Sedgwick enters Finnish insurance market with swoop on rival Crawford

Technology-driven risk solutions provider  Sedgwick has entered the Finnish insurance market with the hiring of a chief executive officer from rival Crawford. It says the expansion comes in the wake of “significant investment and growth” across the Nordic region.

The company has hired Noora Valla (pictured) as Sedgwick CEO for Finland. She was most recently country manager at Crawford in Finland. Valla has over two decades of loss adjusting experience at large firms in Finland, having led teams across multiple product lines, with a strong focus on motor, bodily injury and liability claims.

In the past 18 months, Sedgwick has revamped its Nordic operations, with the acquisition of Leif Hansen A/S in Denmark, hiring of Dan Sivertsen as Norway CEO, promotion of Julia Holm to Sweden CEO and appointment of Christian Leif Hansen as Nordic CEO.

The development highlights “years of strong growth” for Sedgwick across the Nordics, management said. With more insurance companies discovering the advantages of working with external claims adjusting partners, there has been a “seismic shift” in the need for businesses to reimagine their options and processes.

Christian Leif Hansen said: “We create economies of scale by handling all of the claims within a specific area for our clients. Sedgwick’s presence in Finland means that we now have the last piece to complete the puzzle for the market in the Nordics.”

Valla commented: “It can be difficult and prohibitively expensive for smaller insurers to have all types of experts and claims handlers in house. By working with an external partner like Sedgwick, firms can benefit from world-class specialty expertise and a deep pool of skilled talent whenever they are needed. It’s an exciting time of growth for our business in the Nordic region. I see a huge potential in the Finnish market and am eager to start the dialogue with current and potential customers.”

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