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Thank you!
Geschäftsführer Philipp Belau

Philipp Belau
CEO

This year is very special for us: in 2025, the BDAE celebrates its 30th anniversary.

Going through this special year, we will be looking back on three eventful decades and the many milestones we have reached together. And we are already looking forward to the achievements that are yet to come.

In addition to the tremendous commitment of our employees, it is our customers, sales partners and business partners who have put placed their trust in our team and who have accompanied BDAE on its journey to becoming an internationally successful company. We would like to express our sincere thanks to you for this.

We look forward to accompanying you safely abroad in the future.

Kind regards from Philipp Belau
and the entire BDAE team


30 Years of Change

Stronger Together: Founding the BDAE Association

In the mid-1990s, expats still led a very niche existence: finding insurance cover tailored to their needs as expatriates proved very difficult.

In order to act as a unified interest group and demonstrate to insurance companies how relevant the expat market is, Andreas Opitz and Silvia Opitz, together with a few fellow stakeholders, founded the Association of Foreign Workers (Bund der Auslands-Erwerbstätigen, BDAE e. V.) in 1995.

By expats, for expats: Founding BDAE as a company

The members of the Association of Foreign Workers quickly realised that they themselves know best how to assess the needs of expats.

In line with its motto ‘by expats, for expats’, the BDAE developed its first insurance products – and over time, the association grew from a family-run business into a diverse, internationally positioned group of companies.

BDAE Consult: Management Consulting with a personal touch

In the 2000s, it was no longer just individuals who turned to the BDAE, but also more and more medium-sized companies and large corporations that wanted to send their employees abroad.

BDAE recognised the significance of this trend and founded a subsidiary in 2008, which has been specialising in legal and tax advice for work-related stays abroad. Since 2011, this subsidiary is known as BDAE Consult.

MSH International: Global scope through a strong partner

In 2017, MSH International, one of the world's leading providers of international insurance solutions, entered the German market. By then, BDAE and this global player based in France had already been in close contact for some time. Thus, when entering the German market, MSH International already had found the right partner for this in the BDAE. 

In 2017, MSH International became the majority shareholder of the BDAE Group, and in 2024 it acquired 100 per cent of the BDAE Group.

30 years of BDAE: New services, same core values

Philipp Belau took over the management of the company from Silvia Opitz and Andreas Opitz in 2017 and has been running it successfully ever since.

Particular milestones in this timeframe have been the creation of new innovative products such as EXPAT INFINITY and EXPAT SMART. In addition, an increasingly comprehensive offering of digital services has been developed, enabling customers to manage their insurance and use health services at any time and from anywhere in the world. However, alongside digitalisation and automation, direct communication and human contact remain a core part of the BDAE's identity.

    30 Years of Working Together

    BDAE customer in an office setting.
    "The BDAE has the ability to empathise with our world and meet our specific requirements."
    Carin Arck (of Detecon International, BDAE customer since 2021)
    BDAE customer in front of a white background.
    "The BDAE team not only provided us with comprehensive advice, but also developed a tailor-made solution that meets our specific requirements."
    Jutta Schebesta (of Essendi, BDAE customer since 2010)
    BDAE employee outside at a hike.
    "Every day brings new and exciting challenges for me."
    Anna Münkwitz, BDAE employee since 2014