Modern Insurance Magazine Issue 61: The MGA Supplement

MGA 

supplement 

The Heart of 

Underwriting 

with Amy Blackshaw, Nelson Policies 

at Lloyd’s 

10 Minutes 

with AXA XL 

Q&A with Paul Howard 

Ahead of 

the Curve 

with Mike Keating, MGAA 

Insurance 

technology 

is broken… 

ParaCode plan to fix it! 

Driving 

Efficiency: 

An Ecosystem for MGAs

WELCOME 

MGAs have proven themselves to be a vital 

component in our present-day insurance 

ecosystem. With a pressing need for 

modernisation and innovation across the 

industry, the solution may very well present 

itself in the guise of strong and versatile MGA 

partnerships. 

In this very special ‘MGA themed’ supplement magazine, 

we’re fortunate to have been able to catch up with Mike 

Keating, Chief Executive Officer over at the Managing General 

Agents’ Association (MGAA). You’ll find the full overview of our 

conversation on p.4, discussing the success of the recent MGAA 

Conference in London, the MGAA’s commitment to nurturing 

Next Gen talent, the association’s growing membership 

numbers, and much more. 

Amelia Barlow, Editor 

We also sat down with Amy Blackshaw, Chief Executive Officer 

of Nelson Policies at Lloyd’s & East Kent Underwriting Ltd, 

following her ‘MGA Professional of the Year’ Award win at 

the 2022 Women in Insurance Awards. Delving further into 

the importance of strong broker partnerships and the use of 

innovative technology in a successful MGA, you can flick to p.6 

in order to read the full interview. 

This supplement magazine would not have been possible 

without the hard work and dedication of our valued contributors, 

all of whom have donated their time and experience in the 

MGA marketplace to provide you with thought leadership 

features, Q&As and case studies from successful business 

collaborations. 

I hope you enjoy this very special bumper issue of Modern 

Insurance Magazine, and would of course welcome your 

feedback across all relevant channels using the details below. 

Happy reading! 

Amelia Day Barlow 

Editor 

Modern Insurance Magazine 

@AmeliaModernIns 

amelia@charltongrant.co.uk 

2 MGA Supplement

INTERVIEWS 

4 

Ahead 

6 

of the Curve with Mike Keating, Chief Executive 

Officer, Managing General Agents’ Association (MGAA) 

The Managing General Agents’ Association (MGAA) 

continues to go from strength to strength, particularly in 

relation to their ever-expanding membership and growing 

Executive team. Modern Insurance Magazine sat with Mike 

Keating, CEO, to discuss the current MGA market, Next 

Gen talent, and the roaring success of the 2023 MGAA 

Conference at Old Billingsgate, London. 

The Heart of Underwriting with Amy Blackshaw, Chief 

Executive Officer, Nelson Policies at Lloyd’s & East Kent 

Underwriting Limited. 

Modern Insurance Magazine chats with Amy Blackshaw 

to discuss her recent win as ‘MGA Professional of the Year’ 

at the 2022 Women in Insurance Awards, as well as the 

importance of strong broker partnerships and the use of 

innovative technology in a successful MGA. 

FEATURES 

8 

11 

15 

Insurance technology is broken... ParaCode plan to fix it! 

Wherever we go in the insurance world today, we seem to 

hear the same story. ‘Our policy administration platform 

is holding us back. It limits how we do business. It costs 

too much to operate. It’s slow to change, we’re doing too 

much off-system, and we’re relying on out-of-date data’. 

ParaCode report on how their product is revolutionising the 

insurance industry. 

Market challenges make this the ideal time for MGAs to 

digitise 

Insurance MGAs have proven their worth to the insurance 

sector, but in the current landscape, they mustn’t be 

complacent. Insly takes a deep dive into the ways that 

current market conditions makes this the ideal time for 

MGAs to digitise. 

Geo Underwriting – Meeting the Needs of a Challenging 

Market 

As challenging market conditions look set to continue, 

Jaime Swindle, CEO of Ardonagh’s UK commercial MGA 

- home to Geo Underwriting - examines why MGAs are 

perfectly poised to bridge the gap between insurer and 

broker during uncertain economic times. 

18 

20 

23 

24 

25 

26 

29 

Building Better: How Accelerant Helps MGAs Achieve 

Sustainable Growth – and Improves the Value Chain in the 

Process 

Accelerant represents a new model focused on today’s 

dynamic industry needs. Find out more about how 

Accelerant helps MGAs to achieve sustainable growth, and 

improves the value chain in the process. 

10 Minutes with AXA XL 

Modern Insurance Magazine recently caught up with Paul 

Howard, Head of Coverholder & Alternative Distribution, 

AXA XL UK & Lloyd’s, to discuss recent priorities at AXA 

XL, sustainability in the MGA market, and the risk of 

underinsurance in the face of economic headwinds. 

Driving Efficiency: An Ecosystem for MGAs 

CDL’s Chief Product Officer, Andrew Wormleighton, explains 

CDL’s move into the MGA space. 

CDL Case Study 1: Integra sees 400% growth in traffic 

following move to CDL IHP solution 

Integra Insurance Solutions, the UK-based MGA owned 

by the Hannover Re Group, specialises in home insurance. 

They moved to CDL’s AWS-hosted Proteus Insurer Hosted 

Pricing (IHP) hub as it prepared to scale volume, growing 

traffic by over 400% within 12 months while maintaining 

speed, performance and resilience. 

CDL Case Study 2: Pukka moves to CDL Policy Manager as 

it scales up MGA business 

After rapid growth in its MGA business meant that it had 

significantly outgrown its previous back-office solution, 

Pukka Services - part of the Freedom Group - worked with 

longstanding partner CDL to deploy its new Policy Manager 

cloud-based policy administration platform to meet its 

growth ambitions. 

How to build a ‘pro-adaptive’ strategy with Genasys 

Technologies 

Genasys Technologies explains why MGAs need to put 

adaptability at the heart of business strategies, and how 

to embed the ‘pro-adaptability’ state of mind to secure 

commercial success. 

Introducing K2 International 

K2 Insurance Services LLC was formed in 2011 by industry 

veterans Pat Kilkenny, and CEO, Bob Kimmel. The goal was 

to create a leading specialty insurance services company 

through select acquisitions, that generates diverse 

earnings streams and improves distribution economics. 

Contributed by 

MGA Supplement 3

Ahead of 

the Curve 

with Mike Keating 

The Managing General 

Agents’ Association (MGAA) 

continues to go from strength to 

strength, particularly in relation to their everexpanding 

membership and growing Executive team. 

Modern Insurance Magazine sat with Mike Keating, CEO, to 

discuss the current MGA market, Next Gen talent, and the roaring 

success of the 2023 MGAA Conference at Old Billingsgate, London. 

QHi Mike, always great to see you! 

Thanks so much for your time today. 

Let’s start by reflecting on how the industry has progressed in 

recent months. How has the MGAA been staying ahead of the curve in 

such a dynamic and innovative marketplace? 

AThanks Amelia, always happy to chat! 

As an Executive team, it’s important for us to be providing 

propositions which are both timely and relevant. We seek to 

engage with our members every day and we align that with looking 

proactively at what topics could impact our members businesses. We 

also track the activities and publications of the regulators, and we have 

a consistent presence at industry events as well. When you combine all 

those things, it gives us a well-rounded view of what we can anticipate 

in terms of how something will impact our members. It’s then our 

responsibility to put a webinar, briefing or general communication in 

place for members. Speaking to individual members every day provides a 

valuable insight into their challenges and what we can do to support. 

QYour membership continues to grow at a super healthy rate. How 

do you ensure that you have the capacity to meet the demands of 

this growth? 

AThat’s a great question, and it’s very timely because we are 

currently recruiting to provide improved team resilience and 

enhance our service to members. We have a small Executive 

team, and when you look at our total membership, we are now very close 

to 400 members across all three tiers of our offering. Naturally, we want 

to personalise that service as much as possible. 

Considering this, our resource must be sufficient for us to proactively 

engage and provide an excellent level of support and service. We have 

such a wide proposition now with events, our ever-expanding knowledge 

and education programme, and tracking regulatory changes on top of 

this. It’s my responsibility to secure the bandwidth that we need to meet 

these high standards, allowing us to further expand our membership 

propositions. 

QI’d be a fool to overlook the roaring success of the 2023 MGAA 

Conference in London. How do you continue to deliver such a 

strong agenda year after year? 

APrimarily, it’s all about keeping our finger on the pulse and 

establishing a strong barometer for the challenges our members 

face. Who do they want to hear from? What topics are relevant at 

this moment in time? What can help them shape their business strategy? 

Events are always going to be a great opportunity for networking, but the 

agenda of the day is of equal importance to all delegates. 

When I look back at the schedule that we’d put together for this year, 

I’m incredibly proud of the fact that it was seen as a great success. I 

managed to pop my head into most, if not all of the sessions we had 

scheduled, and what I saw was great engagement and very professional 

commentary. We had a ‘presidential style’ debate in the main auditorium, 

discussing what we can do as an industry to avoid entering soft market 

conditions; our broker panel was also very insightful, and gave our sector 

a great indication of the benefits and challenges of using MGAs from a 

placing broker perspective. ‘Fighting Fraud’ was a key topic of discussion, 

a rise in fraud being the natural derivative of an economic landscape 

where we’re facing rising costs of living. It was an energetic and engaging 

event with over 1,000 delegates in attendance! 

QSo, what’s keeping you up at night? The last time we spoke, we 

discussed economic headwinds and specifically, challenges 

around claims inflation. Are these factors still affecting MGAs to 

the same extent? 

AAbsolutely - claims inflation remains one of the industry’s biggest 

challenges. This is the same right across the industry; whether 

you’re an insurer, MGA or a broker. The market needs to be carrying 

sufficient rate to cover and mitigate claims inflation. Insurers & MGAs 

need to make sure that their claims process and service provision is 

consistently reviewed and well understood, in order to minimise fraud 

and leakage, and also to prevent claims costs from unnecessarily 

spiralling out of control. 


There also remains some element of concern around sustainability of 

rates. Increases that were being carried 12 months ago are not being 

carried now, and a continuation of rate weakness would create industry 

problems. However, there’s hopefully a level of market pragmatism 

across all stakeholders which will prevent this accelerating to 

everybody’s detriment. 

Finally, I’d say that we must also consider the impact of ‘over regulation’ 

on our members’ businesses, and the potential this could have on their 

ability to deliver for their clients and customers. 

QOn the subject of regulation then, how is the MGAA gearing up for 

the new Consumer Duty? Would you say there’s a general sense of 

panic, preparedness, or perhaps a mixture of both within the MGA 

market at the moment? 

AThe MGAA has certainly invested a great deal of time in preparing 

for the Consumer Duty on behalf of our members, conducting 

market briefings and speaking with insurers about what these 

changes in regulation will mean for the industry. We want to support the 

transition, and we’re doing this by collaborating across associations to 

submit questions to the regulator, querying some of the finer aspects of 

the Consumer Duty and anticipating their response. 

It’s not going to be a cliff edge – there’s going to be an evolution over 

time, and something of a monitoring period to allow time for everything 

to settle in. I certainly don’t sense panic, but I’m long enough in the tooth 

to know that organisations across the wider insurance industry are going 

to be at various stages of the preparation process. The regulator will be 

aware of this, and I’m encouraged by their willingness to work across the 

sector to ensure that regulation is embedded for the benefit of all. 

Ultimately, when you consider the sentiment of the Consumer Duty, we 

all want to provide the right products at a fair value and handle customer 

claims fairly. We all want the consumer to have a good understanding of 

what they’re purchasing. I don’t want to dilute the importance of these 

new regulations, but this is what we all get up for in the morning anyway! 

We can improve by providing the regulator with key evidence of this 

moving forward. 

QTell me about what you’re seeing in the technology space at the 

moment. Anything that might prove beneficial for MGAs and their 

long-term positioning within the industry ecosystem? 

AWell, we all know that there’s a lot of noise around AI at present, 

particularly in underwriting. It’s a great topic of discussion with 

lots to unpick, but I think there’s still a long way to go before we 

can translate its uses into wider practice. I’ve certainly seen AI introduced 

successfully in areas that focus on improving operational efficiency – AI’s 

ability to triage and review broker submissions to deliver a quote is really 

something to behold. Anything that contributes to operational efficiency 

- allowing underwriters to spend more time underwriting, for example - 

is bound to be a welcome addition to the functional landscape of our 

industry. 

Greater strides in the use of technology will continue to happen, not just 

in operational efficiency but also in risk management, risk pricing, and 

risk selection. We must expect that to continue at pace. The key thing for 

MGAs and our insurer members to consider lies in how this technology is 

embraced and brought into their businesses efficiently. It’s one thing to 

sign up to new kit, but it’s another thing to embed that into your business 

and put it to good use. I suppose we’ll just have to watch this space and 

wait to find out! 

QFinally, the MGAA’s commitment to nurturing Next Gen talent 

is both humbling and wholly necessary to the success and 

longevity of the MGA market. In your opinion, what more can still 

be done to attract fresh talent? 

AI’m extremely proud of our vibrant and highly energised Next Gen 

group. They will be hosting a whole programme of events between 

now and the end of the year, and their willingness to go the extra 

mile in terms of outreach will undoubtedly see their profile grow. 

It’s also great to witness our peers in other organisations doing similar 

things; we have a moral obligation as an industry to try and promote the 

opportunities that are available within our sector, and I just don’t think 

we do that enough. As an industry, we’re too quick to criticise ourselves 

and talk about what we don’t do so well, without taking time to celebrate 

the things we are getting right. As a starting point, let’s at least make 

sure that Next Gen promotion never falls off our agenda. Nurturing 

and promoting Next Gen initiatives has got to be part of our fabric, a 

permanent fixture in our dialogue. We have got to do what we can to 

demonstrate and highlight the fun side of insurance for the younger 

generation. This kind of broader thinking will go a long way to attract 

fresh talent in the long term. 

Mike Keating, 

CEO, Managing General Agents’ Association (MGAA) 

FOCUSED ON DELIVERING 

VALUE TO MEMBERS 

E info@mgaa.co.uk 

mgaa.co.uk 


The 

Heart of 

Underwriting 

with Amy Blackshaw 

Modern Insurance Magazine 

chats with Amy Blackshaw, Chief 

Executive Officer of Nelson Policies 

at Lloyd’s & East Kent Underwriting 

Ltd, to discuss her recent win as 

‘MGA Professional of the Year’ 

at the 2022 Women in Insurance 

Awards, as well as the importance 

of strong broker partnerships and 

the use of innovative technology in a 

successful MGA. 

QHi Amy, thanks so much for your time today! 

Let’s start by talking about some of the industry’s 

recent trials and tribulations. We’re hearing a lot about 

the challenges facing MGAs at the moment, particularly 

around issues such as claims inflation and fraud. 

How are you feeling about the current landscape in light of 

this, and what measures are being put in place to provide 

effective solutions? 

AThe landscape has definitely changed following 

COVID-19, and more recently, the cost-of-living crisis. As 

such, our business model has focused on a hands-on 

approach in respect of the claims piece, even though claims are 

managed via TPA’s. 

Claims are an incredibly important touchpoint with any customer, 

so we ensure that all parties involved - whether that’s the 

underwriting teams within an MGA, our capacity partners, claims 

teams and TPA’s - must all collectively work together and be fully 

aligned in order to deliver a consistent and customer driven result. 

It is also vitally important that MGAs have detailed MI to track, 

assess and report claims data, facilitating product review and 

subsequent remedial action when necessary. 

QYou recently won ‘MGA Professional of the Year’ 

at the 2022 Women in Insurance Awards. Huge 

congratulations! Would you like to tell me a little more 

about this? 

AFirstly, being nominated was an absolute honour, but to win 

meant the absolute world to me and my team. I’ve worked 

at Nelsons since leaving college back in 2007, starting 

as an Admin Assistant making tea, filing, and stuffing envelopes. 

But that was never going to be enough for me! I then progressed 

into underwriting, claims, compliance and IT. I really did need to 

understand every single function of the business and become a 

key part of our operations. 


I have totally fallen in love with the insurance industry and had to 

work extremely hard to gain the set of skills that I have in order to 

run a successful business - particularly one in an industry that has 

traditionally been so male dominated. With that in mind, I hope to 

set a good example for my peers and for Next Gen talent within the 

wider industry. It just proves that any person joining this industry 

can succeed and progress if they really want to. 

QSo many organisations across our industry appear to 

be struggling with software which isn’t nimble. How 

does technology enable your business? 

AIt’s no secret that the right IT will help you grow your 

business. However, I’ve seen a number of ‘off-the-shelf’ IT 

systems over the years that appear to be somewhat rigid in 

their approach, and unnecessarily complicated in their processes. 

During a change of ownership back in 2012, I took on the project 

of implementing a new IT system at Nelsons. I was an underwriter 

at that stage, but I had also worked within our Accounts team. This 

meant that I had a good understanding of the financial reporting 

side of the business as well. 

I worked with the IT team to develop the system we use today from 

a blank sheet of paper, which has worked for us so far! To date, I 

am still involved in our continued IT developments, and I would say 

that our success lies in the continued collaboration that takes place 

across every division with the IT developers. 

If underwriters work with programmers to develop a system which 

is aligned to the underwriting process of any risk, everything else 

will fall into place – as long as it is mapped out fully. 

Implementing the right IT platform - one which also delivers 

enhanced MI capabilities - is not an easy task. It takes 

commitment, time and capital investment. However, as a result 

of these efforts, we can definitely be sure that it works! I simply 

wouldn’t expect my team to invest in, and work with, a system that 

I wouldn’t be prepared to use myself. 

QTell me more about the way your website works 

to effectively engage with the wider insurance 

marketplace and further streamline your processes… 

AOur website is a descriptive tool for both new and existing 

brokers, geared to provide information about our products 

and the services we offer. We specialise in Non-Standard 

risks, and that is very much our unique selling point within the 

wider industry. That’s to say, we specialise in risk which would 

normally fall outside of the ‘quote and bind’ online systems that are 

otherwise offered by our competitors. 

Whilst our risks are underwritten by an underwriter, this should not 

(and does not) impact the process. The products offered, and the 

speed of service provided by Nelsons and EKU, is fully supported 

by our IT infrastructure. 

QThere was plenty of discussion at this year’s MGAA 

Conference around how MGAs can work better with 

their broker partners. Do you have any best practice to 

share from the perspective of your role at Nelsons? 

ANelsons has been trading for 38 years, and we have 

certainly built a strong broker following during that time! 

We offer a consistent, underwriter driven approach from 

decision makers in a service focused environment. 

Our underwriters are in continuous communication with our 

brokers, and we regularly ask for feedback to determine what we 

could do better, how we could do better, and specifically where 

we can we make those necessary improvements. Generally, the 

feedback obtained in this process is really positive! Our broker 

partners know that we consistently offer a speedy service, and 

they also know that there’s always an underwriter on hand to talk to 

them directly regarding a specific risk. That collaborative approach, 

and always delivering on your end of the bargain to become 

a business they can trust, is absolutely vital for strong broker 

partnerships. 

QHow are you successfully navigating recent changes in 

regulation? Any advice for other MGAs? 

AOver the last 12 years, we have certainly invested heavily 

in terms of technology. More importantly however, we have 

also invested in intellectual capital by recruiting the very best 

people. The core focus of any business must be the end customer, 

and our people reflect this mentality through their commitment to 

the consumer and the consumer journey. 

QHow do you foresee the future of distribution for your 

business? 

AIT will become ever more important in the years ahead, and 

this is something that we are fully prepared to embrace. 

We are currently in the early stages of developing a trading 

portal for our more standard business, however I still believe 

that ‘non-standard’ risks - those which fall outside of a simple 

‘quote and bind’ process - will still require a bespoke underwriting 

response. This is to ensure that the correct terms, price and product 

are presented to the end customer. 

The job of an underwriter is invaluable in these instances, and it 

is a service that will continually be provided by Nelson Policies 

and EKU. 

Amy Blackshaw, 

Chief Executive Officer, Nelson Policies at Lloyd’s & 

East Kent Underwriting Limited. 


Insurance technology 

is broken... 

ParaCode plan to fix it! 

Wherever we go in the insurance world today, we seem to hear the same 

story. ‘Our policy administration platform is holding us back. It limits how 

we do business. It costs too much to operate. It’s slow to change, we’re 

doing too much off-system, and we’re relying on out-of-date data’. 

It’s a surprising state of affairs when we consider 

the fact that the industry sells products that are 

fundamentally information-based, with such a strong 

reliance on interactions between parties. However, 

perhaps the current state of things isn’t so difficult to 

understand when you look back over the history and 

evolution of insurance IT, particularly since 

inter-party communications became possible 

with the arrival of the Internet in the mid-nineties. 

It’s probably fair to say that the industry’s first 

opportunistic lunge into building broker-to-insurer 

connections is still defining how it works today. 

EDI mailboxes are a great example. A technology 

that became popular in the early-nineties to 

exchange quote and policy information between 

parties was moved onto the internet in the midnineties, 

and it is still with us today. EDI mechanisms 

are slow and expensive compared to our modern 

means of achieving the same goal, yet the cost/ 

benefit equation for moving away from this 

technology has not yet been sufficient to bring about 

widespread change. 

It’s a similar story with those proprietary broking 

platforms with their roots firmly lodged in the 1990s 

or earlier. They achieved a degree of rudimentary 

connectivity that enabled simple broker/insurer 

interaction, but these are now looking very 

cumbersome when viewed from the vantage point of 

collaborative real-time underwriting, instant marketwide 

product updates, immediate data access and 

artificial intelligence - all of which are enabled by 

today’s unlimited cloud-based computing over highspeed 

networks. 

Recently, ParaCode has been shining a light on how 

today’s most common distribution platforms are 

causing a drag on the industry, particularly because 

they require prior knowledge of insurance products 

before parties can fully interact with each other 

electronically. Essentially, getting a product out to 

brokers needs all the parties and their platforms 

to be preconfigured in order to exchange product 

information with each other. This is either achieved 

with baked-in, proprietary platform-to-platform 

connections, or via a standards-based hub such as 

Polaris. Consequently, getting a whole new product 

line or a simple question set change to market can 

take months, costing tens (or even hundreds) of 

thousands of pounds. This is primarily because there 

are so many parties that need to be coordinated to 

achieve just one simple change. 

Making matters worse, innovation that could be 

expected from new platforms entering the market 

has been stifled. There seems to be a large barrier 

to entry in the form of a ‘chicken and egg’ situation 

between insurers and brokers. One side won’t adopt 

a new platform unless the other is already present, 

and hence this makes it near enough impossible to 

get started. New broker platforms are rare, while 

new insurer platforms aren’t integrated with existing 

broker distribution platforms, leading to a myriad of 

insurer-specific portals that brokers are expected 

to interact with individually in order to access the 

products they need. 

Platform suppliers themselves have also 

demonstrated an inability to evolve their own 

offerings in order to gain access to modern 

technologies, whilst at the same time being 

protected from competitive pressures as new 

platforms are unable to gain a foothold in 

the market. All together, these factors form a 

technological impasse that lies at the root of most 

issues in play today. 

Denying access to advanced technological 

capabilities results in the insurance industry 


appearing to be rather backwards. Business 

innovation is stifled by the high costs associated 

with change, while basic operations are mired in 

operational inefficiencies, all too often reverting to 

paper, email and other off-platform mechanisms. 

Inevitably, this situation has to end. With the 

pressure of available new technological capabilities 

mounting - like rising water behind a dam - 

ParaCode is at the vanguard of change, one that is 

very quickly going to burst across the market and 

upend the status quo. 

ParaCode’s broker and insurer platforms implement 

radical concepts, including an open and unified 

marketplace where all parties have equal access to 

trade freely over any insurance product. There is 

also the capacity for dynamic distribution, where 

any product can be published or updated across the 

entire marketplace via any channel, on demand. 

Truly self-service, totally unlimited, rich product 

definitions, coupled with tools like flexible form 

builders, allow any kind of insurance product to be 

built and launched in just one day (and yes, we’ve 

actually done it!). 

These products can also be exposed to brokers, 

affiliates and websites without external vendor 

involvement, and hence without cost or delay. The 

only considerations will be the commercial ones, 

which is exactly how it should be in the first place! 

the challenges of effecting change are now 

easily surmountable, and the benefits in terms of 

competitive advantage are entirely irresistible. 

Niche products are already starting to appear on 

these new platforms, available for any broker to 

access. These are being joined by more mainstream 

products, and the competitive benefits will soon be 

realised. Low-cost agility and consistent, equitable 

marketplace access will become a significant factor 

in user profitability and a driver for wider adoption 

as a consequence. Once the ‘chicken and egg’ 

barrier to entry has been removed, the incumbent 

players will no longer be protected from competitive 

pressures, and will be forced to reckon with their 

inability to evolve and innovate. 

Low expectations have become endemic among 

consumers. On a daily basis, we bear witness 

first-hand to how shocked people are when they 

see what is now possible, and they begin to grasp 

the scale and implications of the revolution that is 

gathering pace as this sort of technology becomes 

commonplace. 

It’s time to stop believing that the status quo is a 

permanent state. Let’s raise expectations and dare 

to imagine what could be possible in an unshackled 

marketplace! 

You will likely be wondering how such a revolution 

could be possible after so many failed attempts in 

the past. The answer is almost entirely a result of 

the proper applications of today’s vastly superior 

technological capabilities. The advantages of 

these technologies have become so great that 


The future... 

of connected policy and claims administration 

for Brokers, MGA’s & Insurers ...is here! 

The ParaCode Marketplace connects 

the insurance industry 

MGA’s – quickly & easily 

create and distribute 

your products via 

any channel 

Brokers - find and 

transact the products your 

customers are asking for – 

commercial, personal or niche 

No Code, No Capex, No Constraints!

Market challenges 

make this the ideal time 

for MGAs to digitise 

Insurance MGAs have proven their worth to the insurance sector, but in the 

current landscape, they mustn’t be complacent. Consumer confidence took 

a hit in July, and research shows that customers are shopping around for a 

more personalised experience and better value from insurance providers. 

Meanwhile, higher interest rates mean capacity providers are becoming 

more selective about who they work with, and MGAs need to prove their 

value more than ever. 

In uncertain times, there is a temptation to stay in a holding pattern until the landscape 

improves. But in the current market, innovation must continue. Higher expectations 

from customers and capacity providers mean that investing in systems and processes is 

vital for improving the customer experience and complying with legislation, such as the 

rules around the new Consumer Duty. Those that postpone will find it tough to remain 

relevant in the months and years to come. 

Grow premiums while reducing costs 

When considering new technology, many businesses focus on the initial outlay and 

ongoing costs, but it’s important to prioritise return on investment (ROI). Legacy IT and 

people are two of the biggest overheads for MGAs, yet digitisation can reduce both. 

Digitisation streamlines processes, cuts operational costs and dramatically reduces time 

consuming manual tasks - such as data collection, compliance, and handling claims - 

all of which have a tendency to suck up employee time. 

Greater automation can also help MGAs to overcome the skills shortages that are 

making it difficult to find the people they need in order to grow. Hiring is costly, yet 

by implementing the right technology, companies can increase their revenues while 

retaining the same number of staff. Plus, any cost savings in people and other overheads 

will be magnified due to the current inflationary market. 

Reducing overheads and increasing efficiency can also enable MGAs to write a wider 

variety of business to drive new revenue streams. Insly client, Accelerate Underwriting, 

has built its business on this premise, writing a higher volume of lower value policies 

thanks to its fully digitised system, thereby spreading the risk and providing a good loss 

ratio. 

“Our system is one of the very few that can cater for smaller schemes, and that can allow 

us to cost-effectively write sub £1m schemes,” says Scott Brown, Founder of Accelerate 

Underwriting. “The trick is having a system that allows you to do that in a cost effective 

way.” 


Empowering MGAs for 

a Digital Future 

Unlock growth, reduce costs and elevate 

your customer experience 

Insly empowers MGAs to 

thrive in the modern insurance 

landscape by embracing 

digitisation, driving growth, 

reducing costs, enhancing 

customer experience, and 

making data-driven decisions. 

Learn more at 

www.insly.com

Having a completely digital system has also enabled Accelerate Underwriting to operate 

with a much lower headcount than would otherwise be the case. 

“I don’t have the headcount that a typical MGA would have for the size of premium 

that we’ve got,” says Brown. “So, it has allowed us to be more profitable, because we’ve 

invested in the system rather than in people. We’ve got three traders for nearly £18m 

of premium. At previous MGAs that I’ve worked in, you would probably have about 12 

underwriters for that.” 

Data driven decisions and superior risk management 

Digitisation can also drive ROI through data, to enable better, faster decision-making. 

With the risk landscape evolving faster than ever, big data - combined with RPA and 

machine learning - enables MGAs to scan huge volumes of data, with the ability to 

make decisions in a matter of seconds in some cases. According to McKinsey, digitising 

underwriting can help insurers “see loss ratios improve three to five points, new business 

premiums increase 10 to 15 percent, and retention in profitable segments jump 5 to 10 

percent”. 

Joined up data can also aid product development, enabling MGAs to understand the 

market and customer behaviour more effectively. It helps MGAs to spot untapped 

opportunities, quickly testing new ideas and deciding whether they are viable for the 

long-term. Digital finance and accounting systems are also invaluable for providing a 

full view of where the business is at from a financial perspective, with accurate and realtime 

financial projections. 

Crucially for MGAs, the right data is also key for securing and retaining strong capacity 

relationships, without which the business can’t operate. At a time when insurers and 

reinsurers are becoming more cautious, MGAs must demonstrate that they are fully in 

control of their book of business and how they plan to drive growth. 

Improved customer experience and retention 

Digitisation can also ignite sales growth through offering an improved experience and 

added value to customers. Customer expectations have been rising consistently, and this 

will only become more acute in the current market. Today, individuals and businesses 

don’t just want a slick, simple and convenient purchasing journey. They also want to 

buy from companies that understand their needs, tailor their offering accordingly, and 

provide them with ongoing risk prevention and mitigation support. This is only possible 

with the right technology, alongside data on customer preferences and behaviour. 

MGAs will soon see ROI in terms of customer sales and renewals, alongside more 

opportunities for cross-selling and upselling. 

Digitisation is the best protection 

In years gone by, digitisation was costly and time-consuming, and many businesses 

still have an outdated perception of the disruption involved. Things have moved on 

dramatically, with no-code software making digitisation faster and more affordable, 

with minimal business upheaval. For most companies, the costs of investing in a system 

like Insly would be the equivalent to investing in a full-time employee, yet the ROI would 

far exceed that within as little as a few months. Digitisation is the future, and investing 

now is the best protection from current market challenges – plus any that are coming 

down the road. 


Geo 

Underwriting 

Meeting the 

Needs of a 

Challenging 

Market 

As challenging market conditions look 

set to continue, Jaime Swindle, CEO of 

Ardonagh’s UK 

commercial MGA 

- home to Geo 

Underwriting - 

examines why 

MGAs are perfectly 

poised to bridge 

the gap between 

insurer and broker 

during uncertain 

economic times. 

Jaime Swindle 

CEO, Ardonagh Group Holdings 

MGA – a distribution model 

that drives value for insurers 

and brokers 

As an MGA, the key to success for our business lies in 

ensuring that brokers and insurers understand the breadth 

of opportunity and value that comes from dealing with a 

highly specialist, expert team. Here at Geo, we understand 

how improving outcomes for customers and smoothing the 

process for both brokers and insurers is critical in overcoming 

current market challenges. 

The continued hard market, combined with regulatory 

pressures and geopolitical uncertainty, all topped off by rising 

interest rates, means that we are seeing a tightening of belts 

and a reduction in capacity in certain areas of the market, 

particularly where large insurers may struggle to derive value 

from smaller, more specialist risks. 

Many brokers are finding it difficult to secure high quality, 

affordable cover, and large insurers are struggling to access 

efficient distribution networks for these specialist risks. This 

means that we’re seeing the perfect storm in the effective 

provision of specialist insurance solutions. 

Now more than ever, the MGA model of distribution is 

proving its worth. MGAs are highly adaptable, demonstrating 

their entrepreneurial abilities by harnessing their specialist 

knowledge to quickly meet the rapidly changing demands of 

their chosen markets. 

Using their technical knowledge and expertise, MGAs are 

becoming increasingly important when it comes to meeting 

emerging market risks, providing solutions across a diverse 

range of under-supported and long-tail specialist risks. 

At Geo, we’re able to offer quality bespoke products, backed 

by experienced teams providing expert advice, excellent 

service, and A-rated capacity. 

Geo gives brokers freedom of choice and greater reach within 

the UK insurance market. 

A Home for Talent 

Our teams are filled with the best talent possible, and 

subsequently, we believe that our colleagues should be 

equipped with the best training and development, ready to 

deliver across a range of business expectations. Even more 

importantly however, we want them to access meaningful 

learning opportunities, so they can realise their potential and 

enjoy successful and fulfilling careers. 

Future Proofing 

Continuing to build out our specialisms in an evolving market 

is a key priority for us. So, if you’re a carrier who is keen to 

work with a specialist market, a broker with a desire to access 

unique solutions for your clients, or an MGA owner making 

plans for the future and considering selling, there’s no better 

time to get in touch. Our MGA platform is home to many 

highly specialist businesses, each united by a common desire 

to bring something truly unique to the market. 


FOCUSED ON SPECIALISMS 

MARINE 

LIFESTYLE 

& LEISURE 

SPECIALIST 

COMMERCIAL 

LINES 

AGRICULTURE 

PROTECTION 

CONSTRUCTION 

view our full range 

of products & key 

contacts here 

Find the right 

specialist insurance 

solution through Geo 

www.geounderwriting.com 


Geo Underwriting: 

A Market Leading 

Specialist Service 

As a chartered MGA and Lloyds cover holder, 

Geo Underwriting offers tailored insurance 

solutions that cater to non-standard and niche 

requirements. Central to our proposition is the 

ability to offer bespoke solutions across a range of 

UK Commercial business sectors, grouped by six 

key pillars. 

Construction 

Geo provides specialist solutions for the full 

spectrum of building and construction risks, aimed 

at UK contractor markets through its specialist 

MGA partner, Thames Construction. 

From civils and groundworks, right through to 

roofing, scaffolding and everything in between, 

Geo’s suite of construction products offers a choice 

of cover that can be tailored to suit each client’s 

individual requirements - whether it’s a single 

project, or a multi-site operation. 

Geo also provides a range of specialist commercial 

products which caters to the more specific 

requirements of niche areas, such as micro/craft 

breweries and caravan site or park owners. 

Specialist commercial lines 

From complete property owners’ solutions covering 

commercial, residential and unoccupied property 

risks, to commercial combined and manufacturing 

risks across a number of trades, Geo provides 

brokers with a range of products that cater to 

even the most niche of requirements across 

the property and commercial space - including 

specialist products for sports and social clubs. 

Lifestyle & Leisure 

Geo offers comprehensive cover for a multitude of 

leisure and lifestyle pursuits. Geo’s range of lifestyle 

and leisure solutions includes a suite of specialist 

products for cyclists, touring and static caravans, 

park homes, lodges, UK & European holiday 

homes, boats and pleasure craft - from SUP’s to 

motor yachts. 

Marine 

Geo’s Marine offering caters for all types of entities 

involved in the marine sector, providing solutions 

for both commercial marine activity and pleasure 

craft pursuits, as well as their associated risks, both 

on land and in the water. 

With a broad range of products for all types of 

marine based operators and their vessels, solutions 

offered include commercial combined covers, 

marine cargo, freight liability, hull and machinery, 

P&I, and assorted marine liability exposures. 

Protection 

Geo’s Protection offering covers the full spectrum 

of additional protection requirements with a 

range of specialist health and protection services, 

including Lorega loss recovery insurance, PFP tax 

fee protection and Lutine life cover options. Geo’s 

protection products serve the interests of over one 

million policyholders, placing over £20m of GWP 

into their respective markets. 

Find out more and get in touch here: 

Agriculture 

Geo Agriculture is the largest Agricultural MGA in 

the UK, delivering specialist protection solutions. 

Core product lines provide cover for farm buildings, 

contents, machinery and vehicles across the full 

spectrum of agricultural business. Meanwhile, the 

ancillary offering caters to a number of rural trades 

and activities, including shoot, equine, livestock, 

and commercial motor risks. 


BUILDING 

BETTER: 

How Accelerant 

Helps MGAs 

Achieve 

Sustainable 

Growth - and 

Improves the 

Value Chain in 

the Process 

At Accelerant, we believe in 

empowering our members 

so they can better serve their 

insureds. Accelerant represents 

a new model focused on 

today’s dynamic industry 

needs. It has been designed 

from the ground up as an 

MGA enabler that provides risk 

exchange infrastructure and 

insurance services. We are not 

a fronting carrier or a hybrid 

carrier. Instead, we act as a 

platform offering outstanding 

portfolio support, data and 

analytics; providing long-term 

capacity to our members, while 

connecting them with a highquality 

group of risk capital 

partners with an appetite for our 

attractive risk portfolio, ensuring 

long-term capacity. 

Accelerant started with an appreciation for 

the key roles MGAs fill within the insurance 

distribution chain — and a sense that for 

a long time, these specialty underwriters 

have actually been underappreciated to 

the detriment of the broader industry. 

MGAs provide underwriting skills and 

market expertise in specialty lines of 

insurance while helping make the value 

chain more efficient. However, in the 

current climate of claims inflation and 

restricted balance sheet capacity, they 

have been confronted with rising risk 

management and investment capability 

challenges. While MGAs have been 

subject to the whims of incumbents who 

have given and taken capacity, we saw 

that there had to be a better way – and 

we’re delivering it. 

Case studies from UBI and inRev provide 

snapshots from the construction industry 

on how MGAs can tackle common 

challenges and achieve sustainable 

growth. They both demonstrate the 

promise of a partner that is able to provide 

the right support. It also draws a relevant 

parallel to how managing a successful 

MGA is a lot like developing property. It 

takes a clear vision, collaboration, and a 

lot of hard work! 

Members who work with Accelerant 

typically see more than 30% GWP growth. 

For more information about Accelerant and 

how it can help your MGA, visit accelins.com 

CASE STUDY - UBI 

Navigating New Business 

Challenges 

THE CHALLENGE 

UBI, an MGA focused on the French 

construction market, was founded in 2014 

by four industry veterans who saw an 


opportunity to bring a fresh perspective 

to how business was being done. Their 

vision was to cut through the bureaucracy 

of the value chain by working closely with 

brokers, offering tailored solutions and a 

client-centric approach. 

This formula proved to be a success, 

enabling UBI to establish a firm foothold in 

a market known for being dominated by a 

handful of established players. However, 

a significant challenge emerged: UBI’s 

carrier decided to change strategy and 

walk away from construction. 

THE APPROACH 

This existential risk to UBI sparked a 

conversation with Accelerant, as their 

mutual interest in serving niches like 

the construction market dovetailed with 

Accelerant’s desire to expand in Europe. 

UBI’s approach resonated strongly with 

the Accelerant team. Their work is highly 

qualitative and focused on building strong 

relationships, rather than pursuing a solely 

quantitative approach that focuses only on 

volume. In addition, UBI is also known for 

being highly responsive and accessible, 

which further sets them apart from the 

competition. As such, UBI needed a 

trusted partner who could offer long-term, 

reliable support. 

Conversations made it clear that 

Accelerant was a strong fit, with 

its commitment to forming trusted 

partnerships and its ability to add 

even more value on the data and risk 

decisioning side of the equation. All too 

often, specialty underwriters find their 

capacity and relationships subject to 

the whims of incumbent players, with no 

control over their business growth at the 

end of the day. 

THE RESULTS 

Today, UBI is making waves as it 

reshapes how French construction 

businesses are served, backed by the 

confidence of Accelerant’s long-term 

commitment and differentiated approach 

to portfolio management and data 

insights. 

CASE STUDY - inRev 

Capital Commitments 

THE CHALLENGE 

inRev was established in 2021 by 

Jack Genet, who had spent the better 

part of a decade on the front lines of 

construction insurance. Here he was 

introduced to surety bonds - instruments 

designed to provide financial security, 

protecting project owners by ensuring 

that contractors perform the work and pay 

specified subcontractors, laborers, and 

material suppliers. 

Jack had noticed that the process of 

obtaining a surety bond was outdated – 

too manual, too complicated and too timeconsuming. 

He knew there had to be a 

better way and was keen to step up to the 

challenge of introducing it to the industry. 

THE APPROACH 

Starting a new MGA from scratch isn’t for 

the faint of heart — but by becoming an 

Accelerant Member, inRev had expert 

support from the beginning. Accelerant 

helped inRev piece together underwriting 

expertise, tech, data, and capacity. 

Together, inRev and Accelerant built a 

proprietary, API-first underwriting and 

distribution platform that makes surety 

submission, underwriting and issuance 

radically simple, fast, and informed. 

THE RESULTS 

Today, using advanced process 

automation, a proprietary underwriting 

mesh and a combination of third party 

and proprietary data, inRev’s platform 

underwrites contract surety bonds up 

to $2.5 million single bond / $5 million 

aggregate account limits. They are on 

track to exceed premium production 

targets for 2023 and are expanding 

distribution. The Accelerant partnership 

has enabled InRev to expand their 

distribution channels, and has supported 

the marketing efforts of the quickly growing 

platform. 


10 Minutes with 

AXA XL 

Modern Insurance Magazine recently caught up with Paul 

Howard, Head of Coverholder & Alternative Distribution, AXA XL 

UK & Lloyd’s, to discuss recent priorities at AXA XL, sustainability 

in the MGA market, and the risk of underinsurance in the face of 

economic headwinds. 

Hi Paul, great to chat! 

QLet’s start by talking about what you’ve been 

up to lately over at AXA XL. How would you 

describe the year so far? 

AHi Amelia, great to talk to you too! 

The first half of the year was full of activity in the 

MGA marketplace. There’s been a capacity crunch 

for some lines of business, and we’ve also seen some 

mergers and acquisitions in the MGA space. Here 

at AXA XL, we’ve been seeing more prospective 

MGA partners (as well as existing ones) come to us 

with new opportunities across a range of classes of 

business. As a specialty insurer, the niche areas that 

are so well suited to the MGA model align well with, 

and complement, our existing areas of business and 

expertise. So we have been really keen to establish 

and build MGA relationships and have been very much 

open to new opportunities. 

Q 

A 

As we move into the second half of 2023, 

what does AXA XL have in the works that the 

industry should know about? 

Well, many of the conversations we had at the 

MGAA ‘Meet the Market’ event in March - not 

to mention the conference in early July - gave 

rise to opportunities that will begin to come to fruition 

over the next few months. We are also looking at any 

new opportunities that may arise. As part of the AXA 

Group, we have the financial backing to enable us to 

ride out the vagaries of the insurance market cycles 

– and we recognise that for MGAs, one of the most 

important things we can do is act as a consistent 

partner that can grow with the MGA. 

In the second half of 2023, we’ll continue to work with 

existing and new partners, engaging in dialogue with 

them to ensure that we can help to make them more 

successful and stand out from their competition. 

Q 

A 

Sustainability is rightfully a significant area 

of focus at the moment. Tell me more about 

what AXA XL are doing in this space, and what 

your plans are for the coming years? 

Sustainability is a major area of focus across 

AXA XL, as it is for our clients. In all areas of 

our business, we are working with clients to 

support their sustainability and Environmental, Social 

and Governance (ESG) goals. 

In the MGA space specifically, we are starting to 

see more opportunities that have a sustainability or 

ESG element to them. Our existing partners are also 

thinking about the ways in which they can make their 

products appeal to a wider set of customers through 

an ESG and sustainability lens. For example, we’ve 

seen a lot of activity in the energy transition arena. 

These are, to a large extent, longer term conversations 

that will unfold and develop over the coming 

months and years. The long-term nature of our MGA 

partnerships means that we can work with MGAs as 

they develop in this area. 

The nimble characteristics of MGAs results in 

creativity; they can innovate and perhaps even 

unlock areas that haven’t been considered before, to 

provide underwriting and products that help to meet 

sustainability aspirations. 

At AXA XL, we want to have that conversation and 

share our own learnings to help MGAs, as we all 

address the opportunities and challenges behind the 

drive for greater sustainability. 

Q 

A 

AXA XL are a global organisation with a huge 

scope, working across the UK, Europe, the 

US, and Asia Pacific. What benefits does this 

present in such a dynamic industry? 

From the UK, our book encompasses MGAs in 

some 22 countries. We write business across a 

variety of geographies. The learnings we can 

take from that, to relay back to our MGA partners 

(in terms of benchmarking, best practice and so 

on) are, we believe, an invaluable part of those MGA 

partnerships. 

Q 

A 

In your opinion, are present-day economic 

headwinds creating an era of underinsurance? 

How can industry professionals collaborate in 

order to combat this and protect the interests 

of the policyholder? 

For the last 18 months or so, along with other 

carriers in the MGA space, we have been 

stressing the importance of reassessing 

reinstatement values and indemnities. The price of 

raw materials has increased, for example, as has the 

lead time for many of those materials. Therefore, if 


policyholders haven’t reviewed their sums insured, 

they could indeed face a situation whereby they find 

themselves significantly underinsured in the event of a 

loss. 

As an industry, insurers have been relentless in their 

attempts to get this message across. The MGAA has 

played an important role here too in communicating 

this message – we recently did a technical briefing with 

the MGAA on some of these issues, for example. 

We have also been urging policyholders to think 

about the challenges that could be caused to their 

casualty exposures by things like fluctuating or volatile 

employee numbers. 

I think insurers have been doing a good job in 

communicating this message in a clear and consistent 

way– and of course, we will continue to do so too. 

Q 

A 

Finally, what single piece of advice would you 

give to MGAs in the face of current market 

conditions, and why? 

This is not necessarily a single piece of advice, 

but several elements of interlinked guidance! 

Firstly, most MGAs are firmly established in their niche 

areas, playing a critical role in the wider insurance 

market. But all of us across the insurance market are 

engaged in a battle for talent. It’s key for MGAs to 

ensure that they have a broad range of colleagues from 

diverse backgrounds and foster an inclusive culture; 

you get better quality decisions if you have a diverse 

workforce. 

AXA XL is a sponsor of the MGAA’s NextGen group, and 

initiatives like its mentorship programme are great for 

helping the next generation of talent learn and develop. 

This also enables stalwarts of the MGA market to give 

back and share their vast amounts of knowledge. 

I’d also urge MGAs to ensure that they have constant 

dialogue with their capacity providers to make sure 

there are no surprises. MGAs need to be able to 

articulate their unique selling point in the clearest way 

possible. 

Finally, another hot topic in the insurance industry as 

a whole, and the MGA space in particular, is the 

development and use of technology that 

enables a better two-way exchange 

of information. Working with 

technology can help MGAs 

to improve efficiency and 

communication, and that is 

a great thing for everyone 

involved! 

Paul Howard 

Head of Coverholder & 

Alternative Distribution, 

AXA XL UK & Lloyd’s 


We’re 

leading 

with 

purpose 

With over 30 years of leading delegated 

authority business, our core capacity, 

financial strength and product expertise 

can help you stand out from the competition 

and deliver the solutions that your clients need. 

Scale you can use to your advantage. 

Know You Can 

axaxl.com 

This summary does not constitute an offer, solicitation or advertisement in any jurisdiction, nor is it intended as a description of any products or services of AXA XL. 

All insurance products, including the applicability of coverages, limits and exclusions, are subject to their full terms and conditions. AXA XL is a division of AXA Group providing products 

and services through three business groups: AXA XL Insurance, AXA XL Reinsurance and AXA XL Risk Consulting. AXA, the AXA and XL logos are trademarks of AXA SA or its affiliates. © 2023

Driving 

Efficiency: 

An Ecosystem 

for MGAs 

CDL’s Chief Product Officer, 

Andrew Wormleighton, explains CDL’s 

move into the MGA space. 

Last year, CDL augmented its cloudbased 

insurer ecosystem with 

the integration of its new policy 

management platform for insurers and 

Managing General Agents (MGAs), 

providing an efficient solution for 

performing underwriting tasks. Pukka 

Services was the first to go live on the 

platform, and had collaborated closely 

with CDL in the development of the 

product. 

“Taking the lead from our customers 

has been CDL’s mantra from the 

outset,” explains Andrew. “So it was 

very much a ground-up approach when 

we came to develop Policy Manager. 

We kept hearing of people’s frustration 

working with systems that weren’t fit 

for purpose, and the cost of manual 

workarounds.” 

“We knew we could develop a solution 

that would address the issues they were 

facing, and we started working closely 

with Pukka to do so. The results were 

transformative.” 

Platform benefits 

Designed to drive efficiency, the 

policy management platform is a nocode 

solution which handles inbound 

EDI from multiple software houses, 

and accommodates the bespoke 

requirements of the carrier in terms 

of the reporting and reconciliation of 

accounts across multiple schemes, 

product lines and broker partnerships. 

Reconciling broker bordereaux is fully 

automated, so being able to upload 

them to the system and matching off 

transactions requires just the click of a 

button. 

As well as reducing the time spent 

reconciling accounts from days to 

seconds, CDL’s policy administration 

platform is integrated with the Motor 

Insurance Database (MID), automating 

the update of vehicle records to reduce 

potential claims exposure. 

Andrew says, “We have also made 

progress on the CDL agnostic claims 

API for connecting to claims systems, 

and facilitating the notification of claims 

from the point of creation right the way 

through to the brokers’ system in realtime.” 

Wider ecosystem 

Along with the insurer policy 

administration platform, the CDL insurer 

cloud ecosystem comprises its insurer 

hosted pricing (IHP) hub, Proteus - 

plus its Kingfisher data and analytics 

platform, and the Hummingbird real 

time data intelligence solution. 

The ecosystem is built on cloud native, 

SaaS based architecture and hosted on 

Amazon Web Services (AWS), making 

it incredibly fast, resilient, secure and 

scalable - all of which remains crucial for 

insurers and MGAs looking to expand 

with confidence in their infrastructure. 

“Leveraging our partnership with AWS, 

we have also worked to ensure that our 

solutions meet the Well-Architected 

framework. This can be seen in the 

achievement of Foundational Technical 

Review accreditation and the AWS 

Financial Services Competency status,” 

adds Andrew. 

Proteus is a proven solution for the 

strategic mass-market distribution of 

products with dynamic pricing control, 

used by MGAs - including Pukka and 

Integra - as well as insurers such as 

Ageas, LV= Broker and Covéa Insurance, 

amongst others. 

Data insights 

Meanwhile, Hummingbird enables 

insurers to unlock sophisticated 

customer insights and tackle fraud 

before it happens. It does this by 

completing complex searches from 

a range of sources, and conducting 

real-time analytics and visualisations. 

Applications include detecting online 

fraud manipulation at point-of-quote, 

and spotting behavioural patterns in 

high volume data traffic. 

“Data, and the ability to integrate and 

harness it to deliver actionable insight, 

is an area which continues to drive 

much of our product road map,” 

explains Andrew. 

“Whether it’s applied to tackling fraud, 

improving the customer experience by 

taking away the pain of data entry, or 

offering more personalised propositions 

in a more proactive way, data is the key 

to creating more engaging insurance 

models that drive growth.” 

“Ultimately, the purpose of technology 

is to transform, revolutionise and drive 

profitability. At CDL, we describe this 

mission as supporting our customers 

to win through technology, and it’s one 

that lies at the very heart of our product 

vision,” 

To find out more about the CDL Insurer 

Cloud, email sales@cdl.co.uk 

Andrew Wormleighton 

Chief Product Officer, CDL 


Integra sees 400% 

growth in traffic 

following move to 

CDL IHP solution 

Integra Insurance Solutions, the UK-based MGA 

owned by the Hannover Re Group, specialises 

in home insurance. They moved to CDL’s AWShosted 

Proteus Insurer Hosted Pricing (IHP) 

hub as it prepared to scale volume, growing 

traffic by over 400% within 12 months – all while 

maintaining speed, performance and resilience. 

With a focus on high quality customer 

experience, Integra continually refines 

its products and pricing for the benefit 

of customers and partners. The ability 

to distribute the right products to 

market is therefore key to achieving 

its service excellence goal, ultimately 

driving further growth both for Integra 

and its partners. 

Recognising that it needed a product 

rating and distribution solution that 

would grant full control of product 

releases whilst accelerating speed to 

market, Integra selected CDL Proteus 

as a proven IHP hub. The platform 

gives insurers and MGAs the ability to 

extend their control and distribution 

of home insurance products across 

the broker community, accelerating 

speed of delivery. 

Delivering market agility 

Integra also sought to harness real 

time data on product performance, 

combined with the agility to respond 

to market changes swiftly and offer its 

partners faster access to competitive 

products. 

CDL Proteus gives Integra the ability 

to deliver changes to products and 

pricing in real-time and at pace, 

enabling them to support brokers by 

instantly responding to fluctuations in 

market conditions. 

Cost effective whole market 

coverage 

Crucially, the platform enables whole 

of market connectivity through 

integrations with the UK’s major 

software houses. This eliminates the 

time and cost previously associated 

with product release via a number of 

different technology platforms. Work 

which would have required six weeks’ 

notice in the past has now been 

completed in less than a week. 

Actionable insight 

Featuring inbuilt next generation 

visualisation tools, CDL Proteus 

offers in-depth insight into product 

performance and risk management, 

while data derived from the hub will 

enable Integra to identify new market 

segments and open up underwriting 

opportunities. 

Integration with Radar Live gives 

access to extensive modelling, 

customer profiling and real-time 

intelligence based on high volumes 

of data, enabling Integra to price 

more competitively, realise new 

underwriting opportunities, and 

enhance conversion rates. 

Scalable, resilient, secure 

As an AWS-hosted solution, Proteus 

is easily scalable, enabling Integra 

to expand capacity on demand as it 

adds products or partners. 

Processing over 164 million 

transactions per day, Proteus uses 

AWS services to ensure resilience 

and scalability when storing and 

processing data. Self-healing services 

operate on optimal resources via 

capacity providers, while AWS 

Enterprise Support allows the 

highest levels of availability through 

24/7/365 monitoring and technical 

collaboration. 

AWS Key Management Service (KMS) 

is used to give Integra assurance 

that the latest security standards 

are protecting IP and customer 

data, while supporting international 

compliance requirements. 

Endorsement 

Tony Dixon, Head of Home 

Underwriting at Integra, commented, 

“Moving to the Proteus IHP solution 

has been an important step in 

enabling us to take greater control 

of our business, driving growth and 

profitability. 

“By providing an efficient tool 

for pricing management, Proteus 

has freed us up to concentrate on 

innovating and driving sophistication 

in our offerings. We are now able to 

visualise and extract large volumes of 

data for analytical purposes, which is 

increasing our capabilities to target 

customers with the right products, at 

the right price.” 

CDL’s Chief Executive Officer, Nigel 

Phillips, added, “CDL Proteus has 

a strong track record for helping 

insurance providers succeed in the 

ever-changing digital landscape. We 

are delighted that Integra have chosen 

to adopt our IHP solution, and look 

forward to working with them to 

extend their offerings further in the 

broker market.” 

Tony Dixon 

Head of Home Underwriting, Integra 


Pukka moves to 

CDL Policy Manager 

as it scales up MGA 

business 

After rapid growth in its MGA business meant 

that it had significantly outgrown its previous 

back-office solution, Pukka Services - part of 

the Freedom Group - worked with longstanding 

partner CDL to deploy its new Policy Manager 

cloud-based policy administration platform to 

meet its growth ambitions. 

It recognised that the scalability 

and resilience offered by AWS 

cloud-hosting was key to increasing 

capacity, enabling expansion into new 

product lines as well as the sustained 

growth of existing ones. 

Collaborative approach 

Sam White, Founder of the Freedom 

Group, explained, “Our MGA 

business has grown significantly 

since we first launched Pukka, and 

it became clear to us that we would 

need a new platform to meet our 

growth ambitions. This includes 

adding product lines, schemes and 

distribution.” 

“Our previous back-office solution 

was necessitating too many 

workarounds and resource-intensive 

processes outside of the system. As a 

longstanding CDL partner, we learned 

that CDL were developing a cloudbased 

MGA solution. We were really 

excited to have the opportunity to 

collaborate with them throughout this 

process and influence its design.” 

“The end result reflects this agile 

development process based on 

storyboarding user needs, and it also 

benefits from CDL’s considerable 

cloud capabilities. The platform is 

hosted on Amazon Web Services, 

making it incredibly fast, resilient, 

secure and scalable - all of which are 

crucial in enabling us to expand with 

confidence in our infrastructure.” 

Fully automated functionality 

Policy Manager, launched by CDL 

to provide an efficient solution for 

performing underwriting tasks, 

includes a range of fully automated 

features. 

Examples include in/outbound EDI/ 

XML processing, policy verification, 

agency management, accounts 

reconciliation and financial reporting, 

as well as pre-connected industry 

database integrations. 

As an AWS-hosted solution, Policy 

Manager is easily scalable, enabling 

Pukka to scale up sales volumes 

without worrying about increased 

administration, with account 

reconciliation alone reducing from 

days to seconds. Its access to, and 

use of data has also completely 

transformed, enabling faster pricing 

and underwriting decisions. 

With near real-time access to risk 

data, Pukka is also seeing a significant 

improvement in its ability to respond 

to market conditions, using live 

business insights to inform pricing 

and underwriting decisions. 

Other integrations 

As well as reducing the time spent 

reconciling accounts from days to 

seconds, CDL’s policy administration 

platform is integrated with the Motor 

Insurance Database (MID), automating 

the update of vehicle records to 

reduce potential claims exposure. 

Policy Manager is delivered using 

AWS software as a service (SaaS). To 

build the solution, CDL leveraged the 

benefits of a range of AWS products, 

including AWS Lambda - with 

DynamoDB for configuration storage, 

Amazon RDS for message storage, 

and Amazon Athena for data queries 

and report generation. 

AWS SQS supports messaging and 

third-party submission queuing, with 

Amazon S3 used for storage and 

Amazon SNS as a notification service 

to replicate S3 objects to users’ S3 

accounts. 

Leading credentials 

CDL holds Independent Software 

Vendor (ISV) status within the AWS 

Partner Network (APN). Its globally 

recognised cloud capabilities and 

track record in deploying to the 

cloud have seen it achieve a number 

of designations, including AWS 

PrivateLink Service Ready and 

Amazon RDS Ready for business 

applications. 

CDL’s CEO, Nigel Phillips said, “We 

were really excited to be bringing this 

solution to market, and delighted that 

Pukka have seen instant benefits from 

their investment. It was built from 

the ground up, following extensive 

collaboration, and we look forward to 

evolving the platform in line with our 

product vision and roadmap.” 

Sam White 

Founder, Freedom Group 


Pro-adaptability 

– the competitive 

advantage 

How to build a ‘pro-adaptive’ strategy 

A ‘pro-adaptability’ mindset 

and its relevance within 

the MGA sector cannot 

be ignored. In this rapidly 

growing, evolving and 

competitive marketplace, 

the smart MGA knows 

it requires a laser-focus 

on the levers of change 

and innovation if it is to 

positively influence its 

own fortunes - and those 

of its capacity providers, 

customers, and investors 

alike. 

Genasys Technologies 

explains why MGAs need 

to put adaptability at the 

heart of business strategies, 

detailing how to embed the 

‘pro-adaptability’ state of 

mind to secure commercial 

success. 

Perhaps more than any other time in recent history, the last 

few years have demonstrated just how difficult it is to predict 

changes in customer needs. Whether due to technological, 

economic, environmental or other cultural changes, customer 

requirements are continually evolving, and every so often they 

will make a rapid, unexpected shift. 

For the modern insurance business to truly remain customercentric, 

it’s no longer enough to plan for an expected mediumto-long 

term future based on what we know, or predict 

will happen. The battle for meeting customer needs most 

effectively will be won by those who are most able to react fast 

– and well – when things inevitably change. To achieve this, the 

idea of adaptability should be front and centre of a business’ 

modernisation strategy. 

Creating a pro-adaptive strategy 

Being truly agile and able to react quickly requires more than 

just putting more emphasis on speed, or an openness to being 

flexible as things change. It takes a fundamental strategic shift 

to making adaptability a core business goal, and implementing 

the leadership, culture, processes and technology changes 

required to ensure that your business is set up to adapt. 

Rather than waiting for the next big event and reacting as fast 

as possible, it’s a business approach that proactively focuses on 

adaptability as a core business strategy. 

Pro-adaptability means clearly and systematically organising a 

business to be able to react quickly and efficiently to external 

factors, without disrupting the overall operations. It puts 

adaptability at the heart of its modernisation programme, 

rather than fixing a strategy around a single current or 

expected future landscape. 

The four pillars of pro-adaptability 

A pro-adaptive strategy requires a laser-focus on organising 

the entire business around instant reaction to change, without 

derailing the overall vision or negatively impacting coreoperations. 

We’ve highlighted four key pillars that need to be addressed in 

a pro-adaptive strategy, and what that will require for a modern 

insurance business. 


Leadership 

Embrace the long and winding road 

Being pro-adaptive and building adaptability into the ethos 

of an organisation requires clear strategic direction and 

communication, led from the very top. Leaders must inspire 

teams with both a clear long-term vision and a recognition 

that things will change. Short-term plans may be replaced 

along the way, reminding us that flexibility is a competitive 

advantage. 

That clear, unambiguous focus on becoming truly flexible - 

and ensuring that flexibility is part of the long-term strategy 

to achieve the vision - is ultimately what will define a proadaptive 

approach. 

Focusing on adaptability doesn’t mean ignoring predictions of 

the future. On the contrary, horizon scanning is an absolutely 

crucial element for leaders of an adaptable organisation. 

Leaders must be focused on the long-term, continually 

assessing the landscape and driving innovation. But rather 

than fixing the business on one or two predictions, the 

leadership’s role is to ensure the business is ready to capitalise 

on what’s expected to happen, whilst being able to react with 

genuine agility if (and when) things change. 

Constant, open communication across the entire business is 

crucial. At every level, the organisation must understand the 

reasons behind any particular change taking place, and see 

how change is positive. 

Culture 

Prioritise openness and understanding 

Ultimately, a pro-adaptive strategy can only succeed if the 

skills and mindsets of the people behind the product reflect 

a focus on innovation and flexibility. One of the biggest 

blockers to adaptability is internal frustration as a result of a 

team feeling that plans keep changing, harvesting a sense that 

previous efforts have been wasted. 

A pro-adaptive culture must be harboured to remove 

this misconception. Things do change, and a competitive 

advantage is borne out of reacting to that change without 

derailing the overall company vision. 

Recruitment should focus on adaptable personalities – those 

who prove themselves open to change and embracing new 

ideas. Training and team building must continually encourage 

flexibility, great communication and importantly, empathy. 

Asking and understanding why requirements from others 

might vary, rather than allowing frustration to develop, is a 

vital skill set. 

Processes 

Maximise agility 

A pro-adaptive strategy needs to proactively put the systems, 

architecture and processes in place to maximise agility and 

empower teams to innovate. 

Communication must be regular and open. If it isn’t 

already happening, regular all-hands meetings should 

be implemented, with a clear focus on explaining how 

and why things are changing. 

Systems, based around modern technology, should be 

built to automate processes and remove inefficiencies. 

This improves the organisation’s ability to move fast 

and react quickly. Whilst a pro-adaptive strategy 

needs a clear, targeted initial programme in place to 

update out-of-date processes, it should never end. 

Continuous ‘adaptability’ reviews should be carried out 

to assess speed and flexibility, and highlight scope for 

improvement. 

Technology 

Enable a digital evolution 

Modern, cloud-based software solutions - built for 

interoperability with other software - are crucial in 

enabling a business to reach high levels of adaptability. 

A pro-adaptive strategy may necessitate an overhaul of 

inflexible legacy technology. This is not always a simple 

task, but highlights why building for adaptability first is 

fundamental. 

Prioritising flexibility, rather than fixing technology 

around a specific use-case, will result in avoiding 

repeated ‘digital transformation’ programmes. Getting 

a pro-adaptive strategy in place will then allow an 

ongoing ‘digital evolution’ as the technology evolves 

with the business. 

Adaptive technology relies on open, high-quality APIs 

built into that software, as well as easy-to-manage, 

no-code tools, so anyone in the business can manage 

things quickly and efficiently. As an example, a modern 

insurance management core platform should enable 

plug-and-play flexibility, where new technologies 

can be plugged in (and unplugged when necessary), 

without having to switch everything off at the mains and 

complete a whole programme reset. 

Pro-adaptability – reaping the 

commercial rewards 

Getting a pro-adaptive strategy right requires hard 

work, and often a total rethink of many existing and 

long-held processes and company norms. But the 

benefits for the companies who fully embrace it will be 

immense. These organisations will be at the forefront of 

innovation – ready to react rapidly to changing market 

conditions, launch new products quickly, better target 

younger demographics, improve customer loyalty, and 

possess a deep understanding of their customer needs. 

As they react, they will learn quickly what works, 

and compound their competitive advantage 

through innovation. For those leading the charge on 

adaptability, the opportunity to build leading businesses 

in a rapidly changing world exists now. 

A composable business architecture may be put in place – 

ensuring everything is planned with a modular structure, with 

teams set-up as ‘building blocks’ around particular products 

or services that work collaboratively, yet autonomously. So, 

as things change, blocks can be added to, or removed (and 

repurposed) without derailing other processes. 


Who Are We? 

K2 Insurance Services LLC was formed in 2011 by industry 

veterans Pat Kilkenny, and CEO, Bob Kimmel. The goal was to 

create a leading specialty insurance services company through 

select acquisitions, that generates diverse earnings streams and 

improves distribution economics. 

In April 2020, K2 completed its first overseas acquisition, 

establishing K2 International in London. This comprises three 

underwriting teams: K2 CAT, K2 Financial, and K2 Property D&F. 

In May 2023, Warburg Pincus, a New York based global private 

equity firm, acquired a majority interest in K2 Insurance 

Services. The investment will support K2’s continued growth 

strategy, including M&A and de-novo incubation, as well as its 

commitment to offering best-in-class services to clients. 

Supported by a growing and diverse panel of high-quality 

capacity providers, K2 has 25 MGAs writing approximately 

$1.5bn premium in 2023. We are aiming to double that in the 

next five years, whilst maintaining our strong track record of 

carrier profitability. 

Why K2? 

”Our DNA is rooted in the entrepreneurial 

spirit that we continue to cultivate; 

unmatched in the industry. Our strategy is to 

allow underwriters the flexibility to operate 

while providing support in key functions that 

can often distract them from reaching their 

goals. 

We believe underwriting experts deliver 

the best results for all stakeholders (carrier/ 

capacity partners, producers, employees, 

investors), with focused attention on 

underwriting, pricing, and unique class 

marketplace dynamics.” 

Bob Kimmel, 

CEO, K2 Insurance Services LLC 


K2 International 

We are the underwriter’s MGA. 

We provide talented underwriters with a platform to start their 

own MGA, whilst prioritising underwriting performance over 

scale for our capacity providers. 

Values 

If our values – partnership, integrity, enterprise and strength – 

resonate with you, it will be a rewarding experience for you and 

your carriers alike. 

Expertise 

Your expertise, your business plan, your risk appetite. With K2 

International, you will have meaningful ownership in your MGA. 

You decide where, when and how to work. Flexible. Unrestricted. 

Support 

You will get all the support you need – including best-in-class MI, 

claims, actuarial, underwriting support, accounting and payroll, 

HR, exposure management, and compliance and governance. 

This leaves you free to concentrate on your business plan and 

your underwriting! 

Collaboration 

With a flat structure, everyone at K2 International has the 

opportunity to make an impact. Our inclusive culture allows you 

to be entrepreneurial and make decisions in an environment that 

is truly collaborative. 

Flexible 

You are empowered to decide where you are going to be most 

productive and engaged, whether that is at our welcoming office 

in the heart of the London market, your home, or elsewhere. We 

have IT solutions to support your choice as well as wellbeing 

initiatives, flexible working, and family-friendly policies. 

What are you 

waiting for?! 

If you’re interested in starting your own MGA 

and joining K2 International as we grow our 

business, please get in touch with Danielle 

Griffin, Head of HR, for a confidential chat. 

danielle.griffin@k2insinternational.com 

+44 (0)20 7039 3780 


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