About the author
Gayle Watts
Broker Insights: Impact 25 2019 profile
March 4, 2019 Gayle Watts
This is a summary of the profile which first appeared in the Oxbow Partners InsurTech Impact 25 2019.
The Broker Insights proposition was inspired by the changes that have taken place in industries like estate agency or car sales. As Fraser Edmond, CEO, explains: “In the old days, you would go to multiple estate agents or car showrooms to find out what inventory was available. Nowadays, you use the internet to see what the inventory is and exactly where to find what you want.”
Fraser also points out that not even the largest insurance carriers – shoppers in the above analogy – can effectively cover all 3,000 UK brokers. Broker Insights therefore aggregates ‘inventory’ from brokers (in the form of suitably anonymised portfolio information) and other sources and presents it to insurers. Insurers can then be more targeted in their coverage of the market, focusing on those brokers who have risks within appetite at the right time. This is advantageous also to brokers, who get meaningful contacts from insurers with solutions for specific clients or account types.
In addition, Broker nsights provides analytics to brokers on their platform. The platform does not provide the capability to transact directly on it, just prospect and portfolio analysis. The data is aggregated from brokers’ core systems (e.g. Acturis, OpenGI) and other sources. Insurers pay a combination of subscription and transaction fee.
“The Broker Insights model has the potential to transform the way insurers and independent brokers interact by bringing them
closer together.”Ross Dingwall, Managing Director of Broker Channel, Hiscox
Company in action
Broker Insights are making broker portfolios visible to insurers through a searchable platform. Insurers pay to access the platform, providing them with transformational broker profiling, sales planning and sales prospecting capability. Brokers pay nothing to sign up to Broker Insights, and receive more attention from insurer partners, at the right time, for the right customer and with the right products as well as detailed profiling insights about their business.
Case Study
Client situation: A UK insurer was struggling to serve the whole general commercial broker market efficiently. There was an opportunity to cover broker partners better using a data-led coverage approach.
What they did: By partnering with Broker Insights, the insurer has greater visibility of relevant business opportunities. Often these will be brokers who the insurer has paid minimal attention in the past.
What impact it had: The insurer is growing its portfolio in areas aligned to its strategy. Relationships with brokers are strengthening as the insurer contacts them with relevant propositions at the right time.
The Oxbow Partners View
We have been impressed by the pace with which Broker Insights has launched and acquired meaningful, six-figure revenue. In the twelve weeks since launch (October 2018), the business has onboarded 20 brokers, representing over £100m of GWP from over 30,000 policies.
We see huge opportunities for partnerships. For example, broker networks could use the platform to get a better understanding of their members’ activities, arrange facilities and better understand influence (the currently opaque driver of their overrider commission). With over 1,000 UK brokers in networks, winning over networks could accelerate growth dramatically. Whilst the business is currently UK-focused, it is easy to see how the business could extend to other markets. For example, there could be opportunities in the US E&S markets for niche risks or indeed Lloyd’s.
If Fraser’s vision plays out, Broker Insights will facilitate an inflection from a world where brokers place accounts, to one where insurers come and get them. It will require insurers to make some changes in the way they approach the market – big prizes for those who adapt, and risks of anti-selection and portfolio contraction for those who do not.