Consilium taps Aon veteran to lead new Cayman office
International re/insurance broker Consilium, part of the $1.5 billion Aventum Group, has announced it has opened an office in Cayman and has hired Caymanian Yaremis Hydes as its managing partner, to lead the office.
Hydes will join Consilium following her notice period from Aon where she was a director of its Cayman operations for seven years, specialising in property & casualty and employee benefits. She has more than 17 years’ experience of broking in these specialist lines in Cayman.
Consilium said that it brings with it not only direct access to the local insurance market but also to the London and European Insurance markets for much needed additional capacity.
The broker’s focus in the region will be in the financial and professional lines, construction, residential strata and commercial property sectors, drawing on its established expertise in these lines, as well as group medical and ancillary benefits.
Consilium secured its licence in Cayman in July 2023. It expects the office to be five people by the end of 2024 and will recruit further as demand requires, to ensure that customer experience and service are industry leading.
James Baird, joint chief executive of Consilium said: “Cayman is a thriving economy and one of the most sophisticated financial and professional services markets in the world. The economy and population are growing at a rate that many other countries will envy. With this growth comes construction, infrastructure projects, societal needs and financial and professional services transactions, where insurance has a vital role to play.
“The insurance industry in Cayman has and is traditionally a captive management market dominated by the big global brokers and a few other specialists focused on this sector.
"In more recent times we have seen consolidation of the limited number of insurance broking businesses meaning there is less choice for the client base.
"This presents a significant opportunity and makes Cayman a great jurisdiction for Consilium to put boots on the ground. We are bringing the London and European insurance market closer to Cayman clients alongside the insurers in the region, in a strategic and collaborative way under the Consilium brand.”
He continued: “We’re delighted to welcome Yaremis on board. She is strongly entrepreneurial and where other more corporate organisations may stifle entrepreneurialism, we want Yaremis and her colleagues to unleash this potential and paint their canvas with our colours to best serve the Cayman client and insurer community, rather than external shareholders.”
Consilium said it will also be investing in the customer experience, to challenge how technology can drive efficiencies not only for clients but also its insurer partners, so that service standards are industry leading.
Consilium is now licensed across most of the world’s financial centres and offshore jurisdictions. It became licensed in Guernsey in 2022 and Jersey in 2023.
Consilium reported compound growth rate of 39% since 2019 and has seen an 85% increase in headcount since June 2022 with further recruitment planned for next year.
The speciality broker said that it expects to see a further 45% growth in 2024 and is currently already ahead of budget for Q1 23/24 and on target to now reach $1.4 billion GWP by 2026.
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