2024 Modern Slavery Act
Statement for the Financial Year Ended 31 December 2023
This statement is made pursuant to section 54 of the Modern Slavery Act 2015 and covers the period from 1 January 2023 to 31 December 2023. It sets out the steps that UIB Holdings (UK) Limited (UIBH) is continuing to take to ensure that modern slavery or human trafficking is not taking place within its business or supply chains.
Our organisation
UIBH is a holding company, and as such has no employees, and has a very limited supply chain of its own.
The group headed by UIBH consists of companies which are leading insurance/reinsurance brokers in their chosen fields of business, trading under the highly respected name of UIB. The group is present in the Middle East, South and North America, the Indian sub-continent, Asia and Europe, and has a subsidiary which is a Lloyd’s broker in London.
Supply chains to any of the group companies are limited as none of them produce, manufacture or retail goods. Group companies do employ some external service providers contracted for various roles, including maintenance and support of our offices. We also recognise that our supply chain must consider clients and industry providers.
Policies in relation to modern slavery and human trafficking
Due to the industry in which UIBH operates, the risks of modern slavery and human trafficking occurring are considered to be very low. However, the Board acknowledges that a degree of risk exists in its various supply chains and has therefore taken the actions detailed below.
UIBH’s guiding principles include a statement on Modern Slavery which has been cascaded across the UIB group. The guiding principles are as follows:
- UIBH has a zero tolerance towards modern slavery, and expects group employees, and those the group deals with, to uphold UIBH’s high values.
- UIBH is fully committed to ensuring that there is no modern slavery or human trafficking in its supply chains.
There are also various policies in place to help mitigate the risks that may exist in the following areas:
- employee remuneration
- employee leave
- anti-bullying and harassment
- equality, diversity and inclusion
- health and safety
- employee whistleblowing
The above policies are subject to constant review.
Action taken to date
To date we have:
Carried out online training for staff in our London and overseas offices on the topic of modern slavery.
Ensured that the topic of modern slavery is regularly discussed at meetings between London Head Office and the Chief Executive Officers of the various overseas companies in the UIB Group.
Formed an ‘Environmental, Social and Governance’ working group in our London Head Office to address, among other things, the risks posed by modern slavery in our various supply chains.
Ensured that each new member of staff has been appraised of the group’s guiding principles and have accepted the group’s code of conduct.
Designed a new due diligence questionnaire, in conjunction with the Compliance Department, to be used by the I.T. and Facilities Department in our London Office to identify and confirm the modern slavery policies and procedures that have been put in place by our various office suppliers.
Adjusted our third-party business producer questionnaires in London to ask if a business takes steps to address the risk of modern slavery and human trafficking and also updated our Terms of Business Agreement to outline our expectations of compliance for our business partners and to allow us to terminate any relationship for non-compliance.
Ensured that the Human Resources Department in our London Office monitors employee remuneration against statutory minimum wage requirements and issues employee contracts that comply with all relevant legislation.
In the past year, we have:
Continued to assess the risks of slavery and human trafficking by considering country risks, sector risks and business partnership risks.
Continued to work with group companies around the world to identify and address slavery and human trafficking risks.
Reviewed our guiding principles and also updated our Section 172 Statement to ensure that this continues to take account of the risks of slavery and human trafficking viz a viz our employees, clients and suppliers.
Actions planned
We are committed:
- To building on the progress made so far in all group companies.
- To ensuring that suppliers and service providers, where appropriate, are required to confirm that their business does not contradict our zero-tolerance approach.
- To reviewing on a regular basis the potential for slavery and human trafficking to occur in our supply chains in order that it can be suitably addressed.
- To providing appropriate modern slavery refresher training to staff, as and when necessary.
Approval of this statement
This statement was approved by the board of directors on 4 June 2024.
B.S. Kabban, Director
UIB Holdings (UK) Limited