Last month, Insurance Business released the results from the latest Brokers on Underwriters survey – and there was one agency which did particularly well, taking a total of six medals.
DUAL Australia received outstanding feedback in the annual survey and was identified as best in class across three separate financial lines – D&O, management liability and professional indemnity.
The agency also claimed silver medals for its cyber product and not-for-profit offering, as well as a bronze in the accident and health space.
“Our DNA since starting the business almost 16 years ago has been to ask brokers what they want, not tell them what they need,” said CEO Damien Coates. “I think this and other philosophies we live by, like ‘people first’, resonate on a global basis not just locally.”
With this universal appeal, it’s no surprise that Coates was included in the inaugural Global 100 – a list of influential movers and shakers from across six international markets.
“It is extremely humbling and a genuine honour to be recognised with such talented, driven and successful peers in the insurance industry,” said Coates, following the announcement of his inclusion.
Commenting on what sets DUAL apart from other players in the market, Coates said the agency is committed to helping brokers grow their own business, without overcomplicating things.
“We have always tried to help brokers grow their profits by making traditionally complex insurances simple,” he told Insurance Business, adding that underwriting criteria should no longer include lengthy proposal forms or convoluted wordings.
“We live in a time poor world, where people’s attention spans are shorter than ever so to be successful you need to engage with clients and make the process easy – as well as providing easy to understand educational content which a broker can explain to their clients.”
As well as earning a silver medal, DUAL’s cyber policy was also recognised as a brokers’ pick, with one respondent saying the depth of cover provided exceeds the majority of the market competitors.
“Like we did with management liability 15 years ago, we pride ourselves on innovation and disruption, especially through the ease of transaction through our online quote and bind platform WebRater,” Coates told Insurance Business. “We want to help brokers protect themselves and their clients by creating markets for business-critical insurances like cyber insurance which brings new revenue to the market.”
According to Coates, 80% of its 6,000 cyber policies were sold to first time buyers, which illustrates brokers want to offer their clients new products to cover emerging risks.
“We have experienced a lot of successes and challenges over 15 years,” said Coates. “At all times the broking community has continued to support us so winning awards like these is a testament to the hard work the entire DUAL team puts in day in, day out in developing, maintaining and servicing our client relationships.”
