It’s exciting times for Mathew Rowles (pictured) and his team at Malago Insurance Brokers who rang in the New Year with the acquisition of Mullberry Insurance Brokers. Discussing the deal with Insurance Business, the MD of the Bristol-based brokerage revealed that the move was an evolution of his longstanding relationship with Mullberry’s retired principal Keith Johnson.
“The Bristol market is quite small and Keith and I, having both been Momentum [Broker Solutions] ARs, had got to know each other quite well,” he said. “We bumped into each other at different events and then kept in touch over the years.”
After 40 years in the industry, Johnson described the decision to retire as “bittersweet” and highlighted how important it was to leave his treasured client relationships in safe hands. With a similar client base and values, Malago proved a natural fit. Digging into some of those values, Rowles noted that when he first started his business eight years ago, it was with the ambition of restoking the fires of what makes independent insurance brokers such valuable players within the communities they serve.
“I have a corporate background but I just wanted to get back to the good old days of when I started insurance in 1986,” he said. “I was straight out of school into a brokerage and my boss used to tuck his files under his arm and wander off in his car to actually go out and see clients and talk to them. And those conversations would be 20 minutes about the family and football and then a little bit about insurance.
“I saw all the acquisitions and consolidation that was going on in the market, which I was part of, and I thought that, certainly if you’re an SME business, you’ve kind of lost that personal touch. Is buying insurance online really a good thing? I certainly don’t think so. You don’t get any real service and you probably don’t know what you’re buying, so it’s a minefield. I felt that small businesses particularly needed some help and it was time to go back to the good old days of being a local, independent broker.”
It's a value proposition that has resonated well with those businesses who take insurance seriously, Rowles said. There will always be insurance buyers who are just looking for a piece of paper to fulfil their basic requirements but those looking for advice and guidance understand the power of a proposition such as Malago’s which puts the emphasis on advice over price.
“We’ve had some people come to us saying they tried to deal with different companies online and they can’t even get some advice from them,” he said. “They’ll quote for something like employers’ liability coverage but they won’t tell you what you need or whether you actually need it. What is the world coming to if a professional industry won’t give advice? We get a lot of business like that, but we also get a lot of business just because people like us and we look after people very well. Word of mouth has been a big part of our growth in the last eight years.”
It's not just clients who are finding alignment with Malago’s proposition and, with further M&A growth on the horizon if not the direct agenda, Rowles highlighted why an independent broker would look to join up with his team rather than sell to one of the corporates. There are two sides to every acquisition, he said, and for him, a great deal is one which brings a combination of shared values and a strong, aligned client book.
On the other side of the equation, it’s all about what the seller values most. For Johnson, for instance, he wanted a handover period that worked for him and, above all, to find a great home for his clients, his team and the business he had built. Also, for Johnson and for many independent brokers, Rowles said, it’s a point of pride to support a local business with the same ethics and beliefs as the ones that underpinned their business, rather than selling up to a national.
It's important to keep the spirit of independent broking alive in the face of so much consolidation in the market, he said, which he sees first-hand from serving the Bristol region which, though it remains an insurance hub today, is no longer the hotbed of independent broking activity it once was. In that spirit, he welcomes any South-West brokers who are reaching retirement age and considering their next steps to reach out to him and the team.
“Alternatively, if you’re an account executive working in an office and you want to strike out on your own, my advice would be to do it,” he said. “And to do it sooner rather than later. As long as you’ve got the skills to do a great job, you will get support from local businesses. If you work hard and you’re good at what you do, you will achieve success and you’ll enjoy your working day. You might even have time for a game of golf every now and then!”
For now, the top of Rowles’ agenda is dominated by the drive for even greater growth. Eight years of knocking on doors, crafting strong external relationships and building a great team have put Malago in a strong position for further growth, he said, and the phone is always off the hook. In 2023, there was only one month in which the brokerage did not record growth and further lead generation is always on the cards.
“It’s growth we’re looking for, which will involve building our team a little bit here during the year,” he said. “We’re always looking for new opportunities to quote for new business and hopefully pick up most of it. Certainly, I’ve got a three-to-five-year plan for growth in my head and that’s what we’re building towards. So, it’s about carrying on doing what we’re doing so well, by hook or by crook really.”
