Howden announces entry into the Japanese retail broking and captive consulting and management markets with acquisition of Foresight and appointment of Takuya Aibe

Tokyo, 17 September, 2024 – Howden announces its launch into the Japanese retail insurance broking and captive consulting and management markets with the acquisition of Foresight Holdings Co. Ltd (“Foresight”) and the appointment of Takuya Aibe as CEO of Howden Japan’s retail business. Takuya Aibe held a number of senior positions at Marsh Japan for over 20 years and was most recently CEO, Gallagher Japan. This underlines Howden’s strategy to develop its retail offering with specialty and captive expertise in Japan by investing in local, high-quality businesses and talented teams.

Foresight, founded in 2005, is a group of companies licensed to offer retail brokerage services, enabling Howden to provide innovative retail risk solutions to Japanese clients. The group is also structured to offer captive consulting services in Japan and captive management services in Micronesia, Singapore and Hawaii. 

Foresight is headquartered in Tokyo with 17 staff across six offices and a management team that have previously held senior roles at leading Japanese insurance companies; it manages captives for 13 large Japanese corporates.

This acquisition follows that of ARM Holdings in February 2024, one of the largest independent insurance managers in Europe and a specialist in the formation and management of insurance captives. Howden now manages approximately 100 captives globally.

Howden announced its entrance into the Japanese market in July 2024 with the appointment of Kentaro Tada as CEO, Howden Japan, the launch of Howden Re Japan and the strategic capital partnership with Keystone ILS.  Howden Re Japan will provide reinsurance brokerage services to life and non-life companies, strategic advice leveraging data, analytics and capital markets expertise, and comprehensive ILS services tailored to various requirements in the Japanese market. 

Kentaro Tada, CEO, Howden Japan, commented: "Partnering with Foresight represents a big leap forward in the development of a broader offering for our Japanese clients, and means Howden Japan can now offer retail broking and captive management services alongside its reinsurance and ILS capabilities. Hamada-San has created a company with an enviable reputation and highly accomplished team that will help us drive Howden Japan forward at pace. “We are delighted to welcome Aibe-san and believe that his many years of experience working with international brokers, combined with Howden’s global platform, will enable Howden Japan to best serve its retail customers.” 

Kenichiro Hamada, CEO, Foresight said: “After almost twenty years of developing our business, joining with Howden is the next significant step in our growth journey.  It means that together, we can leverage the full force of our expertise and Howden’s global capabilities, enabling us to better serve clients and develop a leading market position in a highly fragmented captive market.”

Takuya Aibe, CEO, Howden Japan Retail said: “I am very excited to join Howden at a time when the role of insurance brokers in Japan has never been more promising. I look forward to using my experience to serve our Japanese clients and contribute to the expansion of Howden Japan.”