Barrie & Hibbert taking a larger slice of American pie

A SCOTTISH financial risk consultancy is to step up its two-year drive into the United States after picking up a further brace of big insurance clients.

Edinburgh-based Barrie & Hibbert, which opened its New York office in 2008, said it also planned to diversify from its predominantly insurance-focused client base into asset management in the US this year.

The group provides computer software and consultancy services for clients to examine their financial risk models – a huge growth sector following the turmoil in the industry.

Barrie & Hibbert – which was founded by Andrew Barrie and John Hibbert – said its US expansion plan comes after signing up insurance giants Prudential and ING across the Atlantic in the past 12 months.

Andy Frepp, B&H's chief executive, said the group had gone from a standing start in the US to having "just under half" of the top 30 insurance groups across the Pond using its services, including Pacific Life.

By some estimates, the group already services two-thirds of the UK insurance industry and more than half the European sector.

Frepp said: "It has gone very positively in America. We are now looking to convert as many of the other top 30 into clients as we can."

He added that there was also room to expand in the second tier of American insurers.

B&H, which employs 50 people at its Edinburgh headquarters, is already the UK and European market leader in its field.

In the upsurge in business from worried financial firms in the wake of the credit crunch and additional sector volatility, the group also opened satellite offices in London and Hong Kong.

Frepp said B&H's American expansion had benefited from the US having similar financial risk model requirements to Europe, even if the regulatory framework was different. Among its big European clients are Allianz, AIG, Axa and Aegon, owner of Scottish Equitable.

However, the company said there had been challenges to overcome across the Atlantic.

Frepp added: "Many US businesses already have in-house teams who do the complex modelling software. Displacing an in-house team can be an uphill task."