A local insurance and fintech leader boosted its European operations with an expansion into a new market.

Grand Rapids-based Acrisure this week announced the formation of Acrisure Deutschland, a new subsidiary covering the German, Austrian and Swiss markets.

Mathias Pahl will serve as president of Acrisure Deutschland GmbH and head of the company’s operations in the DACH (Germany, Austria and Switzerland) region.

“We are rapidly expanding in our target geographies and the DACH region is a market with incredible potential and opportunity,” said Jason Howard, president of Acrisure International and chair of Acrisure Re. “Launching Acrisure Deutschland will give Acrisure and our partners direct access to the Central European markets and we look forward to further growth across the region.”

An insurance leader with three decades of experience, Pahl joins the Acrisure team from the multinational insurance company Willis Towers Watson, where he spent 19 years managing its German division, most recently as CEO of Willis Germany and Austria.

In his new role, Pahl will be responsible for building out property and casualty (P&C) operations, including through potential acquisitions, according to Acrisure.

Pahl is based in Munich, Germany and now reports to Howard.

“Mathias is the ideal candidate to lead this expansion,” Howard said. “He has a wealth of expertise and extensive long-standing relationships, which will be incredibly valuable. I look forward to working with him as we look for brokers who align with our specialism and culture of innovation and entrepreneurialism.”

Pahl said he looks forward to building Acrisure’s presence in Central Europe.

“Acrisure is the fastest growing insurance broker in industry history and continues to innovate, transform and differentiate from other players in the market. Its extensive network offers incredible opportunity for its broking partners to access global markets,” he said.

Within the past year, Acrisure has made several moves in the European market. In March 2022, the company expanded into Spain with the acquisition of Summa Insurance Brokerage and acquired the London-based reinsurance company Volante Global.

The company announced changes to its global leadership team at the end of 2022, including the appointment of Howard as president of its international operations, and soon after finalized an early 2023 deal to acquire Scotland-based Affinity Brokers Limited — the 11th partnership for Acrisure within the U.K. market.

Looking ahead, Acrisure said it expects to announce more new developments in the near future.

The company currently maintains $4 billion in revenue and employs 14,000 team members in 21 countries.