Marsh Germany reports rising demand as risk managers consider options

The appointment of Frank Harting to the newly created role of chief client officer at Marsh Germany is perfect timing as the broker experiences rising demand for its services from risk managers as they assess their options in the rapidly hardening industrial insurance market. Mr Harting, who started his career at Gerling, joins Marsh Germany at the start of next year, having recently left his previous position as board member at HDI Global responsible for German industrial business. Mr Harting brings more than 35 years of experience, knowledge and contacts to the broker at a time when risk managers need independent advice more than ever before to help them through a very challenging market. Thomas Olaynig, managing director and head of placement and specialties at Marsh Germany, told Commercial Risk Europein an exclusive interview during this week’s GVNW virtual Symposium, that, while the Covid-19 pandemic has led to a difficult time for all, it has forced customers to seriously rethink their risk management and transfer strategies as they face up to reducing capacity, rising prices and tighter terms. This means that Marsh has seen a rise in demand for its consulting and placement services from existing and potential customers, particularly in the area of captives, he said. The arrival of Mr Harting with his years of experience in client relations and contacts with many leading German risk managers will help boost Marsh’s offering at this important time, added Mr Olaynig. “Challenging market conditions mean clients of all sizes are looking for brokers with the international network to service their multinational operations, captives and risk consulting. These are all services that we can offer,” he said. Alexander Mahnke, president of GVNW, and his fellow association committee members all agree that now is the time to seriously take a new look at risk exposures, what can be retained, what transferred and how captives could be used to deliver the best result. Mr Olaynig concedes that the regulatory rules in Germany do not really promote captive usage as they do in other European territories such as the UK, Malta and Luxembourg. But he added that German risk managers are still increasingly looking to this option as the market continues to harden. “Setting up a captive takes time, effort and investment, but now really is the time to consider the future risk management strategy and how programmes are designed and structured. The captive helps give a clearer, in depth picture to help make these decisions. Cell captives are also an interesting option. We are receiving many enquiries from existing and new customers about captive options,” said Mr Olaynig. The broker said that at this stage in the market customers want and need all the help they can get, especially as most have no experience of a hard market. The arrival of Mr Harting and his recent experience of the re-underwriting process carried out by HDI Global in its fire book will be invaluable, he said. An interesting question is what impact will the current crisis have on the role of global programmes? Will the crisis and tighter budgets lead to a reduced demand for such programmes? Or will it drive demand as risk managers seek ever more cost efficiencies? Mr Olaynig suspects that global programmes will see a spike in demand as a result of the crisis and hardening markets. “If a multinational company has a strong risk management philosophy then using a global programme makes a lot of sense. It will be interesting to see how this develops. So far it is too early to say but I don’t think global programmes will become less popular, if anything I think they will become more important,” concluded Mr Olaynig.

Marsh Germany reports rising demand as risk managers consider options

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