Overseas brokers ‘losing ground’

Press, 1 December 1988, Page 25

Overseas brokers ‘losing ground’

PA Wellington Large overseas broking houses which have dominated the corporate insurance industry in New Zealand are losing ground to a new breed of locallybased brokers, Wayne Wilkinson Insurance says. Speaking at the opening of the company’s Wellington offices yesterday, the managing director, Mr Wayne Wilkinson, said a growing number of New Zealand brokers now possessed the international networks, specialist expertise and industry clout which had provided overseas competitors with a market advantage.

Local operations also tended to be “leaner and hungrier” as they were under more direct control and less cushioned from downturns in the local market. “Over the past year in the midst of a ‘soft’ fire and general insurance market, Wayne Wilkinson Insurance increased turnover by over 20 per cent, largely corporate business gained at the expense of the multinationals,” Mr Wilkinson said. Wayne Wilkinson Insurance is New Zealand’s largest locally-owned fire and general broker and is affiliated to Lloyds of London.