In a complex landscape of emerging risks, greater accountability for professionals, and even global political instability,
expert advice is back in fashion.
But as consumers put their trust in brokers for advice, what should brokers in turn be looking for from insurers next year?
Insurance Business asked Michael Lawrence, personal lines broker director at LV=, who revealed the key issues facing brokers and insurers next year, and the broker market the insurer will be re-entering in 2018.
What should brokers be looking for in an insurance partner in 2018?
2017 has certainly been a year of both changes and challenges for brokers in the UK. We went into the New Year with the Insurance Premium Tax being at an all-time high of 12%. Just a couple of months later, we were all significantly affected by the Government’s decision to reduce the personal injury discount rate.
The impact of digitisation and advances in technology also continued to be felt by both insurers and brokers. What’s more, the financial impact of Solvency II was felt more heavily by insurers and created some structural changes to balance sheets, which subsequently led to a number needing to recapitalise. As a consequence, I think the most important thing brokers should be concerning themselves with in 2018 is ensuring that the insurers they partner with are financially stable and have the strength to work with them on a long-term basis.
On a more day-to-day level, I also believe that brokers should be looking to work with insurers who are prepared to explore new ideas together, as well as support them in providing great customer service – taking great care to make sure that they share the same values when it comes to looking after customers.
How will LV= be supporting brokers next year?
We’re planning on starting 2018 with a bang, as we look set to become the UK’s third largest personal lines insurer with around six million customers and gross written premiums in excess of £1.7bn, as a result of our strategic partnership with
Allianz. This is an exciting time for us and we believe it represents a real opportunity for our brokers too.
In anticipation of the partnership with Allianz, we want to ensure that brokers get all the support they need and one of our main priorities will be to take the opportunity to review the things that have worked well and improve upon the areas that could do with a fresh approach. We already have strong propositions across our standard motor and van portfolios, and we will continue to develop competitive and cost-effective solutions for brokers and customers.
The joint venture with Allianz will also enable us to re-enter the broker market for home insurance. With the use of data also becoming increasingly important to both insurers and brokers, we will apply significant resource to developing our capabilities throughout 2018 and beyond.
However, while there is a lot of change, we will absolutely not lose sight of what I fundamentally believe makes LV= different to others, which is our high standard of service. We pride ourselves on this and it’s what has helped us secure the ICS ServiceMark accreditation, and become both Which? Insurer of the Year 2017 and You Gov’s Most Recommended Insurer for the fifth year in a row. Maintaining these high standards is crucial to our success and our focus will remain firmly on that goal.
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