Christy Lai, Colin Dawson and Daniel Chong

To cater to an increasing business portfolio and a more complex yacht insurance market, The George Group, in partnership with Howden, has announced that Christy Lai has joined the team in Hong Kong. With her background in insurance and administration, she will be assisting Daniel Chong in looking after clients’ needs.

Managing Director Colin Dawson said: “As quality cover and excellent client service are at the top of our priority list, it’s important we maintain a suitable team in place to, hopefully, exceed the expectations of our clients. The yacht insurance market continues to harden, with many insurers pulling out of the sector and others restricting what they will insure, for higher premiums.”

The George Group aims to work closely with the insurance market and clients to put programmes in place that provide excellent cover while at the same time helping owners avoid accidents in the first place. 

Specialising in yacht insurance for the past 26 years, Dawson has witnessed the market go from the last ‘hard’ market to one that was very flexible with cheap cover to what is now the highest premiums and tightest underwriting seen in 25 years.

While these market conditions seem alien and unreasonable to many owners, insurance costs still tend to be less than 10 per cent of the annual operating costs of a yacht, meaning they continue to be one of the cheapest aspects of ownership.

“The people who look after your yacht insurance are as important as the insurers providing cover,” said Dawson, who runs The Elephant Foundation and San Fernando Race Foundation, both Hong Kong-registered charities.

“Generally, it’s their relationships, knowledge and experience that solves problems and The George Group aims to provide this in a bespoke package to suit most owners who are serious about their covers.”

www.howdenhk.com