It is no surprise to anyone that the insurance industry could do with a much-needed break.
Last year, John Neal the CEO of Lloyd’s London stated that “Coronavirus will be the largest loss on record for insurers[…]”, and that “[…]the chances of the market making anything other than a notable loss in 2020 are zero”. Alongside other recent set backs such as Solvency II, the Ogden rate remaining in negative territory, and storms Dennis and Ciara costing the industry over £500 million, it is clear that the industry is in need of initiatives than enable opportunity and growth for insurers and MGAs alike.
Today, we hope to offer that much-needed break, as we launch the SchemeServe Partner Panel, an initiative to connect MGAs looking for capacity for their schemes, to providers with matching appetite. The panel consists of seven capacity providers; AXA, Ecclesiastical, Pen, Hiscox, Blink Intermediary Solutions (Iris Insurance Brokers Ltd), Gresham and ARAG, and provides a broad range of capacity for a comprehensive spread of schemes on our SchemeServe Network, that will be launching later in the month.
The SchemeServe Network is a collaborative scheme sharing facility which, for the first time, will allow any insurance scheme to be shared and replicated by any other broker, MGA or insurer. Running alongside it, our new Partner panel launched today means that brokers and MGAs can now find much needed capacity for their new schemes, or for their existing schemes should the need arise for a change of capacity provider.
We hope this initiative will make it quick and easy for those scheme owners to find capacity for their schemes in the hard market. In the last six years, almost 250 insurers have pulled out of the market and half of those have been in the last two years. The market faces a severely reduced capacity, with scheme owners often being left in the lurch by their capacity providers.
Observing these challenges, the idea for a scheme owner and capacity provider ‘match-up’ service was born – now known as the Network Partner Panel. This panel will provide a huge opportunity for scheme owners to ‘speed date’ providers, should they be struggling to find capacity for a new or existing scheme. We are extremely hopeful that this initiative will be a guiding light for MGAs and brokers, who are in need of finding capacity quickly and easily, in the current difficult environment.
Here’s how to works;
- Send us a line, telling us you’re looking for capacity. We’ll then collect a few further details from you, so we have a full picture.
- Your details will then be sent onto our panel of Network Partners.
- If there’s a match, we’ll give you a call to set up a time you can chat with the interested parties.
- Then you’re free to mingle!
Here’s what some of our Partner Panel members had to say;
Antony Osborne, Corporate Portfolio Underwriting Manager at Ecclesiastical;
“The SchemeServe Network and its insurer panel is a great initiative. Ecclesiastical is a schemes specialist with a broad risk appetite and Schemes is a growth area for us. Supporting initiatives like this creates more opportunity for brokers and insurers to develop successful partnerships and deliver specialist solutions for customers. We’ve been working with SchemeServe for a number of years now and never fail to be impressed by its quiet ambition, innovation and dependability.”
Andy Talbot, Head of Sales & Marketing, ARAG plc;
“Schemes are hugely important in the market and we’re delighted to be a Panel member for SchemeServe. The Network that is due to launch this month is a great idea. It gives brokers access to a scheme library sharing facility as well as a panel of willing capacity providers all under one roof, giving schemes owners a massive plug and play advantage. It will also help reduce the time to get schemes products live. “I’ve always admired SchemeServe as a business that is well respected amongst scheme brokers and MGAs. They work with many organisations that I know and even more that I want to know! I’m sure our partnership will identify many exciting new business opportunities.”
Andy Dodd, National Schemes Manager at Pen Underwriting;
“For a number of years, Pen Underwriting have been at the forefront of bespoke scheme builds across a variety of niche sectors. We have chosen to partner with SchemeServe as we feel it represents a great opportunity to demonstrate our capabilities to their varied customer base and to work in partnership to enhance the customer journey of how schemes are transacted and traded now and in the future.”
Zoe Williams, Divisional Director, Blink Intermediary Solutions
“We are delighted to be supporting the SchemeServe Network initiative. At Blink Intermediary Solutions we connect UK insurance brokers to insurance products, facilities and services, some of which are unique and exclusive to us. We are also a division of a Lloyd’s broker, Iris insurance Brokers Ltd broker at Lloyd’s, who can assist brokers and MGA’s with their placement programme by developing binders and capacity solutions.”
If you’re interested in talking to our Network Partners you can register interest here!
The purpose of the SchemeServe Network, and our SchemeServe Partners is to promote access to schemes and capacity providers, we do not involve ourselves in insurance mediation. Any such Terms of Business are direct with our Network Partners and the end user/MGA/broker.
