The recent July 1 reinsurance renewal period likely confirmed for many that the insurance industry’s hard market is continuing. Gallagher Re’s latest 1st View renewals report underlined a firming trend. Meanwhile interest rates and inflation are going up and a recession could be on the horizon.
“Everyone’s talking about a hard market, but what I’m actually seeing is opportunity overload at the moment for brokers - there’s plenty of opportunity there,” said Steve Sloan (pictured above), general manager of digital and communications for the Ausure network of authorized representatives (ARs).
One industry upside, suggested Sloan, is a result of successfully attracting young people to the Ausure network from outside the insurance industry.
“A lot of that opportunity has come in through the new people that we’re introducing into the industry,” he said. “I think they’re better able to handle change. They’re more used to technology,” he added.
Sloan said the only way to appreciate the opportunities in a hard market is to actually experience one.
“Everybody in the industry at the moment is looking for workers and they’re looking for resources. They seem to be fighting over the same pool of people without going: ‘Let’s bring people into this industry and mentor them and get them ready for what’s next,’” he said.
Some other insurance companies are adopting similar strategies to Ausure.
“So we’re not just pulling from the industry itself but we’re working really collaboratively to attract new entrants where they have the right sort of personality and skill base and the interest,” said Gallagher Bassett Australia CEO Pete Nicholson. GB is Australia’s largest third-party claims administrator.
Universities are one hunting ground, Nicholson said, where GB’s focus is on attracting prospects with allied health qualifications, as well as graduates with commerce or law backgrounds that might be well suited to corporate roles or specialty claims.
GB is also currently developing flexible programs to attract part-time workers and people returning from parental leave. The idea, said Nicholson, is to provide options that accommodate their needs “not make them bend to ours.”
As the talent shortage continues, Kona Recruitment’s managing director James Toth has said it’s time for insurance companies to rethink the way they build their businesses.
“If I was really going to boil this down I would say start to throw out the rulebook of what we thought it meant to recruit professionals in this market,” said Toth.
However, he implied opportunities can come from being more flexible about recruitment.
One option for filling empty senior roles, said Toth, is to bring in someone with much less experience and who may need significant upskilling but who is ambitious and motivated.
“Then maybe plug some of the more administrative duties of that portfolio with a very junior staff member. It’s not going to be a perfect fit, but what you are going to have is someone at that level who can be client-side and market facing,” he said.
According to William Legge, general manager of the Underwriting Agencies Council (UAC), despite the hard market, underwriters have been going “gangbusters” with business.
“Business is booming,” he told IB earlier this year.
Legge said his members are still reaping the benefits of the widespread portfolio stabilization and capacity shrinkage that has occurred in recent years across the insurance industry. The most famous example of that process was Lloyd’s ‘Decile 10’ initiative launched in 2018.
“That meant a lot of business was being let go by carriers who had kept it for quite a few years so brokers had to find a new home quickly and that’s when they really turned to our industry,” said Legge.
Sloan also noted Ausure’s digital upgrades in recent years and suggested they are also bringing in opportunities.
“What’s really driving Ausure’s digital strategy is the 247 system [Sloan founded Insure247 and its now part of the Ausure network] and that’s driving efficiencies and it gives us the chance to deal with clients from end to end and better look after their businesses,” he said.
Sloan added that six years ago it was still necessary to fax many underwriters to get a quote.
“So even though it’s a hard market there are great opportunities and we’re at a time of some super change coming up,” he said.
