LSM accelerates European expansion with Oslo office

Liberty Specialty Markets is looking north in 2025 by opening an office in Oslo as it accelerates its expansion plans in Europe.

The new office will work with commercial insurance brokers in Norway, Sweden and Finland, offering a wide range of First- and Third-party products.

Rob Groenen, the general manager for Benelux & Nordics at LSM, says that the company has identified an opportunity in the region as it is seeing increased demand for capacity from corporate buyers in recent years of market volatility.

In his view, LSM’s commitment to remain by its clients’ side no matter the circumstances will be well received by Nordic buyers for whom it is becoming more difficult to find adequate coverage of late.

“We are not entering the region to make a quick buck,” Groenen says. “As mutual insurers, our strategy is to nurture long-term relationships in the market.”

The decision to open an Oslo office does not mean that LSM is a newcomer in the market. For years, the firm has provided coverage for Nordic companies from the office led by Groenen in The Hague.

However, the company concluded that the opportunities created by the existing coverage gaps in the region can be maximized by having underwriters and claims people on the ground, staying in permanent contact with brokers and getting better acquainted with the risk environment faced by companies in the region.

In fact, the new office will not be created from scratch either. In early 2024, Liberty Mutual’s surety arm made an important acquisition in Norway, strengthening the group’s presence in the Nordic market. The acquired firm, House of Guarantees, an MGA, had been issuing surety contracts for Liberty Mutual Surety for the previous five years.

Daniel Unstad, the former COO of House of Guarantees, was picked to head Liberty Mutual’s Oslo office and is also leading LSM’s expansion in the region. Having previously worked as both in business development at a Lloyd`s Syndicate and as a Lloyd`s broker in London, he believes that the firm’s surety footprint, comprised of a portfolio of around 450 customers, provides a valuable launching pad for the expansion of the group’s presence in the commercial insurance market.

“We have noticed that many of our surety clients could also benefit from LSM’s insurance products,” Unstad said. “Gathering the two activities in the same place fits perfectly with our Invest in Europe strategy and also with the worldwide One Liberty initiative.”

Invest in Europe is LSM’s strategy to invest in the development of its activities in the European continent until 2030. The Nordic region office is the latest step in the strategy and will soon be followed by the establishment of a presence in Belgium. Currently the company operates from Paris, Cologne, Madrid, Zurich, Milan and The Hague, with the European headquarters based in Luxembourg.

The insurance offering from Oslo will start with D&O, FI, professional indemnity and other financial lines. A strong cyber insurance proposition is also in play, according to Groenen. 

Other priority areas are energy and construction, with a focus on the renewable industry, which is making fast inroads in the region. At the same time, LSM will carry on working with the energy sector, a crucial part of the Norwegian economy.

The company has already hired two experienced underwriters to boost its presence in the region. At least three or four more will be added to the team, always with a similar profile: professionals with a strong trajectory in their respective markets who can deliver rigorous, technical underwriting that can ensure the solidity of the firm’s risk portfolio.

“As in our other European operations, we want to build in Oslo a business that is sustainable in the long-term,” Groenen says. “Maximizing growth ranks only third place in our list of priorities, following integrity and profitability.”

Unstad says that this the right moment for the Nordic push. Firstly, because since Brexit, it is more difficult for companies to purchase cross-border insurance. As a result, LSM has identified a client need for insurers to bolster European-based capacity.

“A second factor is that, since the beginning of 2024, we have seen increased need for capacity from brokers in both Sweden and in Norway, due to changing market dynamics,” Unstad says. “A gap has been created that has not been filled, and that is where we want to be.”

Groenen stresses that LSM’s goal is not only to fill this coverage gap, but also to make sure that it does not happen again. If anything, the company’s approach to any new market is one of providing a steady sense of reliability.

“Liberty does not want to come into a market when the premiums go up and then withdraw from it when the situation changes,” he says. “We want to establish a relationship with brokers and clients for as long as possible. In some countries, we have been working with the same brokers and the same clients for decades.”

In that sense, Norway seems to be an ideal market to create long term relationships. A stable democracy and one of the richest countries in the world, Norway is now transitioning to a new, greener model thanks to innovative investments boosted by a large sovereign wealth fund. The latter factor, in fact, squarely meets one of LSM’s main missions as a company.

“We are dedicated to the energy transition,” Groenen says. “We are willing to help renewable energy companies to grow and to cover their operational risks.”

Initially, LSM’s Oslo office will focus its efforts on Norway, but the goal is to quickly move on to bringing in cross-border business from neighbouring Sweden. Finland, which presents language challenges, will be the third stop. 

Groenen says that Denmark is today well covered by LSM’s The Hague office and clients will always have the option to chose where they want to be served from. In the future, however, the goal is to provide services to the four markets out of Oslo.

Unstad says that hirings for the new office are under way, both of underwriters and members of the claims and back-office teams. With 11 people dedicated to the surety activity, the plan is to have up to two dozen people working in Norway by 2028. 

In order to attract talent, the company will emphasise being one of the best places to work, emphasizing aspects of its corporate culture and values.

“Putting people first is in our DNA,” Groenen says. “We want to give people an opportunity to work with us in an in a safe and a stable environment, so that they will be committed to staying with us for a long period.”

The next step for the company is to create a new office in Antwerp, where, similarly to Oslo, the surety side of the business has already given the group an important foothold to build on.