Our History
Horizon formally opened its doors on 1 July 2012, the successful outcome of a merger between two well-respected and long-established marine underwriting managers, First Marine Acceptances (FMA) and underwriting Management Services (UMS), offering a nationwide combination of first-rate technical underwriting skills, knowledge and experience that is unmatched within the marine insurance marketplace.
We continued to operate out of our established offices in Johannesburg and Durban, and within six months opened an office in Cape Town giving Horizon a true national footprint since 2013. Today, all three branches and regional teams continue to expand into a marketplace where the underwriting skills and service levels offered by Horizon are unmatched.
Our Values
Horizon Underwriting Managers, is your leading South African marine underwriter:
- We strive to understand the individual risk problems to be solved for your business
- Working together to form a common view to enable us to deliver a differentiated client outcome and experience
- We pride ourselves with integrity and prompt turnaround whilst offering high quality underwriting skills and expertise, backed by our years of experience and knowledge in the marine market
- Offering you dependable and adaptable products that service your needs.
Our Philosophy
We understand the importance of being able to provide the right level of risk mitigation to our clients’ business. We underwrite on behalf of Lombard Insurance Company Limited with A+ rating, enabling us to have access to global markets that provide A+ reinsurance capacity.
We’re also a team of people whose passion is marine - and we bring a greater insight and understanding into the dynamics of this market and the nuances related to marine risk. We know that each business is unique, with different needs and we ensure that this is considered when creating insurance solutions that best suit each business and situation.
