Taking Care Your Insurance Needs

Insurance broker PATRICK MARIE HERBET is as colourful and well-known a character as any in the local French community. An active participant in the Chamber’s events, he’s also introduced a new service angle to his chosen profession: insurance broking

Patrick Marie Herbert : “As insurance brokers, we function only to advise people. We are not employed by any one specific insurance company, and so are not compelled to promote the products of a single brand.”

Going direct to an insurance company only gives a consumer access to that particular range of products, and having dealt with all the major players, Herbet is ideally placed to offer valuable advice to his clients. He always recommends insurance firms that have a long and proven track record of market presence and successful investment choices.

“Previously, Confucian values and the traditional family structure of Chinese society acted as a form of insurance. Today, when many families are scattered across the globe, there is no longer such a comprehensive network of uncles, cousins or other relatives to rely on.”

Caring is the name of the game for Patrick Marie Herbet, managing director of the Abacare Group. As a broker, he is committed to providing personal insurance services with an ethical angle. Countless companies and individuals have benefited from Herbet’s impartial advice on products ranging from health, medical and life insurance to investment schemes. Yet when the 42-year-old first stepped foot in Hong Kong his own future was far from assured.
A fresh-faced Herbet arrived in the territory in 1982 via the trans-Siberian rail route. Treading the often-precarious path of an expatriate backpacker his funds soon ran low, necessitating a stint as a bartender in Lan Kwai Fong. As with all obstacles in life, Herbet took this in his stride.

“I can’t say I had any great plans to serve drinks, but I needed the money; in any case I always approach challenges with a view to doing my best,” he says. Herbet’s persistence was soon rewarded, as shortly afterwards he helped open the popular Club 97.
From there, Herbet diversified his interests, becoming a food and beverage representative and enrolling local students for a Swiss hotel training academy. He also opened the popular La Rose Noire restaurant group, later selling his interest to fund an own-brand wine business. Alas this tipple is no longer available; Herbet was forced to abandon his vineyard empire due to mounting costs.

He bought back his La Rose Noire interest, converting it to the upmarket Papillon restaurant, but after a while it became clear that Herbet needed a change. As such, he took the plunge and made his first foray into the insurance business in 1994. This career choice might seem at odds with Herbet’s previously adventurous lifestyle and diverse business interests, but eight years of success and innovation later he has clearly made the right move.

He started out distributing Zurich Life insurance products, but got his big break a year later when he became a unit manager at AIA alongside industry veteran Raymond Wong. Herbet remembers those formative years as among the most enjoyable of his career.
“Raymond’s a great guy, but he’s also very knowledgeable about the insurance industry,” he says. “I learned a great deal from him, not only about the mechanics of the industry, but how to serve the most important people – the clients.”

Four years later, Herbet amicably parted ways with AIA to start his own insurance broking company, Abacus – the forerunner to the group now known as Abacare. Regarding the name issue, Herbet admits that he initially chose Abacus as it sounded like a safe choice, but switched to Abacare to emphasise the “caring” nature of his work.

The firm now conducts plenty of business for Herbet’s former employer, and also passes clients onto companies such as Trans America, Zurich Life and Goodhealth, for medical cover. However, he is quick to highlight the independent status of his company.
“As insurance brokers, we function only to advise people,” he explains. “We are not employed by any one specific insurance company, and so are not compelled to promote the products of a single brand.”

Insuring a Career

This very independence is the bedrock of the impartial advice offered by Herbet and his team of brokers, and he also works hard to dispel the misconception that brokers are mere middlemen, earning a commission that is eventually handed down to the end consumer.
“As opposed to an insurance company’s in-house agents, we offer a balanced picture of the market from the customer’s perspective,” he says. “People often think that by going to the insurance company directly, they are saving money, but that is not the case at all. The commissions are simply passed onto the agent, as opposed to the broker. Meanwhile the added value of impartial advice and a wide range of products is lost.”
Naturally, going direct to an insurance company only gives a consumer access to that particular range of products, and having dealt with all the major players, Herbet is ideally placed to offer valuable advice to his clients. He always recommends insurance firms that have a long and proven track record of market presence and successful investment choices.
“An insurance company should always be able to demonstrate that it can properly look after its clients’ premiums and, should need arise, make payments with the minimum of fuss,” says Herbet.
For the unconvinced, there is also the question of incentives. After all, what prevents Herbet from only promoting those insurance products to his clients that offer the best commissions and other benefits to the broker? The answer is, as always, refreshingly frank: none whatsoever.
“In my business I rely heavily on referrals, and so am compelled to offer the very best service and advice possible,” explains Herbet. “There is little advantage in gaining a large commission on one transaction, if I do not gain that client’s trust and therefore his recommendation to his friends and business partners.”
In the wake of the September 11 incident in New York, Herbet has noticed a shift in the public perception of insurance. He predicts that this will sustain the industry through the aftermath of the tragedy’s effect on the global economy, and sow the seeds for growth in years to come.
“It has certainly developed an awareness among people that occasionally bad things do happen,” notes Herbet. “Previously, and perhaps now even, many people try to convince themselves that they do not need insurance. But as well as good cover, people also need good advice. Finding the right policy is almost as important as simply having insurance.”
Locally and regionally, the changing demographics of the Chinese population will also have a profound effect on the insurance industry, according to Herbet. The mounting costs of modern medical care, and replacing valuables lost in accidents can no longer be borne by the extended family.
“Chinese people are now very conscious of the need for insurance,” says Herbet. “Previously, Confucian values and the traditional family structure of Chinese society acted as a form of insurance. Today, when many families are scattered across the globe, there is no longer such a comprehensive network of uncles, cousins or other relatives to rely on.”

A Frenchman by birth, an Asian at heart

Herbet describes himself as a “peoples’ person,” and was one of the eight founding members of the French Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong. As such, he is one of the most active and certainly among the most recognisable members of the local French community, resplendent in his omnipresent business bowtie.
A keen sportsman, Herbet lists golf and tennis as well as a spot of reading among his hobbies. He is heavily involved in charity work, and is charter president of the Wan Chai Rotary Club. Coupled with running Abacare, Herbet confesses that he “sleeps very little.”
Unmistakably French, Herbet was brought up in a Catholic family – although he is himself a practicing Buddhist, and has been on a pilgrimage to India.

«I consider myself French, but have a very Asian way of thinking», he says.

“I’m not really an expatriate anymore, and have very close ties with the Chinese and Indian communities.”
As for plans over the next decade, Herbet wants to expand the nature of Abacare’s work so that he can introduce partners into the company, in much the same way that a law or accountancy firm might operate. He will also continue his sideline in promoting ethical behaviour through his range of caring work.
Herbet certainly has no plans to move on from the city that has adopted him, and is ebullient in his praise of the role Hong Kong has played in his enterprise.
“I’ve seen many places, but nowhere else in the world has Hong Kong’s unique business environment or its inhabitants’ will to succeed,” he says. “I really feel at home here – the two Asian countries I am most comfortable in are China and India.”
Although well on the way to leaving an unmistakable impression on the local French community and insurance industry, fitting with his business philosophy Herbet would rather be remembered simply as a caring person, one who benefited others.