At least one attendee of the first Global Insurance Symposium is looking at Des Moines for a business expansion.
Raveendran Narasimhan, the managing director of ALEgION Insurance Broking Limited in India, told the Register his company is in the preliminary stages of opening an office in the Des Moines area.
He said he plans to open an office that has at least 10 employees here.
Organizers said one goal of the symposium was to show off Des Moines’ insurance prowess and Iowa’s regulatory structure. Economic development officials have courted major insurers to move operations to central Iowa or expand here.
In the last few months, Fidelity and Guaranty Life has moved here from Baltimore, and Symetra Life Insurance has relocated its official headquarters from Seattle. In addition, Athene USA decided to move 220 jobs to West Des Moines from its offices in Topeka, Kan.
When choosing a location to expand, Narasimhan said financial services companies look for three important items: a low cost of doing business, a prevalent pool of talent, and a connectivity and proximity to other financial companies.
Des Moines’ economy benefits from a large cluster of insurance and insurance-related firms. The sector employs more than 24,000 people in the Des Moines metro, according to data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
That includes major employers such as Wells Fargo and Principal Financial Group, which have invested large amounts of money into new headquarters in the region, in addition to employing thousands of people.
“For any financial services company, you have to be in a cluster,” Narasimhan said. “These big brothers are here, so I’m better off under their umbrella.”
Narasimhan is one of about 320 insurance professionals attending the Global Insurance Symposium in downtown Des Moines this week.
Greater Des Moines Partnership CEO Jay Byers said members of his organization first met with Narasimhan when the economic development organization went on a trade mission to India last year.
Byers said the event is another way organizations like his can meet with prospects and entice them to come to the community. “Not everyone has been to Des Moines, but anyone who’s been in the insurance industry knows about Des Moines,” Byers said. “This is a great time to get them here.”
The symposium, he said, also raises the city’s image as a place where important insurance issues are debated, similar to how the World Food Prize made Des Moines a notable place for discussions on agriculture and world hunger.
“More than anything, an event like this helps solidify Des Moines as a place where global insurance leaders come to discuss cutting-edge topics that are important to the industry across international boundaries,” Byers said.
As for other companies looking at Des Moines, Byers said he could not go into specifics.
“I know that there’s been a number of companies represented here who have talked about expansion opportunities,” Byers said.
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