'Innovative policies against cyber attacks and climate change'

An example? 

Unique insurance products such as 'our' first carbon credits policy that protects both buyers and sellers, giving confidence to the system. Basically, we cannot control what happens in the world but we can, for example, build policies to cover the risk of container ships crossing the Red Sea.

Your philosophy is not to go public, to have stable shareholders, including your employees, not to distribute dividends but to reinvest capital to grow the company. Why this choice? 

The key in our opinion is to keep sustainable long-term investors and employee ownership together. If a customer relates to an owner he tends to trust him more, just as if an employee is also an owner he is more engaged in the business. In Europe we should push more on employee ownership if we want to grow. I think we are a good example: at the end of 2022 Howden Group had 13 thousand employees and revenues of £2 billion, in 2024 we have grown to 22 thousand employees and revenues of £3 billion with an Ebitda margin of 31 per cent.

What effect has Private Equity had on the consolidation of the insurance market?

It certainly gave a strong impetus to a wave of acquisitions. Those who bought, did so with the sole objective of maximising the value of the target companies with a view to resale. But this was only possible in the presence of low interest rates and high potential share price appreciation. Instead, our model involves acquiring companies in order to integrate them into an international or cross-sector insurance ecosystem, where we also grow organically.

Climate change, catastrophic events, cybersecurity: is the insurance industry ready to cover these new and growing risks? 

In general, the insurance industry is getting better at analysing, collecting data, understanding risk, controlling it and pricing it. If we look back 4-5 years ago, for example, cybersecurity was becoming almost impossible to insure: prices were getting very high and there was limited coverage because people and companies did not take it seriously. Today, the landscape is changing. The real challenge is: how to spread the risk across a wider community and make it sustainable?

Italy is an important country for your business. Can you give us some figures?  

As a brokerage firm Howden has been around since 2021. We are growing rapidly with a series of acquisitions, the most important of which was Assiteca. Today we are the third broker on the market with 850 people and offices in 23 cities. For us, you represent the second largest foreign market after Spain, but above all, Italy is the best example of our business philosophy.

In what sense?  

We have always had in our DNA the idea of building a truly international company. When we opened in Italy (as well as in Spain or Germany) we did it with Italian (or Spanish or German) professionalism, not with the idea of being a US or UK outpost abroad. And our customers appreciate that very much. As I often say if people take care of customers then money will take care of itself.

In concrete terms, what does this mean? 

It means that they are Italian, for example, Luigi Sturani, CEO of Howden Europe, or Federico Casini, CEO of Howden Italia, and, together with them, other top figures in our group. In Italy you have a lot of talent, passion, energy, skills and creativity. For me, these are all fundamental aspects.

About acquisitions, do you have any new operations in Italy in mind?

It is no secret that we are always open to new acquisitions, but we are also extremely selective. The goal is to continue to grow our business with the right people, patiently, knowing that the first challenge today is to consolidate acquisitions.

In your vision, how should the insurance industry evolve? 

The key to everything will remain the ability to listen to customers. And learning to think of our business as a creator of opportunities and specific solutions that enhance the essence of what we are covering and the needs of the investors to whom we are offering it. Today we have the data and the technology to do all this well. But without the skills, vision and courage of people we will not be able to steer the orderly development of the market.