A Short Account of Average Adjusting in Hong Kong
Average adjusting has always been a little-known profession which originated in the UK with early average adjusters practising in the City of London from about 1800 onwards. The British Association of Average Adjusters was founded in 1869. It is submitted that the profession was first introduced to the Far East in the mid 1920’s when William R.M. Stevens came to practice in Shanghai, who subsequently moved down to set up the first average adjusting firm in Hong Kong in 1945.
William Richards & Sons, and another leading firm, Hogg, Lindley & Co. coincidentally opened their respective offices in Hong Kong in 1965. They however merged in 1969 to form a separate partnership, Richards Hogg International to develop on a joint basis their world-wide interests. In the meantime, Stevens lined up with William Elmslie & Son and changed its name to Stevens, Elmslie & Co. whilst Frank B. Hall, a leading American insurance broking firm with average adjusting arm opened an office in Hong Kong.
It is worth noting the great efforts then made by the partnership of Richards Hogg International in bringing up its local staff without reservation.
Following the fast and vast growth in shipping, few more foreign firms came to open offices in Hong Kong during late 1970’s and throughout 1980’s, which included Francis & Arnould, Manley Hopkins Son & Cookes, G.W. Cockrill, London Ltd., and R.K. Hastings & Co. In the meantime, Richards Hogg International and the Department for Average Adjustment of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade formed a cooperation based in Hong Kong in 1985 leading to the subsequent establishment of a joint venture company, Dari Co., Ltd. in 1993.
Following a series of acquisitions/mergers and closures, the former brand names, Richards, Stevens, Hogg, Elmslie and Lindley together make up Richards Hogg Lindley trading under Charles Taylor Consulting plc from December 1998 onward, which, after having merged Dari Co., Ltd. into its operations in 2012, became the only professional average adjusting firm in the HKSAR. This remained the status quo until Raymond Wong, former Equity Partner of Richards Hogg International and Board Director of Charles Taylor Consulting plc, set up an independent company to launch average adjusting services under Asia Maritime Adjusting (Hong Kong), a trading division of TCWong Average Consulting Ltd.