“Howden is best known for its commitment to maintain their high end reputation by providing world class expertise and excellent service”

“Howden is best known for its commitment to maintain their high end reputation by providing world class expertise and excellent service”

"Howden is best known for its commitment to maintain their high end reputation by providing world class expertise and excellent service"

Year 2003 witnessed the introduction of Broker for the first time in the Indian Insurance Market. The objective of introducing this new distribution channel was to provide customers and insurers alike, access to a professional intermediary who could intermediate between clients and insurers on one hand and between insurers and reinsurers on the other. The opening of the insurance market to brokers brought its own set of challenges. Accepting this challenge was Howden Insurance Brokers India Pvt Ltd, one of the early insurance brokers to have established a presence in India in 2004.  "In the beginning, it was difficult to convince clients about the benefits of engaging a broker. However, with time, our professionals were able to drive home their point" says Praveen Vashishta, Chairman – India, Turkey, Middle East& Africa, at Howden Broking Group. From being the first in the industry to insure an IPO in 2004 to commoditizing D&O policies to becoming the market leader in Liability Insurance, Howden India has come a long way. "If you had a heart problem, where would you go – cardiologist or general physician?This was a frequent question posed by HOWDEN India to potential clients in the beginning when the concept of Liability Insurance was not very popular. We are the cardiologist in the space of Liability Insurance. We are super specialists," says Praveen Vashishta.

Today, thirteen years after the market opened up to allow brokers, the broking industry is quite well recognized for the value that it adds. Howden Insurance Brokers India Private Limited (Howden India), a group company of Howden Broking Group, the broking arm of Hyperion Insurance Group headquartered in the UK enjoys a first-rate reputation as a market leader in its specialist areas. A reputation built on an uncompromising philosophy of focus, expertise and service. The company is committed to maintaining this first class reputation by providing world class expertise and excellent service. As Mr Vashishta puts it "We combine our strengths and our people around the world to deliver solutions locally. Commitment is at the core of our endeavour. No matter what a client's business is, or how difficult the situation, we give it everything we have. We are not just interested in winning a client's business; we want to make sure the client stays with us".

The world's largest employee owned Insurance group, Hyperion is present in over 40 countries across the word. Howden offers risk management, risk consulting, insurance broking, insurance portfolio management and claims management services aimed at protecting the balance sheet of a wide range of businesses and professional service organizations. The Company operates through four business Verticals:

  • Liability & Special Risks
  • Construction & Property Insurance
  • Employee Benefits
  • Reinsurance

With its corporate office in Mumbai, Howden operates through regional offices in metro cities such as New Delhi, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Pune, Chennai and Kolkata. Howden is well equipped to help their clients identify their risks, measure them and recommend mitigation strategies to either reduce those risks or transfer risks through Insurance. As Mr Vashishta says,  "When engaged to represent a customer, we are able to produce outstanding results thanks to our large team of professionals who possess unique skills in risk management, product design, insurance placement and claims settlement. Our clients include large IT firms, E-Commerce players, Manufacturing Companies, Pharmaceutical Companies, Infrastructure Development Companies, and Financial Institutions, including Private Equity / Venture Capital Firms, Real Estate & SEZ Developers, Oil & Energy Production & Distribution Companies."

An Edge Above others

What makes Howden stand out in the crowd is its excellent cross functional team, which is structured around verticals, with highly qualified advisors providing quality advice for every requirement of their clients. Howden India is led by an experienced, multidisciplinary team of professionals drawn from the fields of finance, law, insurance, reinsurance, financial services, information technology, engineering, loss prevention and possesses the requisite experience, technical skills and professionalism to provide its customers with robust insurance solutions. With such an outstanding team of professionals, they have been able to successfully render a helping hand to several clients who required professional assistance related to risk management and insurance.

Additionally, the company's seamless connection with Howden Broking Group worldwide puts them in a tactically strong position in supporting all Indian Insurers as well as the GIC Re (National Re-insurer) in seeking facultative and treaty reinsurance capacity from international markets. Howden also introduces inward reinsurance business to GIC Re and Indian Insurers from Asia, Africa and Middle-East.

Over the years, Howden has served several leading conglomerates, like, TATA, Infosys, HCL, Ashok Leyland, MRF, Apollo Tyres, Snapdeal, PayTM, MAX Hospitals, Columbia Asia Hospitals, Moser Baer, L&T, HCC to name a few. Howden recently placed the reinsurance for the prestigious Mumbai Metro project.

An ISO 9001:2015 Certified Company

Howden India is amongst the first Insurance broking companies to receive the ISO 9001:2015 certificate for its quality management system. "This is a great achievement and clearly demonstrates our commitment to provide quality services to our customers in a systematic and process-driven manner," says Praveen Vashishta. "The ISO 9001:2015 certification shows just how far we'll go to ensure the best quality of work for all of our clients and we're proud of what we've achieved."

Technology Solutions at Howden

  • Howden Benefits:This flagship Online Portal offers Employees the freedom to view their insurance coverage details, download e-cards and claim forms, find out Network Hospitals and enrol mid-year dependents. Howden Benefits also offers HR and Administrators features to add new joiners and remove leavers from the insurance policy and access to various reports to better understand claims.
  • Howden Benefits Mobile App: Available on Android and iOS platform, this easy to use Mobile App allows Employees to access various information related to Health Insurance Policy. The Mobile App also provides access to various Wellness Calculators allowing users to better understand their health profile.
  • Client Management Solutions: Client Management Solutions provides an online, real time information database which manages individual policies, claims and the implementation of risk management strategies to help clients manage and control a highly effective insurance programme. It contains relevant general insurance information, downloadable claim forms and other necessary insurance documents useable by risk managers and insurance administrators accessible from anywhere in the world. Useful features include high level Management Summary Reports that can be tailored to individual requirements

Howden India is led by –

Praveen Vashishta, Co-founder Howden India & Chairman – India, Turkey, Middle East & Africa, Howden Broking Group

Praveen Vashishta has worked for the Insurance, Financial Services, and Risk Management industry for over 34 years. Apart from being the founding Managing Director of Howden India, he is currently the Chairman – India, Turkey, Middle East & Africa Region at Howden Broking Group. Praveen serves on the international Board of the Howden Group in the UK. A management trainee of the 1983 class of General Insurance Corporation of India, Praveen worked with Oriental Insurance Company in India for 13 years. Thereafter he joined the Zurich Financial Services (ZFS) group, Switzerland where he worked for 7 years before joining Howden Group in late 2003. At Zurich, he held various positions including that of the Managing Director of Zurich Risk Management Services India Private Limited, Chief Representative of India and Member of Zurich's Corporate Customer Practice Board for Asia-Pacific. He served on the Board of Zurich Trustee Company (India) Private Limited, a company responsible for overseeing the operations of the Zurich India Mutual Fund. Praveen is a member of the managing committee of the Bombay Chambers of Commerce Industry, the oldest industry chamber in India and is the Chairman of the "Insurance Healthcare" committee of Bombay Chambers. He is an alumnus of the University of Delhi and the Wharton Business School, USA.

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