Intention to be an ‘alternative to the big brokers’ announced at Singapore conference

The independent insurance broker network BrokersLink, which has members in almost 100 countries, will become a for-profit global broking company in early 2014.

At its annual general meeting held in Singapore this week, BrokersLink members formally approved the transformation to a Swiss-domiciled company (based in Zurich) and the closure of current association.

The initial capital will be provided by MDS, Crystal & Company, Filhet-Allard and Nova, as well as the network’s preferred reinsurance partner Cooper Gay.

BrokersLink chairman, José Fonseca (pictured), said that each of these companies would contribute $100,000, and an offer to other members aimed to raise a further $2.5m. “We already have a lot of members who are completely committed to putting in money to follow this project, which is very exciting,” he said.

Fonseca said that the move was designed to creating a platform for multinational client-focused revenue generation and growth. “We want to be an alternative to the big brokers for our global multinational clients who are not content to work with those guys,” he explained. “We want to create a new model that can be clearly an alternative in the market.

“As far as I know there is no other global network with this model. It is unique.”

Fonseca said that it was appropriate that the fifth annual BrokersLink global conference was being held in Asia at such a pivotal moment in the network’s history. “Our first conference was in Hong Kong in 2009, so we started in Asia, then we moved to Lisbon, Miami and Madrid, and now we’re back to Singapore,” he said. “In Asia we are represented everywhere, except for the moment in New Zealand and Myanmar. We have very strong members in China, Indonesia, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Singapore and Thailand.”

Asia was a “critical market” for BrokersLink, Fonseca said, and not only for members in the region. “Also for our markets like Brazil and Africa, where flow of investments is becoming strategic,” he said. “With investment by Indonesian, Chinese and Thai companies in emerging markets – even in Europe with the crisis – we have many strong opportunities here.”