peo-ple who understand the local economy and the local environ-ment. Different geographical areas around the world require different levels of service with different priorities and I think

the investment we have put in here has really borne fruit.

“The fourfold increase in revenue has been down to the skill sets of those people and the breadth of those skill sets.”

Mike Hammond contin-ued: “Often in the business press, we tend to talk up other parts of the world and tend to talk down our own part of the world. We all know about the growth in China, India and Brazil which is having its own problems now but I can only think of one other office of Lockton that has grown the percentage rate of Belfast which is quite unique. This op-eration has grown faster than our office in China which has grown very, very well.”

Chris Brown adds: “What has been a true validation of the team that are here is that we have some business in mainland UK that is dealt with by the teams in Belfast. We have specifically recruit-ed teams here who provide a fantastic level of service to the clients and quite a few of those clients are subsidiaries of major USA, Asian and Middle Eastern and European com-panies. We have concentrated that expertise here in Belfast.

“They get plaudits every

time they meet clients around the world for the quality of service they provide. The real focus is on giving clients what they need rather than saying this is the way we’re going to service you.

“We have a great leader in Gary… the philosophy of the firm is you employ great people and reward them for doing the job that they are good at and enjoy. The clients love it, the associates love it.

“Gary has, from day one, said I would like to build Lock-ton a world class Northern Irish business and in order to do so we will have to focus on Northern Ireland and focus on the skill sets that we have here and allow them to develop and invest in their development.”

Mike Hammond has appre-ciated the company’s emphasis on local leadership from the start: “I was the first hire Lock-ton ever made outside the USA. They approached me to help them buy Alexander Forbes, having been CEO of the UK op-erations at Marsh, the biggest broker in the UK. I was flown out to see David Lockton in Kansas. I felt if it was going to be very micromanaged I wasn’t sure I wanted the job. He said, ‘Mike, you can do almost any-

thing you think is right to do – hire the right people, build the business, only one thing, you can’t mess with the name of the family because it’s my name above the door’.

DECISION MAKING“I have been given a great deal of freedom to make deci-sions about how we build the business in accordance with the best interests of the local economy. That means Chris has autonomy which he passes to Gary. The way we build the business here is different to the way we built the business in Beijing and Sao Paolo. We started a business in Dubai in 2009 right at the bottom of the financial crisis and everyone thought we were mad and here we sit today with an office in Abu Dhabi with nearly $10m of business. Now, that’s be-cause we liberated people from the rather suppressive style of some of the big corporate brokers. We don’t have the same pressure on our margins because we are a low margin business.”

He said the freedom from having to please the stock market meant they didn’t have to cut services so clients were

happier. “The family take their cut and the rest of the profits are reinvested and paid to the people in the business. It’s very much more like a true partner-ship model where the partners share the profits.

“It’s that autonomy given to the people to make decisions in the best interests of the local market, having respect for the plans of the company overall. That blend is very hard to do sometimes. Lockton will pass $1.3bn this year and if you em-ploy 6,000 people rather than 60 people, keeping that culture alive is very hard.”

The company meets that challenge by keeping its focus local. Chris said: “While I have a leadership role over the UK and Ireland, 70% of my time is dealing with my clients. My job isn’t to tell Belfast or Birming-ham or Manchester what their strategy should be; my job is to challenge around, why do you think that strategy is right and provide support so that strate-gy is carried through.”

Mike concluded: “If David Lockton was sitting here now, he’d say the single most impor-tant thing is how you are going to look after your existing clients and then go out and get another one.”

Top team shares the secret of Lockton’s local success7Lockton Insurance

Belfast Telegraph April 6 2016

Vice President, Account Executive, Lockton BelfastMichael has over 20 years insurance market experience and works with a range of Lockton clients from multi-nationals to key local businesses. Particular experience in Agri-Foods and Manufacturing sectors.

Head of Claims, Lockton BelfastEd manages complex and challenging claims on behalf of Lockton, Belfast clients, successfully working on claims ranging from large fires, through challenging Liability and PI claims to more unusual issues such as contaminated products and recall.

Vice President, Account Executive, Lockton BelfastLockton’s ethos of putting the client first matches Sean’s own and he enjoys building true partnerships with clients. He strives to add value by becoming a trusted in-house business advisor and has expertise in the Pharma and Construction sectors.

Vice President, Account Executive, Lockton BelfastNigel builds long-term client relationships and professional friendships. A number of his clients can be traced back to his father’s brokerage over 30 years. He has particular expertise in the Civil Engineering, Quarry and Contracting sectors.

Account Manager and Team Leader, Lockton BelfastBehind the Account Executives is a wealth of experience and technical expertise in the servicing teams. Mark relishes exceeding client expectations. Mark is the day to day contact for clients as well as managing his own team of brokers.

MICHAEL CLANEY

NIGEL MCCLUSKEY MARK JOBLING NIGEL SLOAN

ED BUTLER SEAN DOBSON

Vice President, Account Executive, Lockton BelfastNigel, over 25 years insurance experience, adds value to clients by providing alternative solutions to insurance risks, and by delivering an outstanding client service. He is a trusted business partner that delivers long-term, entrepreneurial solutions.

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