To offer a major competitive boost in the umbrella insurance market, Applied Underwriters has created a national facility for insurers – specifically those rated financially secure by insurance rating agency Demotech.
Through the new Applied Underwriters program, Demotech-rated insurance carriers can secure umbrella and excess coverages under the facility. It will provide an advantage to insurers that package and sell their primary coverages for small business insurance, a release said.
In order to rate insurers, Demotech uses carriers’ claims paying ability as the leading indicator of their strength. It is this unique approach to insurer rating that caught the attention of Applied Underwriters.
“We have seen and experienced the benefit of Demotech’s incisive analyses. Using Demotech’s data-rich, comprehensive resources, we have created a sound risk management model,” said Applied Underwriters chairman Steve Menzies, who added that the new program will support over 400 financially stable insurers.
“Demotech and Applied share many characteristics, among them is the multi-dimensional understanding of properly priced coverage throughout pricing cycles and periods of availability,” said Demotech co-founder and president Joseph Petrelli. “Applied’s willingness to work with Demotech-rated carriers is a tribute to its willingness to transform and strengthen the marketplace, an objective we at Demotech have served for decades.”
Petrelli also remarked that the new facility’s launch is “great news” for all consumers, producers, and carriers.
“Applied and Demotech have a common trust in the growth of as varied and innovative an insurance market as possible, with as much self-regulation as is practicable in a real culture of transparency,” he said, adding that the Demotech and Applied teams both hope to build other facilities and programs in the future.
