Oliver James Associates expands to Singapore

Global specialist recruitment partner, Oliver James Associates has opened a new office in Singapore. With the opening, it is relocating its general insurance (GI) team from Hong Kong as part of an ambitious Asia Pacific expansion plan.

As well as specialising in general insurance underwriting and actuarial, the firm offers services in  finance, audit, risk, compliance, strategy, IT, data science and cyber security to the life and general insurance sector.

The team also continues to grow in financial services, and will expand into the e-commerce and technology sectors. The already established team is set to strengthen over the coming weeks with a succession of new hires.

Toby Weston, director at Oliver James Associates will lead the office with his experience in GI, as well as a solid background from Michael Page in London. Bringing with him impressive career progression, he moved from researcher to consultant in just five months, and was subsequently promoted five times in four years, whilst also setting up two divisions – change management and IT.

The Singapore team will be be joined by Anneliese Hambrook, who has five years’ experience in underwriting recruitment. During her time at High Finance Group, Hambrook specialised in the London and Lloyd’s underwriting markets. She’ll continue her work in this field, partnering with multinational insurers, reinsurers and brokerages to place senior underwriters and brokers.

In the press release, Weston stated: “This is an exciting time for our growth, as we look to build on our esteemed position in the APAC region. With Anneliese bolstering our offering, there’s every reason to expect great success”.

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Adding on, Jonny Plews, board director at Oliver James Associates APAC commented that “Singapore and Hong Kong are two of the most important markets in Asia, and although we already do business there, it’s a fraction of what we can accomplish by basing Toby at the helm”.

The firm has also announced the addition of a Thailand office situated in the Bhiraj Tower at EmQuartier. Calling on the experience of Richard Stepney, director of Oliver James Associates, the team will focus on actuarial services, before branching out into all facets of insurance recruitment. The plans are to be bolstered by an aggressive recruitment drive; four consultants are planned in quarter 1 2017, and a further four in quarter 2.

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