Nasdaq-listed Willis Towers Watson (WTW), a global advisory, broking and solutions company, has received insurance regulator IRDAI’s approval for a transaction leading to its acquisition of the remaining 51 per cent shareholding in Willis Towers Watson India Insurance Brokers Private Limited (WTW India).
Consequent to the closure of this transaction, WTW India is now wholly owned by WTW.
Vivek Nath’s appointment
Effective Monday (April 11 ), Vivek Nath has been appointed as WTW’s Head of India.
Nath will take over from Rohit Jain who will continue to be involved in WTW India as a director on the board of WTW India. Nath will relocate from Singapore to Gurugram in mid-2022.
It maybe recalled that the Union Budget 2019-20 has permitted 100 per cent foreign direct investment (FDI) in insurance intermediaries.
Consequently, the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) amended the FDI policy in February 2020 to allow 100 per cent FDI for insurance intermediaries, which includes insurance broking, third party administrators, surveyors and loss assessors.
With this acquisition, WTW has added the insurance broking operation to its portfolio of businesses and operations in India which currently employs over 4,000 people. These include its HR, benefits advisory, risk and insurance consulting businesses and WTW’s Global Delivery Centres across India.
WTW owned 49 per cent shares earlier and 51 per cent was owned by Anemone Holdings. In November 2021, WTW signed an agreement to acquire remaining 51 per cent shares in WTW India.
On Vivek Nath’s appointment, Clare Muhiudeen, Head of Asia, WTW, said: “Our business in Asia continues to grow and India is a key strategic market for us. As we drive our business growth in India, Vivek’s strong experience in leading the Southeast Asia and South Asia markets will be a key asset when he starts to focus on accelerating the growth of our businesses in India. He will be responsible for all WTW local businesses in India and bring together the communities of our talented colleagues in all WTW entities to collaborate and transform our business in the country.”
Nath has more than two decades of professional services and client management experience with public and private sector clients in China, India, Malaysia, Singapore and Southeast Asia. He has held several general management positions in WTW including managing its country and business portfolios in India, Malaysia, Singapore and South East Asia.
On his new position, Nath said: “Our clients and communities are going through significant disruptions and WTW is uniquely positioned to help organisations solve these — be it risks related to the geopolitical environment, climate change, cyber, changing healthcare delivery models and/or talent disruptions related to how and where work gets done. India is WTW’s third largest country in terms of employee numbers after the US and the UK, and therefore a significant investment for the company. I look forward to working closely with all our colleagues to bring our One WTW proposition to life.”