17 Apr 2024

Liberty announces new operating model for Asia Pacific

News

3 min read

Liberty announces new operating model for Asia Pacific

Liberty’s retail, commercial and specialty capabilities in the region are being brought together under one leadership team...

Today Liberty Mutual has announced organisational changes and strategic leadership appointments. Global Risk Solutions (GRS), the company's global commercial and specialty (re)insurer and international insurance operations has been on a multi-year transformation to intentionally deliver an integrated business rooted in underwriting excellence and risk expertise, and provide exceptional service and value to clients and broker partners.

 

These changes - designed to bring clarity, ease of access and the full breadth of the company’s capabilities to clients and brokers - include the creation of a new international insurance business division “Liberty International Insurance” led by Phil Hobbs, and the evolution of the company’s global surety operations, led by Tim Mikolajewski.   

 

The Liberty Specialty Markets and Liberty Insurance businesses in Asia Pacific are being brought together under one leadership team led by Matthew Jackson, based in Singapore. The business will continue to go to market under its existing brands, including Liberty Specialty Markets and Liberty Insurance. 

 

For 25 years Liberty Mutual has operated two businesses in the Asia Pacific region. Liberty Insurance focuses on the personal and SME commercial markets and is a retail brand in Asia. Liberty Specialty Markets provides commercial and specialty insurance across Asia and Australia. Both brands will continue to provide insurance solutions across Liberty’s broad suite of retail, commercial and specialty products.   

 

Matthew is currently the Head of Asia for Liberty Specialty Markets. Having held roles in Melbourne, Hong Kong and presently Singapore, he has a deep knowledge of the insurance market, and his 14 years in Asia means he is well positioned to lead Liberty’s retail and commercial offerings.  

 

Defne Turkes who has been leading the Liberty Insurance operations in Asia is taking on a new role as the Chief Operating Officer for Liberty’s International Insurance division. Mike Abdallah continues to lead the market-leading commercial operations of Liberty Specialty Markets in Asia Pacific that he started 25 years ago. 

 

The Asia Pacific region is projected to be the largest P&C insurance market by 2045 and a significant growth opportunity for the company. We have some incredibly talented and technically skilled team members, and this combined with Liberty Mutual’s “local first” ideology has given us the right levels of authority, capacity and decision-making speed to achieve this growth and handle the claims that naturally arise,” said Matthew Jackson. 

 

While in each market our leadership team remains unchanged, bringing our businesses together under one regional leadership team is a significant step forward for Liberty. There is no change in the way we work with our broking partners, and our distribution teams will continue to offer their full support as always. We are confident that this new structure will help us to be better connected internally and allow both brands to benefit from combined stronger capabilities, more comprehensive product offerings, and our ability to capitalise on market opportunities.

Published by

Liberty Specialty Markets, Australia.