Acrisure’s ambition of becoming the destination of choice for strong, growing businesses with entrepreneurial spirits received a firm stamp of validity from its recent acquisition of Russell Scanlan. The deal, which will see the existing management team continue to run the business under the Russell Scanlan brand, showcases Acrisure’s unique proposition noted Eleanor Gamble (pictured), head of strategy, UK retail at Acrisure.
Read more: Acrisure snaps up Russell Scanlan
“It’s a great leadership team,” she said. “And our model only really works if we’re investing in growing businesses that want to carry on, who are in it for the long-run and are entrepreneurs who believe that with our support, they can continue to grow their business. So, Russell Scanlan was perfect for our model.”
For Gamble, who joined Acrisure after half a decade spent advising the insurance market around regulation and strategic projects at Deloitte, moving across to the fintech and insurance broker was the chance to do something different. When the head of Acrisure UK retail, Mark McIlquham approached her with the opportunity of helping him establish the UK retail platform, she said, it was too good to turn down.
The Acrisure model is so different to any of the other models out there, she said, and that, combined with the fact that the business is at the beginning of its journey in the UK, makes the year(s) ahead an exciting proposition.
“It has been really great so far and I’ve learned a lot,” Gamble said. “It’s a very different role to my one before which was very consulting-based, while this is about being in the market and is part-strategy, part-corporate development. So, it’s a lot of meeting businesses, developing the M&A pipeline, and working with the businesses that we’re acquiring.
“I’ve still got lots to learn about the insurance industry, I think there’s an unlimited amount to learn. But it has all been great and it has all been interesting. And I’ve met with some very interesting people both in the businesses we’ve been meeting with and also within Acrisure in the UK and globally.”
As head of strategy, Gamble noted that her objectives are closely aligned with Acrisure’s overall UK strategy. A key area of focus is on setting up an Acrisure digital network, she said, and she’s looking forward to getting involved with helping to set up that network. Another is on further developing Acrisure’s M&A pipeline in the UK, particularly now it has got the ball rolling with its acquisition of Russell Scanlan.
All going to plan, the firm will have further deals to announce shortly, and a core focus right now is on getting the integration piece right, so these firms are smoothly welcomed on to the UK platform. The next step with these acquisitions will be working with the acquired teams, she said, to ensure that everyone’s inputs are considered and everybody comes along on the journey together.
As to whether the UK insurance market is ready to accept a digital network, Gamble highlighted that it’s all a question of how the opportunity is articulated.
“A lot of the time people talk about digitising businesses, but not necessarily what the benefits are of doing that and what the real-life benefits are to all the brokers who actually do day-to-day broking,” she said. “And when we’re talking about a digital network, we’re talking about harnessing the power of data, we’re talking about being able to cross-sell across network members and across our Acrisure retail partners.
“I think as long as we can articulate the real value of creating that digital network, we will have a very different network proposition to others which should hopefully be very attractive to the UK market.”
It’s a proposition that Gamble has already seen translating well across the UK insurance ecosystem. Where Acrisure’s model is seeing great success is among those businesses that have already been approached by the “obvious” buyers but, for a myriad of reasons, have determined that those models don’t work for them, she said. Because Acrisure is bringing a different ethos and a different approach to M&A to the table, businesses that had previously closed the door to holding conversations are now opening it again.
Examining what sets a strong strategy apart, she highlighted the partnership approach that the fintech and insurance broker takes to doing business.
“[Our businesses] are all well-established with entrepreneurial management teams,” she said. “And while our strategy will be set and overseen centrally, it will be really [based] on getting that input from our partners and using their expertise in the market - whether it’s their regional expertise or their area of specialism, and getting them to input on that strategy and help drive it forward. Without that buy-in from your partners, I don’t think you can get anywhere in the UK.”
