Brokers should look to focus more on claims as they aim to build their market presence, an industry leader has said.
William Legge, general manager of the UAC, said that complex and high net worth clients will always look to utilise a broker. However, to strengthen their position in other areas, brokers should focus on claims expertise.
Its latest CEO Survey found that 45% of underwriting agency senior executives believe that the role of the broker within the market needs to change, and Legge said that he believes survey respondents want to see brokers further develop their claims role.
“You need to change your focus from getting business, to, as we are doing, looking at retaining what you’ve got and growing it and being of more value where the value needs to be,” Legge told
Insurance Business. “We think buying insurance is not such a big deal for an SME but it is when they have a problem – that’s when they need the expertise.
“We think that’s where a broking house should be saying ‘don’t you worry, leave it to us’.”
Legge noted that the relationships built between brokers and underwriting agency partners over the more difficult periods of the market will stand both parties in good stead over the coming years. With the market continuing to see rate increases, Legge said that those underwriting agencies who have put in the “hard yards” on their relationships with the broker market will reap rewards.
“For the next 30, 36 months I think it will be an extraordinarily rewarding time for those agencies who have really put in the relationship work,” Legge continued.
For underwriting agencies, Legge said that it is now important to focus on operational efficiencies to make themselves easier to deal with from the brokers’ perspective.
“That allows the maximum working flexibility to the market facing team. It also provides the data they need to be more practically useful and in doing it automatically rather than having to work it out on spreadsheets,” Legge continued. “To do that, they have to make absolutely sure that their market facing people have the time and also the skill sets, meaning data, which all comes back to the operational systems.”
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