SUCCESSFUL local insurance brokerage firm Risk Management Services Ltd (RMS) had its merger with international insurance giants Gallagher and regional group Gallagher Caribbean consummated before a cocktail ceremony in St Clair recently.
Gallagher Caribbean CEO Michael Thornhill, Gallagher Insurance Brokers Trinidad managing director Christian Low (formerly RMS managing director), Trade Minister Paula Gopee-Scoon and a host of private and public dignitaries gathered at Veronique's in St Clair on September 15 to celebrate the formal merger.
Arthur J Gallagher & Co is a nearly century-old US-based global insurance brokerage, risk management and consulting services firm, with a regional subsidiary Gallagher Caribbean Group.
Gallagher Caribbean has worked on regional accounts with RMS since the mid-1990s, up the merger.
RMS was established in 1977, a year before its first board meeting.
Low gave some insight into the eventual merger, saying, "Since my joining (RMS) in May 1990, I am proud to have witnessed and be associated with the remarkable growth of the number of people that we now have on our team, servicing our clients for both their local and international needs within the insurance market."
He said the relationship between the two parties began in the early '90s "out of a need for similar professional insurance brokerage and risk management services within the Caribbean.
"(We at RMS) were charged with doing many things with looking at the insurances in all these islands and making sure that the company's clients were properly fixed."
It was during this time that RMS sought to expand its regional presence.
"History will show that we tried (and) it was not successful both in Jamaica and Guyana... and we decided that we will continue to do the servicing. By that stage, 2007, I was introduced to Matthew Pragnell (then managing director of CGM Group, a merger of a Barbadian and Jamaican firm). (CGM) was already way more advanced than us in doing this concept of a Caribbean broker, and hence, that's where the relationship started between CGM, Gallagher now, and RMS.
"I'll let you all know it took 13 years of courtship before we actually merged our operations with Gallagher," a duration of time necessary for both parties to ensure they were entering into an ideal partnership.
Low and his team will continue to operate from their current location under the direction of Pragnell, group CEO of Gallagher in the Caribbean.
Meanwhile, Thornhill reasserted Gallagher's stamp of approval, saying, "(I can) honestly say, when we look for merger partners like Christian (Low) and the RMS team, we evaluate them against (Gallagher's 25 core values), and (we're) so proud that Christian's team fits that mould perfectly.
"That's why come together fairly seamless over the last couple of years, although nothing is seamless through covid.
"(We're) very happy now to be in Trinidad (and are) firmly committed...with further investment in Trinidad to come in the months and years."
Thornhill said, in keeping
