As one of the youngest ever managing directors of a Lloyd's broking house in history, Jamil since assuming the helm of Crescent Global in 2006 continues to gradually transform this once local insurance broker, to a global insurance player representing Arab insurable interests both within the region and internationally.
BL: Jamil, What are the reasons for the success of Crescent Global Group in such a short period of time?
JRBahou: I believe that success is a continuous product of time. I don’t believe the success that we’ve achieved over the last couple of years at Crescent Global Group can truly be defined as success.
The last several years that we’ve been building Crescent Global dates back to foundations we have been laying for the past 40 years in the region. Foundations that stem from the Bahou legacy in insurance both regionally and internationally, careful planning, a solid talent pool, and the group’s reputation for innovation, forward thinking, and client oriented products and risk consulting services.
In terms of the company’s position in the market place, at the end of the day we live in a very competitive globalized world. We were the first broker in Asian history to be accredited by Lloyd’s almost ten years ago, and having had the opportunity to combine local know how and expertise with an international outlook in my view has made a critical difference in our competitive positioning today. Success is also not due to Jamil Bahou, it is due to a team of over 200 people that work very hard around the clock and over 12 cities.
BL: May I know about the 12 cities and your network around the globe?
JRBahou: We have singular and multiple offices in the U.K, Lebanon, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, UAE, and Pakistan.
Over the next 12 months, we hope to add offices in Jordan, India, Sudan, Sri Lanka, Australia, as well as the activation of a representative office in New York.
Furthermore, via our active partnership with the Wells Fargo Global Broker Network, we are currently able to service our clients in over 100 countries worldwide.
BL: Do you have any business plans for the United States of America and Europe?
JRBahou: Yes, as a specialist wholesaler driven by our London reinsurance platform.
BL: Do you have any plans for Africa?
JRBahou: Africa for Crescent Global is the next frontier. We have ongoing joint venture discussions and plans in the works to establish partnerships in places like Tunisia, Algeria, Libya, Ethiopia, Angola, Kenya, Ghana, and Nigeria.
It is important to note that from the Crescent Global perspective, being able to deliver a local solution to our clients with regional and international insurance needs is key. No other insurance player headquartered in the Middle East has the Pan-Arab network that Crescent Global has today. I also assure you that over the next 24 months, there will be very few brokers in the world who will have the Middle Eastern and African footprint Crescent Global will have.
Most of our global competitors have strong footprints in North America, Europe, Asia Pacific as well as South America, but nobody has a solid network in the Middle East and Africa. Today, Crescent Global has a first mover advantage, and we believe that setting up a Pan-African presence will be worth every penny. Crescent Global Group goes where its clients go, and we look every day at where our clients are going. That’s our strategy.
BL: Who are your clients?
JRBahou: We offer an insurance or risk management solution to almost every demographic or category of customer. Our clients range from major public and private institutions, manufacturing concerns, the banking sector, aviation and airports, and many others all the way to the man on the street. Although traditionally a Middle Eastern player, we are structured like many of our global competitors whereby we have various practice areas serving everything from the corporate sector, to middle market and retail customers.
In addition, we have a very large reinsurance presence. We are a Lloyd’s accredited broker, and our reinsurance platform runs independently from the retail platform working with insurance companies, reinsurers, and independent brokers from all over the region and internationally.
BL: Do brokers make profits more than reinsurance and insurers?
JRBahou: If you are investing in the services that you are offering to your clients, and if you are delivering more than just the insurance policy, then the answers is no. However, if you are a traditional broker then the answer is yes. Traditional insurance brokers and agents will give a little bit of advice, put together a policy, and move on to the next customer.
Crescent Global is not a traditional broker. Advice on insurance coverage is a fraction of the range of risk advisory services we offer our clients. From our perspective, insurance is a very small portion of what our larger clients’ overall risk management strategy needs to be. Whether it be risk engineering, supply chain risk management, bcm/disaster recovery, security, lender’s advice, insurance, specialist capacity, or captive structures, Crescent Global has the depth and breadth to serve its clients in many ways our peers cannot.
BL: How were your financial results for the year 2012?
JRBahou: Our financial results for the year 2012 were good. The group again is comprised of entities spread around the region and internationally. As a group, we grew just over 20% organically which is very satisfactory for a group of our size. Our objectives in whatever business we invest in do not revolve around being the biggest. Crescent Global is in the business of being the best.
BL: How do you rate Crescent Global against the competition?
JRBahou: Honestly, we don’t benchmark Crescent Global against the competition because we don’t believe that there is really a group in the region that resembles the structure of our group. At Crescent Global, we never look at others. I advise my people from day one not to care what the competition is doing. What matters is what we do for ourselves and for our clients; the competition is completely irrelevant.
I really don’t believe that we’re successful yet. There’s a long road ahead of us. I’m a planner; I’m somebody that likes to always stay with reality. There are economic forces that are beyond our reach. We are simply going to keep servicing one customer at a time, and that’s how we do it.
BL: Presently, Reinsurers and insurers state that the present rates are not sufficient. What are your comments?
JRBahou: I agree. I believe that a healthy and profitable marketplace is what we all desire, but at the same time, I also believe that rates should coincide with proper underwriting, and proper risk modeling.
Clients understand that they pay a premium because they expect their insurers to be there when they have claims. If you have claims then your premiums will eventually go up, but I don’t believe that insurers or reinsurers should raise rates for the sake of trying to raise rates.
BL: If there was one thing you would like to see in the GCC, what would it be?
JRBahou: I would like to see a Pan-Arab insurance regulatory framework at least in the GCC countries that would enable us to transact business cross border. The fact is we have different regulatory environments in various countries across the region. As the GCC continues to move towards economic unity with time, having a unified set of regulations for insurance brokers would greatly benefit the regional insurance market and enable brokers to do business.
BL: Does your company insure renewable energy and nuclear business?
JRBahou: We looked into this line of business sometime last year in the United Arab Emirates as the Emirates started to invest in Nuclear energy. The nuclear energy market is a very restricted market; and there are certain pools that write the business once these risks become operational. The market is very specialized and it’s not big enough for most of the market. On the other hand, renewable energy is an area that we are getting involved in. We’ve placed very recently a major wind farm project in the region and we’re looking at renewable energy as a serious area for us, but not necessarily only in the Middle East. I know in the Middle East we’re talking about solar energy and wind power etc., but in Asia and in areas in Africa we see renewable energy as something to look at in investing expertise in.
BL: What are your plans for the future?
JRBahou: In theory, we can talk about up to five years from today. Beyond then, anything I say may be pointless. Our strategies evolve every six months, sometimes every quarter depending on what we see in the market environment. Over the next 2-3 years, I envision us having a complete Afro Asian network.
My vision for our reinsurance/wholesale business is to cover the globe and to have an office on every continent on earth over the next five years. It’s easy to say that because we are already in the Middle East, we have an office in Africa, an office in London, and an upcoming office in the US.
BL: What are your plans for the 2013?
JRBahou: We have plans to complete the last pieces of the puzzle within our Middle Eastern network and to really set the plan for the African expansion. Those probably are our short term objectives.
Finally, I’d like to add one comment to the decision makers in the business world that are going to read this article. I think that at least from an insurance and risk management perspective, it’s important to look truly towards what brings security and a proper risk management framework to the organization. It’s inevitable that CEOs and risk managers look beneath the surface and see how to combine insurance with an overall risk management philosophy within their business. Insurance security matters, a policy written in the Lloyd’s market or with A rated markets is different from a policy that is written locally. This notwithstanding that there are very reputable local insurance players in the region. The only message is that security matters, and in insurance you get only what you pays for.
