Specialist insurer ProSport has teamed up with broker
Jelf Group to provide general insurance and financial planning services to clients from the sports community.
ProSport, which is a part of
Brightside Group, has signed a trial partnership that will focus on current professional sports men and women, according to company head Guy Horchover.
Horchover said ProSport will also look at assisting several retired players who are now pursuing other careers.
“New professional players are also an important group as many may not ‘make it,’ so they need to have invested wisely for the day when they have to retire from sport,” he said.
Horchover explained that the partnership with Jelf Group was made following comments from the Professional Cricketers Association (PCA) and the Rugby Professionals Association (RPA).
The sports organisations said their members needed better financial planning since their careers were short. The athletes were also not getting appropriate advice from the mass market.
Horchover said between 15,000 and 20,000 sportspeople will qualify for ProSport’s proposition. Footballers make up the major customer segment but there are also 5,000 golfers, 800 rugby players, 400 cricketers and other athletes such as tennis players and jockeys.
“Increasing segmentation will benefit specialists like ProSport, where our staff members are from a sports background, they talk the language of sportspeople and instinctively understand the needs of our customers, because they’ve been there themselves,” Horchover said.
Jelf Group founder Chris Jelf said specialist insurance and financial services for sportspeople are growth areas because “they are ignored by the broader insurance market as insurance becomes increasingly commoditised.”
“Communities with particular requirements are underserved, which in turn is leading to the growth of tailored propositions by specialist brokers, such as our partnership with ProSport, to service their needs,” Jelf said.
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