ABB President Director Herdi Santoso becomes an ANZIIF Fellow

 

Highly respected founder and President Director of Indonesian broking Company ABB, Herdi Santoso has added an ANZIIF Fellowship to his list of notable credentials and could not be prouder.

Born and raised in Jakarta, Indonesia, Santoso inherited his passion for business from his father, who was an entrepreneur, and his mother a university lecturer.

“Education and skills were important to my parents,” he recalls. “They taught me, along with my two sisters and brother that lucky means meeting opportunity with readiness, or the knowledge and skills you need.”

A tough decision pays off

Sadly, Santoso’s father lost his fight with cancer in 1995 and passed away leaving his mother a single parent bearing the costs of tuition for his sisters and brother alone. 

Santoso, who had just graduated from high school made the tough decision to suspend his study plans and get a job instead.

One of the most important moments in Santoso’s life came the same year, when he met with Mr Arnold Oscars, CEO of Artarindo Insurance, part of the Honda Automobile Group in Indonesia, the first company Santoso would work for.

“Mr Oscar was so nice to me,” he recalls. “He accepted me as an apprentice, and I joined the company as a management trainee. My career path has been in the insurance industry since then and I love it, especially meeting such a variety of people.”

The job at Artarindo allowed for a great deal of training in the four years Santoso spent there before taking a new role at AG Insurance in 1999.

“I was transferred across many departments, attained several insurance qualifications and learned all the skills you need in an insurance company,” he says. “I was even able to complete my major in Computer Science at university.”

The founding of ABB

At AG Insurance, Santoso continued to foster his skills and build an insurance career, which ultimately saw him appointed as CEO.

However, his fierce desire to help and do more for clients, had Santoso passionate about establishing his own broking company.

This dream came to fruition with the formation of ABB in 2015.

“I started the company with two employees including myself, and now we have 25 employees,” he enthuses.  

As President Director, Santoso’s leadership philosophy is to empower others. “We can only improve the company and achieve our goals by mentoring and fostering our team,” he explains, “because our team is the power of company. By doing this, the company will always be ready to make the most of opportunities.”

In terms of serving the clients, Santoso says he makes sure to emphasise transparency and advises his team to avoid over promising to clients.

“We are in the business of trust,” he explains. “Losing your trust is the end of your career.”

An overcrowded market

With more than 150 broking companies sharing a “shrinking pie”, Santoso says the Indonesian insurance broking market is very overcrowded and competitive.

Brokers are also facing more stringent regulation, for example, in an attempt to strengthen the industry's resilience and stability, Indonesia’s regulator, OJK has recently increased the minimum paid-up capital they need to produce to conduct business.

Further, the OJK is no longer satisfied for brokers to only hold the Certified Indonesian Insurance Brokers (CIIB) qualification from the country’s peak insurance broking organisation APARI.

Rather, brokers are required to have three levels of certification (levels 5, 6 and 7) from Indonesia’s National Professional Certification Agency (Badan Nasional Sertifikasi Profesi or BNSP).

“In order to attain this certification brokers have to pass an assessment conducted by a separate private entity,” Santoso says. “The certification is only valid for three years and must be renewed by passing the assessment again.”

Santoso argues the extra certification is ineffective in the Indonesian market and simply reduces the essence of attaining the CIIB qualification.

“We have so many talented brokers here in the Indonesian market, I would even say we have an oversupply,” he shares. “The problem, as mentioned, is that they are fighting for a portion of an increasingly shrinking pie. There will likely be turbulence in the market by next year as the OJK’s deadline for capital requirements comes into play.”

^{The ABB Insurance Brokers team on the occasion of winning 2023 Advisia Group Digital Financial Excellence Award. The company won the award again in 2024.}

Sky’s the limit

With ABB now in the top 50 insurance broking companies, Santoso says his vision is to reach a position within the top 10 within the next three years.

“It’s a matter of staying on our path of continuous improvement, especially in terms of our capacity to innovate, adapt technology to benefit the operation and ensure strong customer engagement and outcomes, while fostering the skills of my squad,” he says.

Having won two awards for innovation digital innovation in 2023 and 2024 respectively, ABB is clearly on the right path towards its goal.

For Santoso, achieving an ANZIIF Fellowship was both challenging and rewarding.

Having been offered the opportunity to participate in the Fellowship program, the process initially involved an assessment of his qualifications and experience.

“I was wondering if I was qualified enough,” Santoso modestly tells, but after a few days, Thao Tran, ANZIIF Regional Director, Asia, gave him the go-ahead to participate.

“I told her how excited I was to attain the level,” he recalls. “Afterwards, Ms Thao guided me through the next few stages, and I finally passed the assessment.”

Santoso says being entitled to use the post nominal, Fellow, will enhance ABB’s image and reputation.

While he is extremely proud of holding several other insurance fellowships, qualifications and certifications and is an award-winning court mediator, he considers the ANZIIF Fellowship the highest and most prestigious. 

“Thank you to ANZIIF for the fellowship nomination,” he says.

Become an ANZIIF Fellow