"Our official launch in Germany is another step towards Yellow Hive 's goal of becoming a major pan-European financial services provider to the insurance industry through partnerships and acquisitions ," says CEO Tom Rohrbach. "We are pursuing the strategy of 'class instead of mass': Yellow Hive Germany focuses on specialist brokers and medium-sized financial service providers who still have a close and trusting relationship with their customers. We help entrepreneurs to maintain and expand their life's work. As a rule, the management remains on board. They receive support in areas such as the digitalization of portfolios, financing and succession planning." Ralf Blum, the new COO of Yellow Hive Germany, emphasizes the role of Yellow Hive's "Shared Service Centers", which provide process and system-oriented support for the future growth of the units: "Yellow Hive makes its partners tailor-made offers. We are service-oriented and extremely strong in sales. Depending on where there is a need, we open up modular solutions in sales support, digitalization or the optimized negotiation of commissions and brokerage fees via the shared service centers of our Dutch holding company, so that we can ultimately grow together."
Tom Rohrbach, an experienced sales manager, is taking on the role of CEO at Yellow Hive Germany. Most recently, he was Head of Key Account Management at HDI AG, where he was responsible for business via financial distributors and insurance pools and workforces with three departments. Under his leadership, the division successfully developed with a focus on biometrics and occupational pensions. New business was significantly increased, and profitability was sustainably improved. Over the past nine years, it has become one of the strongest sales channels for HDI Life and Property Insurance AG. Rohrbach brings over three decades of industry experience, possesses excellent expertise in insurance sales, and has a strong network in the German market. He was also a member of the supervisory board of FVB, which is now part of Yellow Hive Germany.
Before Ralf Blum took on the role of COO at Yellow Hive Germany, he was CIO at GGW Group GmbH. There he was responsible for setting up a scalable IT architecture to optimize business processes in the industrial and commercial broker segment. Previously, he held management positions at management consulting firms and successfully launched several start-up initiatives with a clear focus on digitalization and process innovation in insurance sales.
In April 2024, Yellow Hive refinanced itself in the Netherlands with a significant commitment from the private equity group IK Partners in order to drive the company's further growth. In addition to Dutch regions and specialty markets, the focus is on expanding into other European markets such as Germany, Belgium and Spain. The acquisition of FVB in Germany at the end of 2024 was the first milestone in this growth strategy. Following the entry of IK Partners in 2020 and under the leadership of CEO Ger Knikman, Yellow Hive has evolved from a local insurance broker into a national distribution platform that has now also reached the German market. Thanks to its economies of scale, Yellow Hive will make additional investments in innovative companies and be able to negotiate better terms for its clients.