There are many CEOs in the insurance industry with an interesting path to the top, but few can match the sheer variety of the roles held by Tom Woolgrove (pictured), now CEO of Premium Credit.
Woolgrove jumped into the industry through HBOS, becoming managing director of Halifax Insurance in 2006. After holding various MD roles, he was recruited to join Direct Line Group in 2010 where he took charge of its personal lines business. From there he became involved with Flood Re and was even appointed interim CEO during the recruitment process that eventually saw the hire of Brendan McCafferty.
“Flood Re was a great example of how the insurance industry delivers for a society need effectively – the availability and affordability of flood insurance, for a small percentage of the population, was a big issue because as insurers’ underwriting models became more sophisticated, the more those risks became priced away from the core,” he told Insurance Business. “The insurance industry came together and worked with Government to create a scheme that provided affordable insurance – meeting the Government’s need and the customer’s need.”
That effort to meet a societal need has continued in his latest role as CEO of Premium Credit, a position he moved into in January 2016. The company offers premium finance – which gives clients the opportunity to spread payments for insurance cover.
“Insurance, though low engagement for most people, meets a very important need for people and businesses,” he explained. “These are large commitments companies make in their annual cashflows so being able to help people manage that by being able to spread the cost over a year helps them secure insurance, which I think is really important. It actually gives them an effective way of funding that cover without draining their business overdraft if they are an SME or taking away their cash if they are a consumer.”
It’s not just the customer that benefits either, Woolgrove explained, with brokers also benefiting by being able to offer clients the chance to spread their payments. While the concept of taking out any form of credit may make some nervous, Woolgrove states that he has never heard any negatives from customers or brokers.
“For brokers, the ability to pay by instalment is a recognised customer need. In some ways, if insurers are providing those instalments – and they don’t always – then the reason why a company like Premium Credit exists is because there is a genuine customer need,” he said. “Yes, you need to meet regulatory hurdles in terms of providing credit, but we pride ourselves on providing compliant solutions to brokers. So, I don’t think there can be any negativity. We are competitive against a credit card for a retail customer or against a business overdraft for an SME – and so we’re presented as a compliant form of credit and there’s less of a headache for the consumer and the broker.
“Because of our history and our scale, we are also able to manage the process very efficiently. We process nearly 30 million direct debits a year, so our systems and our resilience around that is really important. It makes it seamless for the customers.”
The issue now, Woolgrove believes, is ensuring that brokers offer the premium finance option 100% of the time.
“The challenge is the confidence of the sales executive within the broker,” he explained. “Where premium finance is consistently offered and account executives have the skills to offer it, that corresponds with take-up. Where that is less so, we have a Capability training team that goes in and works with brokers to build the confidence of frontline staff.
“At times they might worry that it puts the core insurance sale at risk – that it’s easier to just ask for an annual payment – so what we’re able to do is show how our systems take away a lot of that risk, we take the compliance issues away for them and we give them the sales skills to handle the objections that customers might have.”
That, Woolgrove believes, results in a win for the broker and a win for the customer too.
