Australia-based insurer QBE has extended its marine offer in Europe, with products now available in Germany as well as France and the Nordics.
QBE has been strengthening its underwriting teams in several European countries. It started writing marine in France in October 2022 and in the Nordics in April 2023. Its move into Germany follows the hiring of Lars Habersaat as Marine Underwriter and Philip Specht as Senior Marine Underwriter, both based in QBE’s Hamburg office.
When those appointments were announced at the end of October, Andrea Brock, QBE Germany’s General Manager, said that “together with the European team, they will establish and develop the transport and marine portfolio in Germany. This will enable us to offer our customers needs-based insurance solutions in this area as well. This is an important step towards achieving our growth ambitions by 2025”.
According to the announcement, other European countries are expected to follow in due time, with the Netherlands as a top priority.
The team of underwriters is based across the continent and is led by Tania Bensoussan-Arthur, Marine Practice Lead – Europe, who said that “QBE has a long-standing marine business and it is very exciting for me to expand and roll out the product line locally into Germany after France and the Nordics. Trade routes are changing, cargo risks are evolving and our product aims at supporting the marine sector’s resilience. International trade requires international expertise combined with local knowledge and the European team will deliver this cross-border competence tailored to country-specific needs.”
Andrea Brock said that QBE was “delighted to further expand our wide product range in Germany to cover most business risks. While marine is an international business, many customers in that industry are based in one country, where they want to be serviced. They prefer this local approach and that’s what we want to offer them. We hope brokers are as enthusiastic as we are.”
https://qbeeurope.com/news-and-events/press-releases/qbe-expands-marine-in-europe/