Sandra Lee: Navigating Asia's complex markets

Vol 48 Issue 1

On Sandra Lee’s first day as CEO Asia at BMS Group in Hong Kong, she had to bring in her own pencils and paper and apply for a licence to operate.

That was four years ago. Needless to say, the business has come a long way since then.

“When we launched, it was with the single-minded goal to offer a first-class client experience and solutions,” she says.

“Before 2021, if you were to ask for BMS, we were not on the board; we were not anywhere in the region. Today, in the M&A insurance space, we are among the top three brokers, competing with firms many times our size.”

From law to insurance

Lee joined insurance and reinsurance broker BMS Group in January 2021 to establish and expand its Asian operations — but her career path up to this point has been a circuitous one.

As a third-year law student at the National University of Singapore, she headed out on exchange to Halifax, a city in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia. “I picked one of the [options] furthest away from Singapore,” Lee says.

“Perhaps that's a lot to do with my own personality, which is always to challenge myself and look for different experiences.”

Serendipitously, it was in Canada that she met her future husband, a Frenchman. Lee returned to Singapore to finish her degree and in 2007 moved to Paris to join him. In Paris, Lee joined French law firm Gide Loyrette Nouel as a mergers and acquisitions (M&A) lawyer and worked on a deal involving M&A insurance.

“At the time, I thought it was fascinating that one could use insurance like that,” she says. Her interest in insurance prompted her to take a job as head of transaction liability insurance in Asia for Aon — a position she held for almost nine years.

Recalling her earlier experience with M&A insurance, she saw the potential to develop this specialty in the region, which, in turn, led to her role launching BMS in Asia.

M&A insurance takes off

BMS Asia is part of the 44-year-old BMS Group, a London-based insurance and reinsurance broker. The firm was recently ranked the seventh-largest reinsurance broker globally and made its first entry into the top 20 for insurance.

BMS Asia is focused on four core areas: M&A insurance, financial lines, an affinity business and a facultative reinsurance business.

“I see a lot of opportunities growing in the M&A insurance space,” says Lee. “This is an area where we see great uptake, particularly in the immediate future, because of the increased deal flow and the rising level of investments coming into the region.

“There is a lack of independent brokers working in M&A insurance in Asia, so BMS is offering an alternative.”

Lee notes that legal expertise is highly valuable in insurance, particularly in understanding risk and structuring solutions, yet it remains relatively uncommon in the industry.

“Having a background in law has provided me with very strong foundations to understand risk in general, to structure and advocate for solutions, and to understand and navigate regulatory frameworks and apply them to all the different situations,” she says.

The Asia experience

Some of the biggest challenges of working in Asia revolve around cultural and regulatory differences.

Unlike in the United States and Europe, where domestic markets are large enough to operate independently, Asia requires business to navigate multiple regulatory frameworks and cross-border complexities, says Lee.

Additionally, taking out different types of insurance is compulsory in many parts of the world, but less so in Asia. “Here, we’re starting from varying levels of understanding of risk management — or even that it exists,” she says.

Lee’s native Singapore serves as a regional hub for South-East Asia and, increasingly, for India. She describes Hong Kong, where she is working to expand the BMS business, as a very open market that’s business and investor friendly.

The Chinese and Hong Kong governments’ supported development of the Greater Bay Area in Southern China is a “very palpable” opportunity for insurance.

“[Hong Kong] has always been a very dynamic regional hub that bridges international and Chinese markets across all sectors, including insurance,” she says.

“You’ve got a lot of banks, asset managers and law firms. That ecosystem is very, very vibrant. And the Chinese market just at the doorstep is a huge market for everyone.”

Fast three with Sandra Lee

What’s your best productivity hack?

I’m most productive when I’m out of time. I always have a list of things I need to go through every day. By the end of the day, if I realise I haven't gone through half, I become really productive because I’m multitasking.

I find myself perhaps mulling less and delivering more, because I realise I’m short of time and need to get this done — bang, bang, bang!

If you weren’t in insurance, what would you be doing?

If I didn’t have to work, I would be running the top 10 marathons in the world. If I was still working but not in insurance, I would likely still be in law.

What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received?

Don’t be afraid to ask for support. It should not be viewed as a sign of weakness but as a strength that demonstrates self-awareness and commitment to growth. Learning and developing require openness to collaboration and support.