BMS Re’s CEO on US expansion and planting a flag in Bermuda

BMS Re has already had a busy summer. As the global economy sputters back to some semblance of normality and the re/insurance industry begins to look beyond the chaos of the last 18 months to a changed marketplace, the Edina, Minnesota-based broker has wasted no time in making its mark on a busy mergers and acquisitions sector.

The firm’s chief executive officer Pete Chandler joined the Re/insurance Lounge, Intelligent Insurer’s online, on-demand platform for interviews and panel discussions with leaders in the industry.

Crossing the pond

At the beginning of July, BMS Re announced the acquisition of Trean, the Minnesota-headquartered reinsurance intermediary which BMS Re jointly founded with the firm’s president Sean Ryan back in 2013, focusing on workers’ compensation, property and casualty, accident and health, personal auto, public entity, and professional liability lines.

The acquisition will substantially expand BMS Re’s presence in key US markets including Florida and Los Angeles and, Chandler said, the addition of Trean alongside other expansive moves marks a statement of intent for the firm in the country.

The company has long-standing ties to the London re/insurance market, but Chandler said that historically it has struggled to find its place in the fragmented and competitive US marketplace.

“I do believe we have a bit of an identity crisis in the US. We haven’t done a great job of letting folks know who we are and what we stand for,” he explained.

“That’s an opportunity we cherish, to show people that we are much more active in the request for proposal process than we have ever been in the US.

“We are hiring—we have added over 65 new colleagues, excluding Trean, over the last 26 months, so we’ve almost doubled the size of our headcount within our organisation. The hallmarks of BMS when it was led by Robert Ewing Fellows Ballantyne, Graham John McKean and David Sullivan are what we are trying to perpetuate today.”

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An educated market

With the market seemingly still hardening after the economic disruption of the pandemic, Chandler said that now is the ideal time to grow the company’s proposition for clients and the wider market.

While prices are broadly firming, however, the executive doesn’t think we are currently experiencing full hard market conditions.

For Chandler, current dynamics are distinct from previous periods of price rises due to the “hybrid” nature of the capital providing capacity. “While this is a firm market, it is also a smart market, an educated market,” he said.

“The way the industry has evolved, with the various forms of capital and hybrid capital that are available for us to bring to bear on behalf of our clients, that’s what we get excited about.”

“We are a lean organisation, we’re very flat with a headcount in the 145 range. It will jump up to the mid-160s when our colleagues from Trean come on board, but even then, it is our ability to communicate and collaborate, to work across the aisle, most certainly in our respective offices.”

Chandler is quick to point out that the industry hub in London will continue to play a key role in the company’s expansion plans in addition to the moves it is making on the other side of the pond.

“To work across the Atlantic Ocean and engage our colleagues in the UK on US-based business and vice versa, when there is a reverse flow of opportunities that come back into the US, is an absolute differentiator,” he said.

The US is not the only market the broker is eyeing as a site for expansion. Bermuda also holds the potential for growth as a place in which BMS Re has been long overdue a presence, he added.

“We’re going to plant the flag in Bermuda and the reinsurance treaty side, we’re very much looking forward to being participants in that marketplace—it’s long overdue,” he said.

“We’re excited to get into that, we are doing some wonderful things in the legacy space and the faculty space.”

Chandler believes that with its culture, new firepower and ambitious expansion plans BMS Re can compete with the biggest and best in the market.

“We certainly very selfishly believe we are executing more efficiently and differently than other folks in bringing capital to bear on behalf of clients and prospects,” he concluded.

To view the full Re/insurance Lounge interview click here