Consulting and actuarial firm Milliman is expanding to Istanbul, Turkey because of growing demand for its consulting services in the region.

The Istanbul office will specialize in actuarial and strategic consultancy services for non-life, life and private pension, health, and employee benefits. Halil Kolbaşı, an experienced actuary who has worked both in the Turkish Treasury and with Turkish life and casualty insurers, will head the new office. This will be Milliman’s 14th location in Europe. The firm also has two locations in the Middle East, Dubai and the recently opened Tel Aviv office.

Milliman Italy and Central and Eastern Europe managing director Ed Morgan said: “Turkey is an important, fast-growing, and dynamic economy, and as demand for Milliman’s services in the region expands, we see it as critical to have a strong local team in the market. We are delighted to have Halil Kolbaşı lead our Istanbul practice, which will allow Milliman to offer the very best international expertise and innovative new approaches along with a deep local knowledge of the industry.”

Halil Kolbaşı said: “As an actuary in the Turkish market for over 20 years, I’ve been observing that there is a need for dedicated, internationally-reputed actuarial consultancy services in the region. With the implementation of standards like Solvency II and IFRS 17, and new technologies in insurance such as data science, Insurtech, artificial intelligence, and machine-learning, high-quality expertise from a global leader like Milliman is becoming more and more important. As part of Milliman, I’m looking forward to supporting insurance companies on their existing business and innovative transformations.”

Source: Company Press Release