By Joe Cardillo, Reporter for Albuquerque Business First:

Hub International Limited, whose New Mexico office ranked first in last year’s List of top insurance brokers by premium volume, has acquired First Santa Fe Insurance Services, a division of First National Bank of Santa Fe.

Hub’s New Mexico president Randy Perkins described the acquisition as the right move in part due to “seeing strong people within the firm, as well as a good fit culturally, geographically, and strategically.”

Perkins says the business mix First Santa Fe Insurance Services currently holds, which includes commercial and personal insurance solutions, provides some advantages because of Hub’s strength as a global company that will bring the firm’s clients deeper expertise and expanded product lines. 

Both parties described the move as a way to focus on what each is good at, with First National Bank of Santa Fe CEO John Asbury saying “First National is exiting the insurance business in order to focus on our core banking businesses in which we have deep expertise.”

Perkins also said Hub has a history of focusing on what it can learn from any partners the company acquires, and said that “One of the things that we always tell firms is that we’re not acquiring anyone to break them up, but because they are doing a lot of the right things, and if we can share and learn from some of the things they’re doing, it will make us better as a whole.”

The companies declined to provide details on the acquisition, but Perkins confirmed the total number of employees in New Mexico will go from 180 to 193 with the acquisition. Hub plans to fold employees from the newly acquired firm that live in the metro area into its Albuquerque office, and eventually do the same with the Santa Fe office. Click here to read the full article.