BMS launches in Turkey; hires execs formerly of Aon, JLT and Willis

Broker  BMS has broken into the Turkey market by hiring three senior executives who previously worked for Aon, JLT and Willis and establishing a new company:  BMS Sigorta ve Reasürans Brokerliği based in Istanbul.

The new company will focus on specialty lines where the team has identified opportunities, together with facultative and treaty reinsurance services, supported by the Group’s hubs in London and elsewhere.

Servet Gurkan, chairman, together with Tamer Saka and Kerim Gurkan, will lead the new operation which will report in London to Peregrine Towneley, chairman of International Operations.

Gurkan has held leadership roles in underwriting and broking businesses in Turkey for almost four decades including as CEO of Aon Re Turkey and most recently as Chairman and CEO of JLT Turkey. Beyond his career in the broking industry, he has also established numerous insurance companies in Turkey and in Cyprus.

Saka has extensive experience in insurance, as a former managing director of Willis for Turkey and the Eurasian region and of MGA ProRisk. He has also served in a number of senior roles in Turkish industrial conglomerates, most recently at Sabanci Holdings since 2018, as President of its cement operation, and between 2014 and 2018 at Kibar Holding, where he was CEO.

After starting his career in Ferrari, Gurkan worked as a management consultant at Bain & Co, Italy and was a managing director and a key producer for JLT Turkey. He recently held a senior leadership role in Flixbus, Europe’s no.1 mobility provider.

Nick Cook, CEO of BMS, said: “Establishing BMS in Turkey is a key milestone and represents our initial expansion into the Near and Middle East, as well as a bridge to the Commonwealth of Independent States and neighbouring countries. It is our intention to build a truly regional business and to provide our existing and future customers with a specialty and reinsurance service of proven professionalism and resilience.”

Gurkan said: “In BMS, we have found an established and recognised brand whose client focused philosophy we are entirely aligned with. Together we are excited to start building a new and dynamic operation to expand and enhance the reach of BMS throughout the region for the benefit of clients and markets.”

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