Fee and commission income (1999):

Fee and commission income (1999):
£28.1m

Pre-tax profit (1999):
£269,000

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

Major shareholders:
Directors and employees – 74%, AHJ Investments – 26%

Chief officer:
Graham McKean, chairman

Company history:
The BMS Group is an independent, employee-owned broking and advisory company founded in 1980. The first company in the group, Ballantyne McKean & Sullivan, is a specialist North American non-marine treaty reinsurance broker, which 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 operations, including the acquisition in 1997 of BMS Harris and Dixon Insurance Brokers, itself one of the longest-established broking firms in the world.

Main lines of business:
The group handles a wide variety of international reinsurance, binding authority marine and non-marine business.

Notable specialisms include property catastrophe, professional liability, accident and health and financial lines. In the UK the group specialises in employee benefit consulting and the design and implementation of affinity and loyalty schemes. The group also arranges reinsurance for many Lloyd's syndicates and London market companies.

Number of UK branches:
Two

Number of employees (average for 1999):
326