Q&A
Vanessa MacDonald
Overcoming obstacles in professional indemnity
Underwriter PRORISK
How do you expect the professional indemnity market to evolve over the next 12 to 24 months?
Years in the industry 8 Fast fact A specialist in professional indemnity, MacDonald has worked as a financial lines underwriter for some of the biggest names in insurance, including Chubb, Berkley and now ProRisk
I expect the market to become more challenging for all parties; however, those with a sound understanding of professional indemnity and the unique exposures of the product will ultimately rise to the top. The market is hardening, and Lloyd’s are reducing their capacity, resulting in some underwriting agencies needing to remediate their portfolios or even losing their capacity. Some market segments have become distressed: engineers and construction professionals, real estate agents, lawyers, and financial services. These hard-to-place and distressed risks, which were typically placed direct into London, are now coming back into the Australian market. While there will always be a place for online portals for vanilla risks, online platforms do not cater to everything, and the hard coating of underwriting rules will lead to fewer markets for small complex risks. More focus is being placed on the client’s internal procedures and risk management controls when considering a submission. We will begin to see more pushback on risks that don’t have adequate controls or systems in place, putting the onus on the insured to have procedures to mitigate their risk, rather than relying on insurance first and foremost.
How is ProRisk responding to the challenging market conditions? Offering as affordable policies as we do, you need to
CHU goes green with environmental initiative
Strata specialist insurer CHU has lent it support to a high-profile tree-planting project in an effort to cut its carbon footprint. The Forktree project, led by environmental scientist and explorer Tim Jarvis, aims to regenerate farmland in South Australia by bringing native trees back to a degraded property on the Fleurieu Peninsula. “Climate change and biodiversity loss are the biggest threats facing us,” said CHU CEO Bobby Lehane. “The Forktree project involves restoring and reforesting an area of degraded farmland to help combat these threats.”
make sure everything runs smoothly and that there are effective efficiencies in place. After suffering a cyber attack in the middle of June, we had to come up with a way to serve our brokers, ensure our clients were covered and make sure our underwriters weren’t in the office at all hours. This was the catalyst for us launching our fast-track renewal process. Now a client will receive a quote with their renewal invite, which can be bound on by the receipt of a completed one-page declaration and a closing. This process provides underwriters time to review exceptions and consider new opportunities and reduces overall touch time.
How can brokers work with underwriters to secure better outcomes for their clients? I believe it comes down to three words: know your client. When I get a less straightforward risk, I will call the broker and have a chat about the overall submission. If you can give me a story about the client, their needs and your expectations, I can work with you to get the best outcomes for the client. When sections of proposal forms are blank or incomplete, it makes it very hard for the underwriter to get a complete picture or even rate the risk. I always encourage brokers to give me a call if they are unsure about a risk or if they have a short timeframe. Ultimately, the best way to help your clients get the best terms is to be open and honest with your underwriter.
Agile Underwriting teams up with Cynch Security
Agile Underwriting has partnered with cybersecurity firm Cynch Security to give Cynch’s small business clients access to Agile’s CyberCare product, which provides coverage for crisis management and data breach notification costs and access to a 24/7 emergency response team. Cynch co-founder and CEO Susie Jones said the alliance will give businesses “an economic way” to reduce the impact of cyber attacks. In addition, Agile said it plans to add three new products to its online cyber offering in the coming months.
360 Underwriting Solutions buys stake in eSentry
With support from QBE, 360 Underwriting Solutions has bought a 50% stake in eSentry, a specialist underwriting agency that provides solutions for brokers in the construction risk space. The new venture will offer annual and single construction products for residential owner-builders. “Having QBE support our new construction venture reflects the capability we are building at 360 and the confidence we have been able to establish with all of our capacity providers,” said 360 co-founder and director Denis Morrissey.
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