ASR Underwriting : Everything you need to know

ASR Underwriting Agencies is an Australian-owned underwriting agency established in 2006 and headquartered in Beenleigh, QLD. It specialises in professional indemnity, public liability, and property insurance products.

As an authorised Lloyd’s coverholder, all liability and property policies issued by ASR are underwritten by Lloyd’s underwriters. This means that all policies are backed by Lloyd’s global resources and its central fund, with a single market rating. ASR has authority to accept insurance and issue documentation on behalf of certain syndicates at Lloyd’s.

ASR offers numerous liability products such as for beauty and alternative therapies, hotels, taverns, and pubs, caravan parks, cleaners, events, excess, high-risk, management, pharmaceutical, scaffolders, supermarkets, tourism, and welders & boilermakers. It also offers personal accident insurance for more than 250 occupations.

ASR protects community and chairitable organisations with various public and products liability insurance products tailored to the not-for-profit sector. In 2016, ASR was recognised by National Insurance Brokers Association (NIBA) members as among the top three providers of this class in Australia. It works with over 1,600 brokers across Australia.

Key people as of 2019
John Flower, managing director
Flower helped found what would become ASR Underwriting Agencies in 2001, before becoming the sole owner of the firm in 2008. He began his insurance career in 1993 with ACE IRM Insurance Broking in Queensland. There, he managed the wholesale specialty lines and scheme-based business for six years, before setting out to found ASR. Flower is an expert in creating insurance solutions for both low and high hazard industries

Melissa Fox, liability underwriter
Fox has been with ASR Underwriting Agencies since 2009. She joined from ACE Insurance, where she was an assistant underwriter for financial lines. Prior to that, she was based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, holding various positions with major insurance companies such as MSIG, CGU/Aviva, and Jardine Lloyd Insurance Brokers.

Michael Carse, liability underwriter
Carse joined ASR Underwriting Agencies in 2013, underwriting the firm’s liability products. Before that, he held senior underwriting positions at Wesfarmers General Insurance and Lumley Insurance Brisbane. He also served as an account executive at Aon Risk Services.

Culture
As a provider of insurance for not-for-profit organisations, ASR Underwriting Agencies works closely with them to achieve their goals. Insurance Business and NIBA have recognised ASR as one of the top three providers of insurance tailored for not-for-profit organisations in Australia.

In 2018, ASR’s staff chose to support the Buy a Bale Charity for the Christmas season. The organisation seeks to support in-need farmers by providing bales of hay to feed their animals, especially during drought spells where feed is hard to come by.

In 2017, ASR supported an art sale by Act for Kids, a charity that provides therapy and support to children and families who have experienced or are at risk of child abuse and neglect. It also donated to Share the Dignity, which helps women exposed to homelessness and domestic violence across Australia. ASR employees distributed handbags filled with personal care items for the women.

Among the other charitable organisations supported by ASR include: Rio Tinto Ride to Conquer Cancer, Ipswich Hospital Foundation, Sydney Children’s Hospital Foundation, Cure Cancer Australia Foundation, and the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) Australia.

Managing director John Flower is an avid cyclist and regularly rides in charity events to raise funds for medical research, a passion sparked by a cancer scare in his family.