Though different career paths led to them becoming colleagues and peers, it was a shared vision behind Dominic Horton and Thomas Beckett’s decision to set up Taurus Risk Management – to turn ‘what if?’ into ‘what’s next?’
It’s always hard to know when the time is right to strike out on your own, the co-founders noted in an interview with Insurance Business, particularly when it means leaving a secure job at a global broking house that you’re good at and you enjoy. At its core, however, it comes down to risk appetite, opportunity – and, in their case, a chance run-in on the London Underground.
“We both live in West London, and I was on the Tube either coming into or leaving work in the City when I bumped into Dom,” Beckett (pictured left) said. “We were talking about somebody I had just spoken to who had just started a shipping business. And I mentioned I was interested in starting an insurance business and he said he was too, which was the initial seed of an idea for Taurus.”
Having that initial conversation with a colleague is a real risk, Horton (pictured right) said, but it was a show of faith on both parts which reflected their entrepreneurial mindsets. For a while, they had both known that they had the skills, the connections and the ambition to really run an insurance business differently and to bridge the gap they had spotted in the market for specialised insurance programmes delivered through responsive service and product expertise.
“Our ethos is that we’re willing to take a risk because we believe that our bespoke model will be successful, whether it takes a short or a long amount of time,” he said. “We’re willing to put in the graft, the hard work and the effort to make Taurus what we believe it can be. And that’s why we decided to go for it. Tom brought in his expertise in M&A insurance due diligence and portfolio solutions as well as building a book of business in commercial and private lines. Whereas, for me, also coming from the M&A sector, I brought those very transferable skills of winning new business.”
Launching earlier this year into the real estate insurance market, the brokerage has gone from strength to strength, working with top-rated insurers and broking rebuild sums insured of £100 million-plus in its first month of trading. With a pipeline figure of £130 million for its second month, and some great wins under its belt already, the growth potential of the firm is clear to see, Beckett said, and its reach will continue to expand as it continues to add new business lines with tech-based businesses and renewable energy in the crosshairs.
From the beginning, the duo had a clear vision for what they wanted the business to be and what they wanted the business to represent – in essence, a return to the traditional broking values of service, transparency and advice, backed by expertise and the right technology used efficiently.
Integral to that was going down the route of being directly authorised by the FCA, Beckett said, because they knew they wanted full control over their relationship with their insurer partners and their compliance. Having enjoyed a very positive and communicative experience with FCA while going the authorisation route, he advised those looking to do the same on the power of having a clear, demonstrable business plan – noting that the regulator approved Taurus’s application in five months.
Horton highlighted that they decided early on to become part of the Hedron Network. It has been a great support, he said, particularly because as an FCA-authorised company, you require additional compliance investment to handle client money and Hedron provides a comprehensive and relatively low-cost solution to that problem. In addition, the group supported them in the onboarding process, and Taurus’s applications to trade with insurers, which significantly improves the likelihood of them being accepted.
Looking at the growth milestones already achieved – and what’s next – Beckett highlighted that Taurus’s focus is on the commercial and private lines space because they’ve identified the wealth of opportunity that exists there. There has been so much consolidation in the market, he said, which has led to quite a substantial service-level gap. “We know, from our own experiences in the market that there is a better way of doing business, a better way of servicing clients the way they want to be serviced.
“What that comes down to is being available to them. We want our clients to rest assured that we can be reached out to should the worst happen. Because when a claim happens, you need to know you can pick up the phone and talk to the person who arranged the policy so they can advise you on what to do next. That means being available outside of the 9-to-5 typical business hours, it means answering emails as they come in and it means proactively keeping people updated.”
From his own experience in the commercial and private lines market, Beckett said he has seen first-hand that this simply doesn’t happen as often as it should and he sees a place for brokers who blend expertise with service. That’s particularly relevant given how relatively few independent brokers there are in today’s marketplace, and it’s the ‘why’ behind why Taurus was established, and why he and Horton believe the business is poised for meaningful growth in the long term.
“Tom’s favourite phrase at the moment is that we’re not reinventing the wheel, we’re just making it more round,” Horton said. “And that’s what it’s all about. Because in insurance, the product that we deliver tends to be comparable barring a poorly arranged policy. So, it’s the service that makes all the difference, and how you can make the process of purchasing and understanding insurance so much easier for your clients. Because we’re an extension of them at the end of the day and we take that responsibility very seriously.”
There is a need for the market to go back to the basics of what great service actually looks like, he said, and to stop tripping themselves up with the idea that new technology is always the right answer. Clients want accessible, receptive brokers who are there for them in their time of need and, increasingly, if this need is not met, they are likely to find a broker who will support them.
Taurus is founded on the belief that given its co-founder’s experience in M&A and insurance due diligence as well as retail broking it offers a unique approach to understanding insurable risk, Beckett said. Further compounding this is that there’s so much consolidation in the market – with only about 50 new brokerages registered last year – and that’s creating further opportunity.
“When you break it down further to those doing the same lines as us, the Venn diagram starts to really condense until there’s only a handful of people doing what we’re doing,” Horton said. “That’s because you have the big consolidators buying brokerages and packing them together to get great multiples and sell them on again. It’s no bad thing but it is creating a gap in the market between the business of the £1 million revenue brokers and that of the bigger corporates. Everything in between is getting hoovered up.
“We’re seeing the gap there, and that’s what we’re going after,” he said. “We’re not looking to disrupt the market but rather to transform the way that insurance is viewed by changing the way it is transacted. We’re working hard to build a one-stop shop for commercial and private clients that relies on great service and a true understanding of risk and our markets. It’s early days still but we’re well on our way.”
