Modern Insurance Magazine Issue 60

ASSOCIATIONS ASSEMBLE
Graeme Trudgill
Title: Executive Director
Association: British Insurance Brokers’
Association (BIBA)
Insurance and the
Weather
It’s inevitable that climate change will
impact the insurance broking sector at
every level, regardless of the types of
insurance a broker is involved with.
Of course, those in the international sector will have
already seen clients catastrophically affected by
weather extremes including storms, floods, landslides
and wildfires. Extreme flooding in Italy has led to a
terrible loss of life as well as the cancellation of the
Emilia Romagna Formula One Grand Prix, something
which is likely to result in a large and complex
cancellation claim if not self-insured.
Brokers focusing on UK domiciled business and their
customers are by no means immune. For example,
flash flooding recently caused a major incident to be
declared in Somerset, and a quick keyword search of
‘storm’ on one news app revealed twelve worldwide
stories in the last eight weeks alone.
In the immediate future, the industry needs to maximise
accessibility to suitable insurance coverage. As one
example, Flood Re already makes a big difference to
affordability in flood hit areas, and they’ve now been
able to allow for an alternative to traditional indemnity
style maintenance when effecting flood repairs.
‘Build Back Better’ is a scheme which accepts repairs
incorporating Property Flood Resilience measures up
to the value of £10,000, on the basis of avoiding or
substantially reducing flood damage in the future.
Climate change is an issue which goes far beyond the
insurance sector, and with ESG firmly on the agenda
in many broker boardrooms, this will certainly remain
front of mind. We are looking at how our own firms
impact the environment, alongside that of our supplychains
and those of our customers, members and
stakeholders. BIBA
has recently launched
a new ESG guide for
members, something we
really hope will support
members in their
navigation of this issue.
Mike Keating,
Title: CEO
Association: Managing General Agents’
Association (MGAA)
Markets Unlocked
through the Power
of Data
The insurance industry has traditionally
been slow to adopt emerging technologies
and processes. But times are changing,
with forward-thinking MGAs leading
the way in demonstrating the value of
technological innovation for even the
largest and most established organisations
within the sector.
This is particularly true when it comes to looking at
how MGAs use data from the online customer journey.
Insurers have struggled when it comes to gathering
and capturing data, not to mention extracting insights
from this information which could help in the process
of informed decision making.
This is primarily due to legacy IT systems, most of
which were implemented many years ago and have
not been upgraded since. Given this timeframe - and
the amount of data they now store - most insurers
are quite rightly nervous to make changes, overcome
by the fear of losing important information during
the transition. However, this lack of flexibility makes it
harder to integrate and apply data from the vast array
of new sources emerging almost daily, which is driving
a revolution in insight and understanding.
This is where MGAs are proving to be a real asset.
They are not hamstrung by legacy systems, remaining
agile and fast-moving whilst able to access, analyse
and understand many sources of information. This
provides crucial insights when it comes to writing
specialist insurance, enabling MGAs to make better
operational decisions, launch new products and enter
new, emerging markets quicker than ever before. They
can also provide their capacity providers with access to
markets that they would otherwise struggle to reach.
The ability to be nimble is fundamental in such a fastchanging
world, and whilst
insurers are beginning
to invest more heavily in
updating their own datahandling
systems, MGAs
continue to lead the way –
firmly securing their role in
the future of the industry.
MODERN INSURANCE | 39