BMS, the London-based independent specialist insurance and reinsurance broker, announced it has launched operations in Turkey.
Called BMS Sigorta ve Reasürans Brokerliği, or “BMS Turkey,” the business is headquartered in Istanbul.
Servet Gurkan, chairman, will lead the new operation along with Tamer Saka and Kerim Gurkan, reporting to Peregrine Towneley, chairman of International Operations, in London.
The new company will focus on specialty lines where the team has identified opportunities, together with facultative and treaty reinsurance services, supported by the group’s hubs in London and elsewhere.
BMS Turkey’s Executive Team
Gurkan has held leadership roles in underwriting and broking businesses in Turkey for almost four decades including as CEO of Aon Re Turkey and most recently as chairman and CEO of JLT Turkey. Beyond his career in the broking industry, he has also established numerous insurance companies in Turkey and in Cyprus.
With extensive experience in insurance, Saka is a former managing director of Willis for Turkey and the Eurasian region and of managing general agent ProRisk. He has also served in a number of senior roles in Turkish industrial conglomerates, most recently at Sabanci Holdings since 2018, as president of its cement operation, and between 2014 and 2018 at Kibar Holding, where he was CEO.
After starting his career with Ferrari, Gurkan worked as a management consultant at Bain & Co., Italy, and was a managing director and a key producer for JLT Turkey. He recently held a senior leadership role in Flixbus, Europe’s top mobility provider.
“Establishing BMS in Turkey is a key milestone and represents our initial expansion into the Near and Middle East, as well as a bridge to the Commonwealth of Independent States and neighbouring countries,” commented Nick Cook, CEO of BMS. “It is our intention to build a truly regional business and to provide our existing and future customers with a specialty and reinsurance service of proven professionalism and resilience.”
Source: BMS Group
Photograph: Aerial view of Istanbul’s business district.
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