The insurance industry is widely misunderstood, according to Chye Huat, CEO of Howden Singapore and Howden Asia. Far from being dull, it offers exciting opportunities for entrepreneurial people. He should know. He’s devoted 30 years of his career to the industry. From a starting point as a construction broker, he eventually rose to become its deputy managing director in 1997, and within a span of 2 years ultimately assumed the role of country manager for Singapore in 1999. By the time he left to join Howden in 2015, the business had grown tenfold over a 20-year period. So what drew him to Howden and its parent company, Hyperion Insurance Group? The opportunity to play a key role in a group that has grown from 3 employees in 1994 to become one of the world’s largest employee-owned insurance groups with more than 3,800 employees across 39 countries, but one that still retains the entrepreneurial ethos that has been key to its success.
The CEO Magazine: What gives Howden its point of differencein the marketplace?
Chye: Howden has the greatest reach, across our own offices, of any independent broking group in the world. While Howden has experienced significant growth over its 22 years, the importance of local experts owning and running businesses in their market has been a constant. As well as achieving impressive organic growth, Howden has expanded by acquiring like-minded businesses to build up a network of the right people, with the right skills, in the right places. Howden has an unusually flat and empowered management structure for a company of its scale, which means decisions can be made quickly without having to go through a maze of approval channels. This enables us to adapt rapidly to the changing environment and better leverage opportunities.
“Our success in Singapore and Malaysia will help to drive further growth across the rest of our Asian markets.”
We are also of a size that manages to maintain a very personable culture and build strong, lasting relationships with our clients. From humble beginnings, Howden now has more than 2,300 people across 30 countries, generating £191-million revenue. We are certainly not in the megabroker space, but we offer clients and insurers an alternative to the 2 or 3 megabrokers in the global market.
Hyperion is 65% owned by employees. What are the advantages of this?
With more than 700 shareholders in Hyperion and its subsidiaries, Hyperion is one of the world’s largest employee-owned insurance groups. Being part of an employee-owned group offers significant advantages to employees, but, crucially, also means that our clients deal directly with people who own the business. Our employee-ownership model also encourages collaboration across the group, as the success of one person directly benefits all shareholders. This means that our clients are served by the people best suited to meet their needs, wherever in the world they may be.
What are your plans to grow the company?
We’ve made substantial investments in our businesses in Singapore and Malaysia. In Singapore, we have attracted industry heavyweights to widen and deepen our product offering and expertise. We’ve doubled our headcount over the past 12 months and are attracting a greater variety and volume of clients. In Malaysia, we acquired a significant stake in, and have become the controlling joint venture partner of, CIMB Howden Insurance Brokers Sdn Bhd. Since then, we have made further investments in our talent capital, increasing headcount by more than 50%, and this has allowed us to build relationships with new clients in the real estate, telecommunications, hospitality and jewellery sectors. Our success in Singapore and Malaysia will help to drive further growth across the rest of our Asian markets, including Thailand, the Philippines, Hong Kong and Indonesia.
Across Howden, we are building a global network to enable us to deliver wider-reaching solutions to large international clients. This is made up of a combination of our offices in 30 countries as well as independent third-party brokers. In 2015, Hyperion merged with another leading employee-owned insurance company, RKH. For Howden Asia, this means that we have access to market-leading experts in a number of fields, including marine, energy, cyber, mergers and acquisitions and financial risks.
What is Howden doing to ensure it’s at the forefront of the industry?
The insurance industry has woken up to the fact that we are lagging behind other industries in our use of technology. We are focusing on finding ways to use technology and data better to understand our clients’ needs, deliver products more efficiently, and add demonstrable value to our products. It is only a matter of time before it’s the norm for businesses to use apps to file insurance claims and update their policy details.