22. BMS Associates

22. BMS Associates
Fee and comm income (2001): £33.1m

Pre-tax profit (2001): £3.0m

Address: Latham House
16 Minories
London
EC3N 1AX
Tel: 020 7480 7288
Fax: 020 7488 9837
020 7480 5207

Email: firstname.lastname@bmsgroup.com

Website: www.bmsgroup.com

History: The BMS Group is an independent, employee-owned broking and advisory organisation founded in 1980. The founding company of the group, Ballantyne McKean & Sullivan, is a specialist North American non-marine treaty reinsurance broker, and was admitted as a Lloyd's broker in 1984.

Since then, a programme of expansion and diversification has seen the formation and acquisition of several further specialist broking units, including the acquisition in 1997 of BMS Harris & Dixon Insurance Brokers, itself one of the longest-established broking firms in the world.

Chief officer: John Spencer, group chief executive.

Major shareholders: Directors and employees own 79% AHJ Investments Ltd owns 21%

Main lines of business: Specialist businesses within the BMS Group handle a wide variety of international reinsurance, binding authority and insurance programme business with particular expertise in classes such as property catastrophe, professional liability, marine, accident & health and financial risks.

Main geographic concentrations are US, Canada and Europe (including Eastern Europe and the Mediterranean).

Number of UK branches: 1

Number of employees (average for 2001): 300