Company Profile - Knight Insurance Brokers SA

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The Knight family has been providing insurance cover on the Costa del Sol since 1966, when founder John Knight became a member of the College of Insurance Agents in Málaga.

John first visited Spain in 1959, during a break from his U.K. boarding school, after his father had emigrated and settled in Fuengirola. By the time he was twenty-one John had set up his own multi-faceted business as a property administrator, gestoría, interpreter and insurance agent. For several years this provided great business experience and proved a big success and, in 1972, one of his clients, who owned a small Royal Insurance agency in Fuengirola, persuaded John to buy his business.

After this he found that the insurance aspect of his career took up more and more of his time, so John gradually wound down the other facets of the business, opening another office in San Pedro de Alcántara in 1973 (photo below right). Between them the two branches handled most of the expatriate personal lines insurance on the Costa del Sol, a client base that massively increased during the nineteen-seventies and eighties.

In the mid eighties John’s son, Roy, decided that his future also lay in the world of insurance, so he attended the College of Insurance Agents in Barcelona to qualify as a broker.

By this time it was obvious that the financial well being of so many clients could only be adequately provided for if John and Roy became free agents, able to offer a range of alternatives based on individual requirements. In 1988 Knight Insurance Brokers S.A. was formed with John and Roy Knight as directors.

The nineteen-nineties proved to be a decade of geographical expansion, with yet another agency acquired in Nerja, which bolstered the Costa del Sol network. In 1996 the Knights extended their business to the Costa Blanca, opening branches in Ciudad Quesada and Campello and in 1997 they took over Crystal Insurance in Torrevieja. Later that same year they acquired CSS’s portfolio of business - involving nearly a dozen branches on both the Costa Blanca and the Costa del Sol - an unplanned opportunity that extended the reach of Knight Insurance Brokers S.A. even further than John and Roy had originally intended, and in 2001 the Costa Blanca brokers Sullivan Brown ceased trading and the company took over their business portfolio.

The Knights became a trio in 1998 when John’s daughter, Susan, decided to join the family firm after a few years at the University of Granada. She was awarded her broker’s licence in 2000.

Max Pemberton of Nerja was an old contact of John’s, so when he decided to retire and to pass on his insurance business in 2004 it didn’t take the pair long to reach an agreement. Max’s offices were picturesquely located near the Parador in Nerja, so the Knights decided to move in there themselves.

Even more progress was made the following year, when Knight Insurance Brokers extended to Mojacar and Mallorca after purchasing respectively Albor Uno S.L.’s and Direct Insurance S.L.’s portfolios. The Fuengirola branch was also expanded, thanks to the purchase of Lifestyle Garage’s book of insurance business.

John, Roy and Susan regularly visit each of the branches and maintain personal contact with their clients and staff. After forty years in the business, John is convinced that their success is based on the solid relationships that he has established.

Much has been achieved since 1965: Knight Insurance Brokers S.A. has more than fifty thousand clients on its books and works closely with many of the larger insurance companies, including the American group Liberty Mutual, (formerly Royal & Sun Alliance in Spain), Zurich (formerly Eagle Star), Groupama, (which includes Commercial Union and Plus Ultra) and Reale (formerly Aegon). Ties have also been forged with the international insurance market, in particular via Lloyds of London.

It’s not surprising that today Knight Insurance Brokers S.A. is a valued institution with a high profile, particularly among its thousands of satisfied expatriate clients.