The epicentre of global insurance

AP Companies has just opened a new office in the City of London. Can you tell us what the impetus was behind opening a London office, and why this particular location in the capital?

AP is performing well: the first half of 2025 saw year-on-year revenue growth increase by over 70%. During the last 24 months, AP has had a heavy focus on streamlining, automating and boosting efficiency using technological advances and artificial intelligence (AI). As such our focus has been service expansion and improvement. The move to the City Office in the heart of the insurance district gives AP a launchpad to demonstrate these success stories to the industry.

Historically, back in the 1600s this city saw the very beginning of insurance as we know it. It was here where ship owners would meet in Edward Lloyd’s coffee house, and later others, to discuss risks and play out events and catastrophes involving their high-value assets. The risk pooling models that were created allowed entities to act with confidence and helped drive business and economic prosperity. It’s exciting to be where it all began.

A large proportion of AP’s business is servicing maritime clients. The history of the City of London explains why numerous P&I Clubs are based near AP’s new City Office. Our location facilitates meetings with AP’s existing and potential clients from that sector. AP is known as an industry leader in the maritime sphere and positioning ourselves in the middle of somewhere so steeped in global maritime history was a natural decision.

Nowadays, the City of London, being an epicentre of global insurance, hosts the whole ecosystem of the insurance marketplace including London market insurers, Lloyd’s of London, coverholders, regulatory bodies, brokers, other intermediaries, institutions and more. Basing ourselves in the heart of this vibrant community not only increases accessibility to AP Companies and our services, but it also ensures that AP is fully aligned to, and forms part of, the latest industry news, developments and trends.

The City not only offers opportunities in terms of partners and clients, but also provides a hub of activity offering events, associations and discussions in the IPMI and travel sphere. These world-leading forums provide valuable insights into industry issues and success stories whilst fostering blue-sky thinking about the future of our industry: this all helps steer the AP vision to ensure we remain at the forefront of innovation for our clients.

The City not only offers opportunities in terms of partners and clients, but also provides a hub of activity offering events, associations and discussions in the IPMI and travel sphere

Being in such a significant location will bring a wealth of benefits. Why was it important for AP’s business strategy?

Our execution of AP’s long-term strategy has undoubtedly driven AP forward to where it is today and continues to do so.

Our strategic pillars can be summarised by Service Expansion and Improvement (enhanced service and global reach), Cost Efficiency and Quality (automation and commitment to quality), Technological Integration (digitisation and the use of AI and big data) and ensuring a Customer Centric Approach (including improved accessibility).

These pillars were central in the decision on the office location:

• The City Office increases accessibility to AP services from the global insurance hub

• Face-to-face meetings and relationships in location will ensure that AP’s innovations align with the international insurance market

• Bringing digital innovation to the UK insurance market; the AP Direct App and the AP Global Health Card provide easy and fast network access and a global cashless service. These solutions improve the claims process, whilst assisting insurers with conduct risk duties

• Physically locating in the heart of the City to foster excellent client service and meetings on cost optimisation

• Fostering long-term relationships through effective client relationship management.

AP have secured many travel insurance, P&I Clubs and IPMI clients in London over the last two decades, so this move has been in consideration for some time. The City Office launch represents our future commitment to the direction of AP as a whole and its dedication to the global insurance market. This move is not only symbolic, but is strategic in ensuring convenience, clear communication, excellent relationships and service levels.

What are AP trying to do with this new office launch, and why is it so important for the business?

Our aim is to raise awareness of AP Companies in the insurance and maritime industry. AP has seen strong, controlled expansion over the last 10 years. A large portion of this has been organic, therefore it makes sense to proactively promote our top-level service to an audience that requires refined solutions. Most companies we speak to have already worked with AP Companies in some way, shape or form: this has considerably smoothed our entrance into this market, where being accessible, known and having some kind of ‘history’ is key to a successful relationship.

At AP we know the importance of face-to-face meetings and that personal relationships foster a deep understanding of requirements, philosophies and trust. It’s extremely important to us that clients feel confident in the partnership and that both entities are truly aligned on client values and that we are delivering a service that not only meets, but goes beyond, client expectations and regulatory demands.

The global insurance market is a complex environment consisting of many types of entities. As an assistance company/TPA, AP needs to ensure that the requirements of all these differing entities are being met and that there is synergy in doing this. Physically being in the epicentre of this marketplace allows AP to meet and align with numerous stakeholders simultaneously. We see this as an integral part of ensuring the best service is being provided to all parties and thus securing our longevity in the marketplace.

How does the London office fit in with your other offices around Europe and the world?

Since insurance around the world usually feeds into the London market in some form or another (whether indirectly through reinsurance, or directly), the importance of being fully integrated in the London market is part of our global strategy to expand globally as well as in the UK.

AP has over 250 employees worldwide, with a number of regional offices and a Head Office in southern Spain. The City Office serves as a commercial hub and as a centre of excellence. It is used to demonstrate case management, TPA services, cost containment, assistance and more.

Other offices around the world are more operational, call centres to handle claims and enquiries, operations rooms for medical assistance, back offices for admin and finally, network hubs. Our strategically placed network offices are key to AP in managing relationships with medical facilities. Their locations are used to contract with these medical facilities under local law, securing discounted, local rates rather than international/insurer rates. These savings are passed onto our clients as part of our extensive cost containment strategy.

The City Office in London, in addition to the office we have in Beckenham, puts AP Companies in closer proximity to existing clients ensuring a local presence. It’s these connections that allow us to effectively handle the sophisticated requirements of the international insurance industry.

AP has seen strong, controlled expansion over the last 10 years