BJS Insurance Group may have just celebrated 15 years in the insurance industry, but that hasn’t slowed down ambitious growth plans.
The 90-strong brokerage, which generates premium income of more than $100m, is planning to expand its business through acquisitions in the coming months.
“We want to grow the business in WA and NSW,” said managing director Bill de Vos,. “We will talk to a few people about that in the near future. A few brokers have said they want to sell to BJS but we have not thought they are a good fit. Some people sell because they need the money but they don’t have a succession plan.”
Vos added that a key part of the Aussie-owned brokerage’s growth strategy is recruiting graduates – a challenge in itself.
“The challenge is to attract new people. I am not always certain people know what good a career in broking is,” he said. “Young people want to do things but not insurance broking. Most people just fall into it.
”It is a real challenge to attract young people to the industry. We have a responsibility to make sure people know how valuable a career in insurance broking can be. At times we undervalue it. We talk about attracting people but we don’t always come up with solutions. We have taken it upon ourselves by hiring graduates. We have 10 so far."
Reflecting on the past 15 years, de Vos said the biggest industry changes had come in the form of the growth of authorised representatives and cluster groups.
“Ten or 15 years ago there weren’t Austbrokers and Steadfast,” he added. “The rise of the cluster group and those groups buying brokers is the biggest change.”
BJS is not the only industry player raising concerns about the future of the industry industry, with insurer Zurich also raising concerns about attracting talent into the industry.
