Howden Re has established a permanent office in Copenhagen and appointed Jens Ellborg as managing director, effective November 1. The announcement was made at Nordic Reinsurance Days, with the office launch timed five weeks before the start of the January 2027 renewal season. It gives Howden Re its first locally staffed Danish operation within its reinsurance business.
The timing reflects conditions in the wider market. Cedants are entering the January 2027 renewals with more negotiating power than at any point in the current cycle, as record reinsurance capital and continued softening in property rates give buyers greater freedom to review programme structures and broker relationships. Howden Re is positioning a Copenhagen-based operation to compete for Danish cedants on exactly those terms.
The Nordic reinsurance broking market has become a specific arena for mid-tier and independent brokers challenging incumbent positions. Lockton expanded into Norway in March 2025. McGill and Partners opened a Swedish branch in September 2024. Brokerslink extended its Nordic representation into Iceland in October 2025. The pattern is consistent: local presence, named management, and access to global capital, pitched against established relationships held by the larger global brokers.
Howden Re's Nordic platform, co-led by Sophia Dunér and Camilla Langensjö from Stockholm, has operated for 15 years and now comprises more than 20 colleagues across broking, analytics, catastrophe modelling and client service. The Copenhagen office adds a permanent Danish base to that structure.
Ellborg joins from Topdanmark, one of Denmark's largest insurers, where he served as SVP reinsurance for 34 years. He previously held reinsurance roles at Hafnia Reinsurance and Baltica Forsikring, giving him more than 40 years on the cedant side of the Danish market. He will lead the Danish operation and work closely with reinsurance colleagues across the region and with Howden Denmark, which entered the market through the acquisition of North Risk and is led by Lars Gundorph.
His background on the buying side gives Howden Re direct insight into how Danish cedants weigh broker relationships - a useful asset in a renewal season where those relationships are under more scrutiny than usual.
Tobias Andersson, head of Continental Europe at Howden Re International, said the Copenhagen office "adds an important market to that platform and gives us a stronger base from which to serve clients across the Nordic and Baltic region."
The Copenhagen move sits within a broader European push that Howden Re has accelerated since rebranding from Howden Tiger in 2024. New operations have been established in Portugal and Ireland. David Simpson, who has almost two decades of Nordic P&C reinsurance experience, was appointed in August to drive growth across the Nordic region and Continental Europe from London, joining in early 2027 after completing contractual obligations. An expanded alternative solutions practice with parametric capability has been added in parallel.
Howden Re's reinsurance revenue grew 30% in 2024, the fastest organic growth rate among the global reinsurance intermediaries that year. The Danish office extends that strategy into a market supervised by the Danish Financial Supervisory Authority (FSA).
Cloud-burst flooding has become a primary driver of property loss ratios there, according to Axco's 2026 Denmark market analysis, a risk profile that suits the analytics and catastrophe modelling capabilities Howden Re is bringing to market.
For Danish cedants, the offer is access to traditional, structured, and alternative capital alongside analytics and parametric solutions through a locally staffed office. Whether that combination converts client relationships held by incumbents will be tested at the January 2027 renewals, where cedants hold their strongest negotiating position in years.
"Throughout my career, I have seen how much clients value a broker that stays close to them. Howden Re has built its business in the region on exactly that principle," Ellborg said. "I look forward to building the business with colleagues across Howden and supporting Danish clients with greater choice across risk and capital."
Howden Re's Nordic team has grown through a series of hires drawn from the major global brokers, reflecting the wider competition for Nordic reinsurance talent that has accompanied the market's expansion.
