The 2024 BIBA Conference saw over 9,500 delegates grappling with the question of the moment for the insurance industry – ‘What’s next?’ It’s a front-of-mind theme for CEO Tim Bailey (pictured) and his team at Zurich UK as they explore new ways to continue to support their broad spectrum of broker partners, particularly in light of all the economic and political shifts the market has undergone in recent years.
“I think while we're still seeing that change, it feels like the new normal,” he said. “In that context, it means that our customers are also dealing with more change - so the way that brokers and insurers support them through that is critically important.”
Zurich UK has broadened its regional network over the last couple of years, and now its 10 regional hubs enable it to connect with partners across the whole of the country. Bailey noted that the company has been working with brokers to co-design client-centric solutions and it has benefited from opening offices, most recently in Bristol, Southampton and Chelmsford.
“The broker response has been fantastic and it’s that responsiveness that enables us to keep the dialogue happening,” he said. “We’re really listening to all the feedback we’ve had around how we can make things simpler. We’ve invested in our SME proposition over the last few years to deliver a much faster turnaround of quotes. We also launched a new mid-market proposition late last year, again to make it much simpler for brokers and to deliver a much faster turnaround.
“That’s all in response to feedback from our brokers. What we’re focusing on [now] is finding that sweet spot in terms of where business can be e-traded versus case underwritten. Again, that’s all about making it as easy as possible for brokers.”
Looking at what’s impacting the market today, Bailey highlighted that brokers are still dealing with the fallout of the high inflation environment. Off the back of that, underinsurance remains a really important topic as well, he said, and supporting brokers in mitigating the impact of that risk on their clients remains high on the agenda.
Despite these challenges, however, Bailey noted that he’s feeling very positive about the health of the UK broking market – and the capacity of UK brokers to continue to help their customers understand, navigate and manage their risks.
“That role has only become more important as we've gone through a period where we've seen more change from an economic, geopolitical and climate perspective,” he said. “We've actually seen changes on multiple levels and I think the role of brokers as advisors is really so important. In reality, we'll see continued change and I think that volume of change is probably the new normal.
“And so, that role of brokers as advisors is vitally important and absolutely central to our business. Our intention is to make sure that we build on the really strong foundation in terms of the partnerships that we have with our brokers and make sure that we constantly challenge each other to see how we can do even better for our clients. We've got the same objective, which is to provide great customer outcomes. And the better we work together, the better we can deliver on that objective.”
