Top 50 Brokers 2017: #10 Lockton

Chief executive: Neil Nimmo

Brokerage: £270.8m

Management

The past year has seen significant management changes on both sides of the Atlantic at Lockton.

Mike Hammond, who had been the US owned broker’s UK chief executive from its acquisition of Alexander Forbes’ international business in 2006 until last year, announced that he was retiring from the company. Hammond had already handed over the chief executive’s role to Neil Nimmo in 2016 but this year announced that he was stepping down as chairman of Lockton’s international operations.

Meanwhile at Lockton’s Kansas headquarters, group chief executive Glenn Spencer announced that he had left the company “for personal reasons”. This cleared the way for vice-chairman Ron Lockton, son of the firm’s late founder Jack, to fill the role in line with the company’s succession plan.

Strategy

Lockton has enjoyed a strong 12 months. A 21.7% increase in brokerage income to £270.8m enabled the company to break into the top ten of the Top 50 Brokers league table.

Nimmo has spoken about a selective “investment, nurturing and repositioning” of certain parts of the business, such as marine and aviation.

Lockton bolstered its presence in Scotland, where it already employed more than 40 insurance and risk management professionals in its Glasgow and Edinburgh offices, by opening up a new branch in Aberdeen, which will complement the company’s global London-based energy team.

And the appointment last September of Stuart Wright, former European chief executive of WR Berkley Insurance, to head its underwriting agency Mapledown points to Lockton’s growth ambitions there.