St Giles

What St Giles does

Howden Group Holdings Ltd is a UK-domiciled, privately held specialist insurance broker operating across more than 30 countries in Europe, Asia Pacific, the Americas, and the Middle East & Africa. The company sells Professional Indemnity Insurance as its core product, structured into specialized modules for accountants, actuaries, architects, engineers, financial advisers and mortgage brokers, laboratory testing and inspection bodies, licensed conveyancers, planning consultants, solicitors, and surveyors. Beyond PI, Howden distributes a broad specialty commercial portfolio covering casualty, cyber, directors' and officers', marine, fine art and specie, climate risk and resilience, digital assets and cryptocurrency, parametric solutions, and natural resources lines, organized by 20-plus industry verticals including construction, energy, financial institutions, fintech, data centres, life sciences, and technology.

Distribution combines direct advisory through in-country offices (e.g., Bristol for UK PI enquiries), a global partner broker program branded as the Howden One Network that routes multinational accounts through local broker relationships, and 30-plus country-specific websites. The company operates under an employee ownership model and markets to professional services firms, SMEs, mid-market corporates, and multinational enterprises. Pricing is not publicly disclosed and is calculated based on total fee income, categories of work, claims history, and employee count on a quote basis.

Name

St Giles

Legal name

Howden Group Holdings Ltd

Website

https://stgilespi.co.uk

Company type

Private

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Howden is a UK-domiciled specialist insurance broker operating across 30+ countries, offering Professional Indemnity Insurance and broader commercial lines to professional services firms, SMEs, and multinational corporates across 20-plus industry sectors.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Commercial Insurance Brokerage

NAICS

Insurance Agencies and Brokerages (524210), Agencies, Brokerages, and Other Insurance Related Activities (5242)

SIC

Insurance Agents, Brokers & Service (6411), Surety Insurance (6351)

akta.pro primary industry

Specialty Insurance Brokerage (Marine, Aviation, Cyber, Professional Lines) (FSAEADAJ)

Keywords

• Professional indemnity insurance
• Specialist insurance broker
• Risk advisory services
• Employee benefits consulting
• Commercial insurance brokerage

Headquarters

HQ city

Bristol

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Howden sells Professional Indemnity Insurance as its core product, protecting professional services firms against claims for loss or damage from clients and third parties. The coverage pays defence costs for regulatory hearings and any damages or settlements arising from allegations of negligence or malpractice. The portfolio also includes specialized PI modules for accountants, actuaries, architects, engineers, financial advisers and mortgage brokers, solicitors, surveyors, licensed conveyancers, planning consultants, and laboratory testing and inspection bodies.

Product overview

Howden offers Professional Indemnity Insurance as its core product, providing protection against claims for loss or damage from clients and third parties. The offering covers defence costs for regulatory hearings and damages or settlements. The product portfolio includes the core Professional Indemnity Insurance plus specialized modules for specific professions including Accountants, Actuaries and Pension Administrators, Architects, Engineers, Financial Advisers & Mortgage Brokers, Laboratory Testing and Inspection Bodies, Licensed Conveyancers, Planning Consultants, Solicitors, and Surveyors.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Professional Indemnity Insurance

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Scale indicators1 record

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Others

• Willis Towers Watson (WTW):

Direct peers

• Hub International: North American insurance brokerage with broad commercial and specialty offerings including professional indemnity; comparable mid-market and enterprise broker with similar private-equity-backed acquisition-driven growth model.
• Acrisure: Rapidly growing global insurance brokerage and fintech platform with deep specialty lines and commercial risk capabilities; comparable to Howden as a large-scale specialty broker competing across multiple verticals.
• Arthur J. Gallagher: Major US-headquartered global insurance brokerage with deep specialty lines expertise, similar product breadth (commercial, professional liability, surety) and global partner-driven distribution model; closest direct competitor to Howden in specialty commercial brokerage.
• Brown & Brown: US-headquartered insurance brokerage with growing specialty and professional lines operations; comparable to Howden in delivering PI, casualty and specialty commercial coverage through decentralized offices.
• Lockton: Largest privately held independent insurance broker globally, comparable to Howden as a private specialist broker with deep sector expertise in professional liability, cyber and specialty lines.

Broad incumbents

• Aon: Global insurance and reinsurance brokerage and advisory firm with a similarly broad portfolio across commercial risk, reinsurance, health and wealth solutions; comparable to Howden at the multinational enterprise level though substantially larger and more diversified.
• Marsh McLennan: World's largest insurance broker and parent of Marsh (brokerage) and Mercer (consulting); directly comparable global specialty insurance broker with similar multinational reach, professional liability offerings and risk advisory services.
• Marsh Specialty / Marsh JLT Specialty: Specialty division within Marsh McLennan that directly competes with Howden in PI, marine, aviation, cyber, energy and other specialty lines; Howden is widely cited as Marsh Specialty's primary independent challenger.

Emerging players

• Beazley: Lloyd's-based specialty insurer and broker with deep professional indemnity and cyber capabilities; partial overlap with Howden's PI and specialty offering from the underwriting rather than pure brokerage angle.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks4 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/st-giles
• Instagraminstagram.com/howdeninsurance

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about St Giles