Miller targets maturation of Japan, South Korea operations

Miller’s expansion in Asia has seen the business establish an onshore presence in Japan in 2022 and enter the Korean market in 2025.

Despite their relatively recent entry into these markets, Miller’s presence has grown quickly in both, says Ron Whyte, Miller’s Head of Asia, who adds the broker is exploring new opportunities to drive continued growth in the countries.

Unlike in Singapore, Miller’s client base in both Japan and Korea is mostly retail. “Singapore, which is our most mature business in Asia, pretty much mirrors the specialty lines in London. We now have what we want in place for this market, so we are consolidating that and building on that,” says Whyte.

“All of the products that we have launched in Singapore will naturally follow in our other APAC territories in due course, if we don’t already have them.”

Miller first secured its onshore presence in Japan in 2022 with the purchase of Lead, a marine insurance broker.

Last year, the broker started to build out its non-marine business in the country, appointing Kazuhiko Shinkai and Satoshi Watanabe to do so.

The five-strong non-marine team is an important component of Miller’s strategy to develop the Japanese market in line with other key hubs.

Whyte says that the team covers all product lines that Miller currently offers elsewhere, though it has a particular focus on P&C, financial lines, renewable energy, sports and entertainment.

He adds that Miller will continue to build out its Japan business in a “measured way” across other specialist lines, where it makes sense to do so. An immediate focus for the broker is to develop reinsurance capability.

“Japan is a very exciting market with lots of changes going on. We intend to capitalise on that.”

Ron Whyte

Miller’s Head of Asia

Longer-term, the business also plans to review the way its retail products are sold in the country. Whyte says that approximately 90% of all retail business is done through agencies, many tied to larger corporations. While there are no established plans to reassess this distribution model, the APAC executive says that it is something that will be on the cards for a future date.

Changing market conditions could present an opportunity. A couple of big scandals in 2023, most notably fraud at Bigmotor and a massive price-fixing scandal, have encouraged regulators to look at opening up the broker market to outside competition.

“Japan is a very exciting market with lots of changes going on. We intend to capitalise on that,” says Whyte. “However, while there is a lot happening, we are aware that change is never dramatic. Penetrating a market like Japan will just take time.”

Korea

Korea is a much newer office for Miller, having only been opened at the start of the year. However, Whyte says the pace of growth has been far higher in the country than it has been in Japan.

“As much as we need to show patience as we build in Japan, things can happen – and indeed are happening – much quicker in Korea,” says Whyte. “We’ve got off to a really good, dynamic start and we’re excited about the future in the country.”

Nonetheless, many of the characteristics of the two markets are similar, says Whyte. For instance, both countries are based on the dominance of large corporations and large insurance companies, with scope to disrupt this status quo.

In July, Miller launched a marine team in Korea. More recently the broker has been focusing on developing its infrastructure business in Korea. It has also been looking at expanding its P&C, affinity, political risk, sports and entertainment and cyber lines in the country, says Whyte.

Deeper, not broader

Whyte says there are no plans for further expansion into other geographies.

“We don’t want to grow in many different places. We would rather grow deep in each of the countries that we are in,” says Whyte.

The period over the next six to 12 months will be about “bedding down and consolidating what we’ve already got”, says Whyte.

One priority for Miller across each of its three core markets in APAC is the continued development of its energy and construction business.

This year, Miller’s Singapore hub has enjoyed considerable success in sector, Whyte says. This included reinsuring the world’s largest integrated solar and battery storage facility, which was done in partnership with Terra Solar Philippines and Swiss Re.

“This was a great high-profile win for us,” says Whyte. “Looking forward, I think we can all be fairly optimistic about the forthcoming opportunities in power and infrastructure, which is a growing area across all the economies of Asia.” This is important for future success.

“Underwriting construction projects is a non-renewing business,” he says. “Today’s favours can become tomorrow’s duties when you’ve had a nice win. That said, the ongoing opportunities are sufficient that each year there should be enough out there so that we are confident of a sustainable book.”