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Customer-centric insurers won’t mean brokers will lose their place in the market in the future, an expert has said.
Speaking to attendees of the inaugural Insurance Business Insurtech Summit, Ash Nair, head of data and analytics at QBE, allayed the fears of some brokers that insurers will look to go around them to get to the end customer. He said that while insurers do want to get closer to their customers it “definitely” does not mean brokers are under threat.
“The reason for that is that direct service works for some customers but not for everyone,” Nair said. “It is not one size fits all and brokers will always have a place.”
Nair stressed that, as they work on behalf of their client rather than the insurer they place business with, brokers are integral to building up trust within the industry.
“We ave got to keep it that way to ensure that the industry remains honest as well,” Nair continued.
While it is no secret that insurers are looking at the smaller end of the SME spectrum with some interest from a direct perspective, Nair noted that this does not mark a death knell for brokers.
“To me, the fact that we are thinking about the end customer does not mean that we are trying to get rid of intermediaries,” Nair continued. “Where we will end up is a certain part of the ecosystem will want to engage [with us] and that is the one we will provide direct service to - but a whole bunch of that is then transferable to broker partners.
“What will happen is that their engagement with us will be much more simplified and they will be able to provide much better service to their customers. That is the model we are looking at.”
