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The head of a prominent underwriting agency has reflected on the firm’s progress 15 years after it first launched in Australia, saying he never expected to enjoy such a degree of success.
“Did I, in my wildest dreams, hope that we’d be employing 160 people with seven offices in four countries? No,” admits Damien Coates, CEO of DUAL. “Are we thrilled that that’s what we’ve achieved? Absolutely.”
Since it first launched as a start-up in 2004, DUAL has grown into a $187 million business with a presence across Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong and Singapore.
Coates, who helped launch the Australian operations, says the organisation’s success is partly due to it being a member of the wider Hyperion Insurance Group, which was formed 25 years ago.
“The group was formed based on David Howden’s energy and David’s managed to keep the business independent for 25 years,” says Coates. “You also regularly hear him saying the group will be independent for the next 25 years.”
According to Coates, that independence – which is a rare commodity in the global insurance market – gives DUAL and Hyperion a unique selling point and competitive edge.
“That commitment has allowed us to attract the best talent and also to attract the best carriers because insurers and employees know that we’re going to stay independent,” says Coates.
“We won’t be selling to a big insurer, we won’t be selling to a big cluster group, we’ll be staying independent so carriers are prepared to invest in DUAL and people can come and build 10-15-year careers here.”
In fact, 35% of DUAL’s current workforce has been with the company for more than five years while 12 employees have been with the firm for over 10 years.
“That’s quite exceptional for a company of 160 employees which has an average age of 31,” says Coates.
However, while rapid growth and fulfilled employees are both significant achievements, Coates says he’s most proud of the way in which DUAL has been able to impact the market.
“We’re probably most thrilled that we’ve actually been able to work with brokers to grow their profits and help grow the overall insurance market,” he tells Insurance Business. “We’ve never tried to convince a broker to move a piece of business from Chubb to DUAL, because moving business costs them money and doesn’t grow their profits, we’ve always been about growing the overall market.”
By focusing primarily on management liability, cyber and corporate travel, DUAL aims to help brokers sell new products to existing clients to deal with a gap in coverage – rather than forcing them to move business or win new custom.
“Ten years ago, less than 5% of companies purchased management liability or corporate travel and nobody even knew cyber existed,” says Coates.
“Now, we have 110,000 policies and most of those were for first-time buyers, so our real pride has been helping to grow the overall market rather than just fighting for market share.”
