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Speaker 0:
Well, I'm in the role now as CEO of R s, a UK and international. For just over a year, we're under new ownership, as people know the inte group, and they've helped us reset the strategy that we want to follow over the next 5 to 7 years. And they take quite a long term view of the business, which is what's been really interesting. We've improved our service proposition to brokers, which has been number one on my

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agenda, certainly for the last 12 months. And we've been getting great feedback at Biba today to say that that's been working well for us. So really pleased with the service proposition. And now we're on to making sure that we expand our reach into the broader broker market for both our SME and our regional business. And we're we're in that process of rolling that strategy out further,

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so intact have been a super owner. So far, they take a long term view of the business. We've been investing heavily in our personal lines technology. We've been investing heavily in the foundation technology that supports the business, and we've been investing heavily into our broker relationships to improve service and also with data at the forefront of the organisation so intact will be well known for being leaders in data and artificial intelligence,

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particularly for pricing and risk selection. And we've started to import that skill set into our organisation to improve our risk appetite, to improve our new business, reach for brokers and also to help us improve the service because artificial intelligence has helped us improve a lot of the processes that we have within our business. So we're on a journey. It's early days of that journey, but we're certainly taking the most

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advantage out of being a part in partnership with intact as our new owners, we've also exported some skills to intact and particularly our global platform and our global network capability and the multinational business that we write in our London market specialty business. So a lot of exciting things happening in collaboration with intact, and it's still only less than two years old since they acquired the R s. A business.

Speaker 0:
Yeah, I think we had a fundamental problem over 18 months ago with both contact and responsiveness of R s. A. As an organisation to our broker partners, and we focused on making those contacts more straightforward, making sure that when we respond, we try and get it right. First time and it, quite honestly, it's been about a lot of brilliant

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basics. How do we get the basics right in our service to brokers to enable them to serve their clients more effectively and efficiently? So that's been the focus of attention. We've gotten that right. We don't think we're market leading at this stage. We want to provide outstanding service to our broker community. So now we're in the phase of investing in some

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technology to support that, but also investing in our own people internally within R S. A. To help them serve the customer more efficiently. So focus is how do we help brokers grow their business? How do we help brokers grow their client base? And how do we in tandem with that increase our share of wallet in the regional business market and in the specialty lines?

Speaker 0:
Three challenges brokers have. I think when it comes to them dealing with their customers, one is speed of service. Two is making sure that you have an insurer that listens to the risk needs of their clients and the third one is executing on the contract with certainty so that they can provide that blanket of peace to the customer from a risk perspective.

Speaker 0:
So that's the three areas we're focused on. As I mentioned already, we have improved our service capability. We've improved access to brokers into R S A. So that we can give them immediate responses, provide our really strong technical expertise to provide solutions that suits the needs of their customers and therefore help them grow their franchise even further.

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Speaker 0:
well, first of all, Mark, it's great to be at fever. It's a fantastic event we're exhibiting today and our stands really busy. We're an M G. Our focus is on regional brokers across the country. We've got four branch offices in the city Birmingham, Manchester and Bournemouth, which we really try to help. Local brokers with complex problems and the complex

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problems they're talking to us about are ensured that having their risks are changing with the changing world that we see they've got. You know there's problems they can't solve by putting information into a system they need to speak to an expert and my underwriting team deliver that.

Speaker 0:
There's always challenges for MS. We walk the tight rope between keeping capacity happy and our distribution, our brokers happy. So capacity is always a challenge for an M, and it's important. It's really important that we work very closely with our capacity partners. At my commercial, we've been very fortunate in the fact that we've been able to grow our capacity in the last two or three years, and that's really, you know, broadened our offer out quite considerably,

Speaker 0:
being focused on business that we're good at and business that we are experts in. So really being specialist is a word that's used a lot at the moment. But we've really specialised in areas such as the Bieber Flood scheme, which we do difficult products, liability risks which we are complete experts at. And that's been a really good sector for growth, particularly in the last 18 months where brokers need to speak to someone that they know what they're doing.

Speaker 0:
Yes, definitely. Technology is really important. It helps us deliver our final products. It gives us information on the risks we're writing. We've invested a lot of money in data and data is a big buzzword around the market at the moment and everyone's talking about it. I think what we've done differently is we've actually

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harnessed it and used it to help shape our underwriting decisions. But also we use that in presenting to the market to get capacity and get schemes, and it's evidencing, you know, they ask you to prove what you're doing. We're able to do that with the data that we're able to produce from our platform.

Speaker 0:
So the Bieber flood scheme, we've been running for six years now. It's a great scheme to be involved with, and it's great to be working with Bieber. It's a very niche area. I think it's an evolving scheme because, you know, our climate is changing. You know the landscape is changing, so it's a risk that's very difficult to model. It's a very it's a.

Speaker 0:
It's a risk that's very difficult to make underwriting profit in, but by using technology in particular, and the large data sets that we do have enables my team to make you know good old fashioned underwriting decisions, but utilising the vast amount of information, particularly on pricing data that we're we're lucky to have.

Speaker 0:
So in particular I mean, we're very good at SME a bit like a lot of the market are good at SME, but particular areas, we really focus on our risks that have got difficult product liability exposures,

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items being exported to the states, or they might have a military application or something to do with the medical, you know, from the medical industry. So we like. We like that and not everyone else likes that business, particularly. We focus on quite complex property risks. The markets condensed quite a lot in the last couple of years with the the hardening of the market, and we've been able to solve some quite difficult problems for our brokers in that area of business.

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Speaker 0:
Hi, I'm Ryan Bebek, distribution director for regional Brokers at Aviva. This is the first of a regular update that I'm delighted to be able to provide via our Aviva Channel on insured TV.

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I've had the opportunity across the first few months of the year to talk to lots of brokers from all areas of the UK as part of our Aviva Broker Roadshow Programme.

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Having heard from brokers about the key challenges they're facing, I want to use this opportunity to share how we're supporting them and their clients. Brokers and their customers are part of Aviva's DNA. They have been for over 325 years.

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And as one of the UK s largest insurers, we're committed to helping the sector thrive.

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It takes a partnership where he had helped brokers meet the demands of their clients today and tomorrow by adding our insight to their expertise to create a more sustainable future together.

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That's the message we'll be taking to Bieber. Our commitment to the UK broker market is not for the Bieber conference alone. It is our long term promise. But being in Manchester is the perfect opportunity to meet with many of our partners in

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in one place to listen to them and update them on Aviva's plans. We're constantly listening whether that's through the Aviva Risk insights, report, our broker barometer or through the direct feedback that's given to our teams on a daily basis. We always listen and look to implement solutions.

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I'm proud that Aviva supports the Bieber event as principal sponsors and look forward to hosting brokers on our stand.

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There'll be no gimmicks or one off launches, just evidence of a track record of investment across our broker business and a commitment to more in future and also great coffee, too. Delivering for brokers is an all year round commitment for our business. But I'm excited to meet with many brokers in Manchester for the Bieber conference so that this can be brought to life. I'll be joined by a fantastic team who will demonstrate that we hear you

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and we're here for you. Come and see us on the Aviva stand. Grab a coffee on us, meet me and the team, and let's chat about the opportunities we look forward to seeing you there

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Speaker 0:
I'm joined now by Paul Richards, co CEO at Considerable Thanks for joining us. You join. Considered fairly recently in the middle of your 1st 100 days. So what did you find when you joined the business? Any conclusions on what the next steps are going to pay?

Speaker 1:
Yeah. Thanks, Mark. Yeah, it's been It's been a whirlwind nearly 100 days. I must say.

Speaker 1:
I think the biggest thing that struck me is the culture of Concilio. Right from the day I walked in, you can feel this very strong and powerful culture, and actually, we recently surveyed staff and it's part of being a great place to work. And overwhelmingly, the culture came across a one of family and funds. So that was that was the biggest thing I felt where a private business so we're not owned by private equity were funding ourselves for growth. So

Speaker 1:
it's a very different proposition to a lot of certain insurance brokers in the London market that has been funded by private recently. But what it means is, we're in control of our destiny in our future. We can we can plan for our medium and long term strategy without the disruption of, you know, a future sale or trying to merge another business in two hours, which is important to keep that culture. We think

Speaker 1:
on DIT gives us a real opportunity t o build around our our existing client place. We want to. We want to attract new talent and keep growing Concilio as a specialty niche broker. We're not going to be all things to all people, but we want to be deep in certain industries and certain products to satisfy a client demand

Speaker 0:
we saw from your website. You describe saying our mission is to be the most inspiring specialty broker in the world?

Speaker 0:
For whom? What does that mean?

Speaker 1:
Well for for mainly for for clients, for customers. But of course, where employees and the markets we trade with. So I mean, it's easy to say you want to be the best, but I think being the best is a bit try. It's now, of course, we want to be the best, but it's hard to define. But if you think about inspiring, it's about filling someone with the ability or the urge to do something on. That's what we want to do. We want to

Speaker 1:
inspire our employees with the ability to trade better with with our clients. Technology is a big part of that for us. We want to trade MAWR effectively and efficiently with our markets. So enable data to come from our clients on DTH through to ensure is much more quickly than our competitors on course for the clients themselves we want we want to give them the ability to have a much better client service a much deeper richer

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on DHF Astor client service. So we felt inspiring was was right for us on Bright for the people we want to inspire.

Speaker 0:
You mentioned a little earlier that you haven't got a big outside investor in their pros and cons to that. But if it's so important to have technology is part of the service solution, you confident that there's enough money behind you that you can achieve what you want

Speaker 0:
at the speed you'd like to do it? Yeah,

Speaker 1:
I've got that confidence probably best to ask David Berman, our CEO and founder who built Concilio over the last 25 plus years. But yes, we're you know, we're reinvesting l dividends and profits. We haven't got an external debt so azi interest rates have risen. We're not servicing that. There's a real commitment from David John on the rest of the management team to invest in technology. And I think with a

Speaker 1:
firm the size of Concilio, where agile and nimble enough to do that we haven't got lots of infrastructure and copper copper wiring that we've got to untangle to instal you, a bedrock technology platform over which will build other technology solutions from May lead you to service our client profile, as I said before. So we want to do things differently, and I think we've got the funds to do that on Garside, eyes and scope to be able to do that effectively.

Speaker 0:
But a lot of people in the insurance industry would say we want better client service Technology is part of that. Have you got some examples of way your implementing technology or are going to implement technology that helps provide a better service? Two

Speaker 1:
cards? Yeah, we've got an example that we're working on now actually going to implement technology where you're in quite a complex sector of the specialty insurance market, where building a quote, click bind products so that the

Speaker 1:
end customer combined their product through what they would normally experience, say, with buying their motor insurance. And we think that's very progressive. The client gets a quote almost instantaneously with very little information, which was a process before that would have taken them quite a lot of time filling in forms on DSS, sending information across to us for us to then

Speaker 1:
access the market. So we've condensed what would have been quite a painful process for the client in to very short process where they can get an instantaneous quote. So that's a really good example. I think where in specialty insurance, we can make a difference with technology

Speaker 0:
out of interest, how you scale. That was a bet, because if it's very quick to do less, information has come come in for you to say, yes, we're going to do this business at this price. If you get that wrong,

Speaker 0:
you know, it could be it could be too good a deal for the client and too bad a deal for years. So how do you make sure as you run that and test that that you know, if you do need to tweak your model somewhat, you're able to do that and you'll still be around to Dio.

Speaker 1:
Yeah, again. I think what we're trying to do is not replace advice. I don't know if you know, but Concilio, um, stands for advice and being advocates, which is what we want to do in the broking roll. That's that's where we're there to service the clients. So

Speaker 1:
the technology isn't to replace that role but make the process more efficient. So I think what we've done in that example is condensed our advice until into the product into the policy wording on already put that into the behind the technology. So we've been out to embed the advice. But that sector of the market is mawr the end of the commoditized end of the market. So we can do that there and then spend our time where the clients really feel there's there's added value.

Speaker 1:
I mean, another example, Mark is, we think, is the traditional proposal form. I mean, we think it's slightly crazy now that the insurance world in 2023 still ask the customer to fill in a largely paper based proposal form, and they asked them to do that every year, so

Speaker 1:
We think that we can collect that data in a smarter way on there. There are other stakeholders collect that data, whether that be the regulator or their other service providers. So if we can help them by capturing that information in an electronic form and say then the pain really of filling in a proposal form every year we think that's a that's a smarter way of doing it. That doesn't replace our advice in the in the process, but it makes their life less painful, which is what we're aiming at.

Speaker 0:
So the key thing for you is about implementing a decision more quickly rather than speeding up the decision making process. So people make bad decisions.

Speaker 1:
Yes, definitely. We want to give them the advice on making the good decision, but it's really putting our advice in where the client really appreciates it. You know, they they don't want us to help them with the proposal, for we want to make their life pain free as possible on bake. The process smoother for them, I guess, is the ultimate goal.

Speaker 1:
The port you've

Speaker 0:
worked around Well, I mean, you certainly spent a bit of your career in Australia. So as you look around the industry globally, what are some of the lessons that you've learned that things that they do in other parts of the world? You think we should be doing this here in the UK or a version of it?

Speaker 1:
Yeah, I get it. I get back to the example. Perhaps I gave. I gave earlier. So what I learned in Australia is I was a broker in Australia and looking to access the London market wholesale on the market. And, of course, Australia's a long way away in time zone. So is particularly pertinent when you are on the other side of the world trying to service your clients as a broker in Australia, on relying on the London market broker and lawyers to give you an altar. And if you kidding to work on the

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on the Friday morning and you haven't got that answer, do you know that's going to be another weekend? And you've got your client asking you for for the for the decision. So it really is about not being a black hole. It's about giving a response, even if that's a holding response. I think services

Speaker 1:
about responsibility also about knowledge and advice if the counterparty if you're other broker, has that information and they can impart that to you quickly, you don't have to wait for the insurers. Answer. So there's an element to that as well. But I think I think London is very good a subscription market business and we've placed complex risk for many years.

Speaker 1:
But again, do we need to do that on the same documentation Aziz we've done since it would Lloyd set up Lloyd's in the late 18 hundreds?

Speaker 1:
What I have learned from working in Australia and dealing particularly with us brokers, is their speed of documentation is much quicker. And I think that's something we need to look at

Speaker 1:
within Lloyd's of how we can improve that.

Speaker 0:
Just sticking with the Australian agent for a minute. I mean as that part of the world that the GDP growth that's coming from there is extraordinary. I mean for you as an international business international brokerage, Do you think over time you will have you stress the importance of the people in the prices, But over time you have to bring on people who've got broader language skills, deeper knowledge of cunt

Speaker 0:
such as Indonesia, for example, a zey maturing developing need insurance otherwise is a danger. This business, it's not just it won't just get to London, but it won't go to you either. Yeah,

Speaker 1:
definitely. We're already doing that, Mark. We're expanding, not Indonesia. Resort is your example, but we're bringing on people that have experience of trading, particularly in Canada, in Australia and the U. S. They're the three markets that we're really focused on building our expertise in.

Speaker 1:
We've got soon to be six divisions within Concilio Amore with their own expertise on DME, mainly at the moment in certain regions. So we have a UK team focused, focused on UK brokers, but very strong in the casualty sector. For example, we've recently bought on a new experienced colleague that has got casualty experience in Canada. So we're broadening our geographic footprint of our existing products into those markets.

Speaker 0:
Finally, been talking about Concilio, but just broadening out a little bit. I mean, what happens more broadly with, say, the Lloyd's market when you've got clients who get moved between broker's gonna score them all fun clients for for one of a better word is there a bit of a challenge for the for Lloyd's market. Yeah,

Speaker 1:
we think so, Mark. We've been fortunate to win. New clients recently were growing business on D.

Speaker 1:
I think there's something that Lloyd's and we use the market need to look at in that process. I mean, if you were transferring your bank or perhaps your mobile phone contract, it's very easy now on bits been made, made so so that people can switch. The process of switching broker itself is relatively easy. Sign a letter and you passed the past that between brokers. But then behind the scenes to transfer the documents, you have to sign an agreement that is relying on the outgoing broker to sign that. So

Speaker 1:
if there's claims information that needs to be transferred across, for example, you're waiting on the outgoing broker to sign that. And that just doesn't seem right. The client is then impacted by that delay, and they shouldn't be punished or penalised for changing broker. So I think it's an area we need to particularly look at. Thea, other is is with runoff entities. If we place business with Lloyd's, intercut

Speaker 1:
on that, Lloyd's syndicates ceases writing that that business again, particularly with claims. The runoff reinsurance too close is is driven by very different metrics. You know, the original underwriter isn't around to advise what he intended by that contract on the run, Reinsurance to closes is driven by profitability, not necessarily about paying claims out quickly. So

Speaker 1:
that seems to be a pain point for clients as well, where claims get delayed when they've gone through that process, which is an area, I think, the game we need to look at as an industry. We

Speaker 0:
have to do that. Paul Richards. Thank you for joining

Speaker 1:
us. Pleasure. Thank you.

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Speaker 0:
Graham Gill is executive director at Bieber, and he joins me Now, Graham, First of all, how are you at Bieber? Looking to influence policy and regulation for brokers, Not just for 2023 but in the years to come.

Speaker 1:
Well, there's ever such a lot to do as always working, uh, for Bieber. But what we do is we put together all of the members issues in this, our our manifesto, our document that

Speaker 1:
we really used to take round to to all of the politicians, all of the stakeholders, the regulator to give an example. Right now, we have the financial services and markets bill going through parliament. So we've been incredibly involved in that. A recent insurance minister described that as the, uh, a once in a generation opportunity for us to get change of regulation because if you think back, it was back, uh, the Financial Services and Markets bill in 2000, which came into force in December 2001 which created the F S A.

Speaker 1:
So here we are. Now we've Brexit, and we've got an opportunity to to shape the regulation of the future. So for us, we've been engaged with all elements of the progress of the bill through the Lord. So we've been writing a briefing paper for every stage. There's been about a dozen stages in the Lords, and when it finishes that, it comes back to the Commons and what we want. There is something that we've been asking for,

Speaker 1:
uh, in our manifesto since 2018, and that's for the regulator to have a, uh, an objective on growth and competitiveness. So any rules and regs they come out with they need to think about is that going to affect growth or competition? And we think that's a really healthy thing. The F S a used to have that. But of course, we're 10 years on and the F C A has never had that. So we're really keen that that, uh, does come into force. We think it it will stay in the bill. It's looking good.

Speaker 1:
And then the next thing we want from that bill is for there to be some accountability on the regulators. So who, um, you know who marks the regulator's homework? At the moment, it seems to be themselves. So how can we make sure

Speaker 1:
that they are held account. You know, Should there be a an office of regulatory accountability? Should there be a particular select committee or parliamentary committee that can keep that regulator in check to make sure the regulation they come out with is is healthy and good for industry as well as, of course, giving that important client protection as well? So

Speaker 1:
we get very engaged in all not just the progress of the bill, but with the bill team with the insurance minister with the shadow team. Um, you know, so that the Labour Party, uh, so that everybody involved knows the member's views, what we think is good and what we think is not so good and could be better and more proportionate.

Speaker 0:
And on that point, given the fact that often not always, um, today's opposition could be tomorrow's government. How much time are you spending with the Labour Party and the people who may be the movers and shakers in two or three years

Speaker 1:
time? Well, we always keep, uh, relations good with the Labour Party. We go to their annual conference, for example. But more recently,

Speaker 1:
uh, we've just met with the Shadow Business Minister. We, uh, have also been giving our, uh, briefing papers and met with, uh, Juli Sadiq, the the shadow insurance minister. So it's really important that we are neutral and have relations with all of the political parties so that whoever's in power, they understand. You know, the brokers are the they're the ones helping the customers with the good guys and, um, and to work with us to create a marketplace that's good for people to trade and good for people to buy insurance. And and they have trust in what they're buying

Speaker 0:
in the round. Would you say the regulatory backdrop is getting tougher for brokers? Bit easier, same as it ever was.

Speaker 1:
It's as tough as it's ever been. In my view, Um, we commission London Economics to do some work every three years to look at. What are the changes? How are the members seeing things? How do we compare to the rest of the world? And right now, um, the cost, uh, to a broker,

Speaker 1:
uh, for compliance with regulation is about 8% of their fees and commissions. That's averaged out across small, medium, large, huge brokers. So 8% is quite a a big chunk of of a broker's, uh, earnings and the, you know, the specifics of it. Things like fair value assessments on regulation have been very, very onerous. So for us, um, it's difficult. We don't think we're a high risk sector. We actually think we're a very low risk sector. You don't very often hear of

Speaker 1:
any concerns about, um, insurance brokers more generally. And then you look at other areas in financial services, uh, who who are causing issues. So for us, we just want something that's proportionate coming out of the regulator. Um, but it it is proving harder and harder and more onerous and that the regulatory teams within brokers are growing by the day.

Speaker 0:
Well, given that I mean, we were hearing about consumer duty fair value assessments coming out, Um, are they formalising What brokers already do? Or is there something a bit more radical at the heart of what's coming out from the F. C A.

Speaker 1:
So I think with the consumer duty that I suppose recognises that brokers are already the agent of the client. We have been under agency law, um, since the Doomsday book. So we we are the agent of the client we have those clients best interests at heart. And so really, I think what they have done in in formalising it into regulation

Speaker 1:
is put requirements about, um, the paperwork, the the reporting, the making Sure the fair value assessments are in place for every single case. But what you have to think about from the broker's perspective is that some some brokers would, Well, most brokers probably have 70 80

Speaker 1:
agencies. Some have a lot more than that. And for each agency, you probably got maybe 20 different products that you deal with for each insurer. So you start multiplying these up, and some brokers have had to do thousands of fair value assessments, you know, and that's a huge amount of work. It's taking

Speaker 1:
resource of the front line, diverting it to the back office. You're not able to serve your clients as much on the front end. You're not able to focus on those new insure tech innovations. Uh, and you are spending the whole time beavering away at the paperwork to evidence compliance. And I think from our perspective we understand why fair value assessments are there. They they make sense. You want to make sure a client has a product that's suitable, but the the actual operation of it and the delivery of it of of evidencing fair value assessments is is incredibly onerous.

Speaker 1:
So from our perspective, what we think would be helpful is that if the F c A looked to perhaps consider for advice sales that you don't actually need to have a full f e A. Because the broker is doing a suitability assessment, they're doing a demands and needs. And if you're doing that, you're effectively doing the same thing anyway. So for advice, sales for, you know, large commercial clients, why do you have to do all the f e A.

Speaker 1:
So, um, in our view, uh, yes, have them for, uh, for the non advised, but perhaps not the advise. So we we keep putting ideas to the regulator. We're trying to be constructive with our suggestions so that we can have more proportionate and smarter regulation for everyone. At the end of the day,

Speaker 0:
if that doesn't happen on F e A s, do you think there's a chance that brokers will just say, Well, I'll just link to fewer potential insurers? Yeah, there'll be a concentration That's the only way I can keep on top of all this paperwork. We

Speaker 1:
don't want to see that, Um,

Speaker 0:
it will happen. But is that a consequence?

Speaker 1:
I think

Speaker 1:
it's important that the broker can always offer the customer choice and whether that's, uh, a local broker or a or a massive broker. You want to have access to different markets and different solutions. Um, but yes, it is clearly something we have seen, some brokers say. Um, well, we only do a couple of these products a year. Is it really worth going through this enormous process for it? So there have been considerations about, you know, Are they going to carry on with absolutely every product? Yes.

Speaker 0:
Another big topic at the moment is cost of living. And everyone's saying they've got, you know, less money to do what needs to be done. I mean, how how are you seeing this affect the broker market and what what are some of the some of the solutions that brokers can produce, particularly their their clients?

Speaker 1:
Well, the cost of living is an issue for our members, but yes, we are seeing it for their clients as well. So uh, Bieber has conducted research. Uh, other firms, like Premium Credit have conducted research, which features in our manifesto and what we've seen. There is clients cutting back on all areas. So it's

Speaker 1:
personal loans clients cutting back on things like add-ons. It's commercial clients reducing sums insured, reducing indemnity periods. And these are all really worrying trends that we haven't seen that literally every area has seen a reduction, a cutback in the cover provided.

Speaker 1:
So from our perspective, we we've tried to give the members tools to try and help discuss these issues with their clients. So we've worked with all to produce an under insurance guide. We've worked with our friends at Quest Gates, the loss adjusters to produce a guide on valuations because what we're seeing is interest rates changing and inflation really high. The cost of

Speaker 1:
more materials and labour going through the roof. And every year that means that actually, to reinstate your property or or other risks as well it's going to you need to consider Is that going to be more and more that we need to ensure so it's it's raising the awareness. It's helping give our brokers the tools and so that the broker can have a conversation with the client about.

Speaker 1:
I know we only did this valuation a year ago, but, um, do you appreciate the indexation? Um, the cost of raw materials, everything that's affecting this because we want to make sure that if there is a claim that broker is able to, you know, help that client through that claims process and deliver a fabulous outcome where they're getting full reinstatement for repair and there's no

Speaker 1:
quibbles over everything. So it's a job that we're doing, but we're, you know, fighting against that tide of of inflation. So we we really need the chancellor to to sort that out. OK, I I want

Speaker 0:
to come back to something you talked about earlier on the regulatory system because I think you were implying that insurance should get a insurance. Brokers should get a bit of a lighter touch than perhaps some other parts of the financial services sector. Was I right in that interpretation? If so, what? What would you want that regulatory landscape to look like? I

Speaker 1:
think what we're seeing is

Speaker 1:
our sector general insurance brokers paying for the failures of some other sectors so For example, look at the financial services compensation scheme. The F S CS

Speaker 1:
That system is has been created to protect consumers from the failure of firms. Now we very rarely get failures in our own sector. But if you look at the investment sector, there are frequent failures there. And what happens is the way the model is structured for the the fee funding classes is that brokers are basically paying a considerable amount into the sort of overall pool for the failures of investment firms. So that's not fair. How can we budget for that?

Speaker 1:
How can we, um, you know, be prepared for it? How can we stop it? There's there's very little control we have. So what we've done is put some proper research together, uh, put some proposals to the regulator to say, Look, we think there's a better way so that consumer perceptions are still there. Absolutely. But it's it's more proportionate. It's fair.

Speaker 1:
Should pay, not the innocent, low risk insurance brokers. So all we want is something that's, um I think the insurance minister uses the words simple, effective, proportionate. That's what we want. So not a lighter touch. What we want is something that's suitable for us, something that's fair whereas at the moment we feel is quite unfair.

Speaker 0:
Um, the latest guide from Bieber is on cyber insurance aimed at, uh, SME s how big an issue is cyber for for that part of the market. Have you focused on it? Now,

Speaker 1:
cyber is a real growing threat, and I think more and more of our our clients are

Speaker 1:
are being attacked and having issues with the cyber threats. So, um, you know, we have a great scheme. Um, we have a a new guide. And the reason for having that guide is because there's a very low take up of cyber insurance of standalone cyber insurance. Particularly SME s don't have sufficient protection across the board, uh, nationally. And so, by putting a guide together, that again can be a tool that members can use

Speaker 1:
to raise awareness of the threats. But also, cyber insurance isn't just a basic policy that pays out for a claim. It it does things like it gives, um, threat intelligence. It does vulnerability scanning, and it's a great risk management tool so that if there is, um, an issue, it can be identified before something goes wrong. And I think the the phrase that we use is that you don't have to make a claim to get value from your cyber insurance. It can give great value in just what it delivers there. So

Speaker 1:
so there's a lot of benefits to be had. More clients could benefit from it. And and risks are changing. It's not simply ensuring that property risk anymore. It's intellectual property. It's cyber risk. It's things like that, and more and more clients are exposed. So we've got a job to do in raising awareness. Um, and putting this guide out to hopefully help people get the cover that they

Speaker 0:
need. We have to leave it there. Graham Gill. Thank

Speaker 1:
you. Thank you.

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Speaker 0:
I'm joined now by Martin Holman, managing director of Holman Advisory Martin. I want to start with cost of living. We're hearing so much about that as a topic. Um, but as you're talking with insurance brokers, how is it affecting their consumer base and and them,

Speaker 1:
Um well, I think it I mean, it's unavoidable. It's out there. We all know you know that it's happening and that people are struggling. Um, I think it it it seems to fall into,

Speaker 1:
uh, a couple of of different categories, I think, on the private car insurance, Um, which, let's be honest, has always been a bit of a grudge purchase. You've got to have it. Um, it's people know they've got to take it out, but therefore are looking for, um, the best deal, shall we say, And, uh, I mean, I think motor has always been, um,

Speaker 1:
more price driven, probably than than any other cover. But I think that's even more so at the moment. Um, I think, uh, on, um, household, uh, again, the key there seems to be ensuring that premiums aren't going up. When when the real premium comes out, I think what most people seem to be seeing is that if they're going out with a price that was

Speaker 1:
equitable to last year, um, that they're finding their renewal. Retentions are holding up. I think, in commercial, the bigger concern, um, is going to be around, um, people maybe under insuring, um

Speaker 1:
uh, in a way to keep their premiums down. And I know, um, talking to,

Speaker 1:
uh, some of the guys that are that are in that space, the larger SME space is the unders insurance piece is a, uh is a serious concern for them as brokers. But, you know, they are obviously where they act. Um, on a fully advised basis, Um, clearly, you know, they are at least in a position to try and convince the, uh uh, the client that, um, you know, they they need the right levels of cover. Um, but I think as it as it continues to

Speaker 1:
bite, um, the pressure will come on that even more

Speaker 0:
does there have become a problem? If you're a broker between saying to a client, I know times are tough. Let's you know you can't have the same level of insurance cover that you might want, So let's be really sensible about what we pick and what levels and somebody coming back to you and saying, actually, you've been complicit in helping them to underinsure.

Speaker 1:
Yeah. I mean, it's a it's a big issue. And I and I think that, you know, the brokers really have got to play it with a completely straight bat. Um,

Speaker 1:
and, uh, clearly conversations. Then do, um, go on with clients around You know what they can do and whether that will be, you know, assisting them further in terms of, um, uh, spreading the payments Or, uh, you know,

Speaker 1:
coming up with a different type of, um, uh, methodology in terms of of, uh, paying the premiums, Uh, I think is probably where most people need to go. But But the reality is that, um if a client is saying, Well, actually, if I have to pay that insurance, I'm gonna go bust.

Speaker 1:
Um, then clearly, you know, different type of discussions need to take place, but But, you know, from a broken perspective, if you are, you know, doing your job and then representing the client into, um, the insurer partners, you've got to be absolutely straight.

Speaker 0:
And how is it is it to have a conversation around sort of cost versus value for money. I mean, you were mentioning there. It's been a bit of a race to the bottom in in car insurance for for example.

Speaker 1:
Yeah, I I think the, um the value for money argument, which again is something obviously that the f c I have been have picked up on and have brought in the fair value Uh, rules, etcetera, um, is something that within the market, um, maybe we should have been addressing, um,

Speaker 1:
previously. Um, and I think now that the the focus is on that in terms of, um, you know, really analysing what the what the lot ratios look like in terms of, um, uh, the overall impact on

Speaker 1:
you know how many claims are actually getting paid out? You know, um is that does that look fair value? If you're you're running a scheme that's got a loss ratio of 5% 1 would probably argue that maybe there there isn't value to the to the customer there. And I think that's what the the F. C A changes have brought brought into that realm. I think, um, in terms of private car insurance. Um,

Speaker 1:
it's a bit different because finding a private car insurer that's making, um, any money, let alone, uh, a lot of money. Um, you're gonna have to look a very long way. Uh, and in fact, probably still not find one. So I I think the value for money, um, argument on private car is is certainly, um not particularly relevant. Um, however, of course, you know, the focus is now on a lot of add-on type products. Um,

Speaker 1:
and and as to whether they are, uh, genuinely, um,

Speaker 1:
uh, in the client's best interests, um, you know, so I think that there has. There's an increased focus on it, undoubtedly.

Speaker 0:
Well, moving on from that to consumer duty because you describe I mean, I don't want to put words in your mouth, but since you've given me the impression of motor insurance, if you like has been quite transactional,

Speaker 0:
um, do you think in that in that if I'm right in that space, is there is consumer duty less likely to bite as hard as perhaps in some other areas where you really have to put together some quite bespoke cover for your client and have a a real sort of ongoing relationship. Yeah. I

Speaker 1:
mean, I I think that's a very far very fair point, Mark. And and, um, the big element of consumer duty in terms of of, uh, private car insurance is actually proving and being able to prove

Speaker 1:
that you have actually done the right things at the right time, Uh, and and fully understood your, um your customer, the vulnerabilities, et cetera, et cetera. And I think the the challenge in the private car sector is really all around the, um, uh, collating of that data the and and being able to, um, deliver that data on demand when the f c a. Want to see it,

Speaker 1:
Um, I think the that into the other, um, product areas. Um, but there, there very much is a, uh, building.

Speaker 1:
Um, the value package, uh, particularly around, um, add-on policies, et cetera, et cetera, are really where the brokers are needing to be, um, spending time fully understanding the clients. I mean, the the you know, for me, it's

Speaker 1:
brokers that were doing, uh, T c f Treating the customers fairly properly. Um, it is a stage further on, but but the foundation is already there. Um, but it's now about being able to demonstrate when required that you have indeed, Um, uh, acted in the in the correct way. And I think the, um, one of the one of the areas that, um,

Speaker 1:
is probably one of the bigger causes for concern is around the whole vulnerable customer classification. Uh, and how you are identifying them when you are identifying them and then actually coming up with a with a strategy and a methodology for dealing with them.

Speaker 0:
Well, on that, you mentioned, uh, t treaty customers fairly, Uh, and then consumer duty. How revolutionary does the f c a think all of this is And and does that align with how revolutionary the insurance industry thinks this is or should be?

Speaker 1:
Well, um, I can't really speak to the f c a, but I But I do think that that

Speaker 1:
they believe that this is a large step forward. Uh uh, in terms of, um, the way in which we interact with, uh, with customers. Uh, and whether that's through a broker or whether that's a direct, uh uh insurance offering. Um, So I think the, um,

Speaker 1:
the view in the market. Um, is that, um

Speaker 1:
if you've got t c f

Speaker 1:
properly nailed and you've been working with that for a number of years that that

Speaker 1:
the building blocks are there and that what we're now looking at around consumer duty is really, um, you know, taking that to the next level. Um, but as I say, I think that one of the bigger challenges is all around ensuring that you demonstrate that and And I think, you know, we're demonstrating T. C. F,

Speaker 1:
um, was is fairly ingrained. And people who you know have got that, and they can do it. I think demonstrating, um, consumer duty, uh, is is a tough ask, um, and, you know, and undoubtedly resource, a lot of resource has gone into that through the market, both from insurers and from brokers. Um, so, uh, revolutionary,

Speaker 1:
Maybe not. But I think it is just the next step of of the evolution. As I say, the challenge for me is, is more the specific challenges around the vulnerable customer element?

Speaker 0:
Well, on that, any any tips or things that you can think of that are are easy wins on identifying and mapping out a and recording what you're doing. Well,

Speaker 1:
I I I mean, I think this is the big challenge. It it it's about when you do that, um, you know, and and so obviously, you are collecting information from clients when they, um,

Speaker 1:
come to you for a quote. Um, you are then, you know, firming up on those details when they accept that quote, and you've got it. But actually picking from that, um, a specific vulnerability is is very, very difficult. Um, particularly in in a mass market, Um, such as motor insurance. Um, and you know, there will be key triggers. I mean, often, I think what we're finding now is that the, um

Speaker 1:
they're being identified more at a claim stage, Possibly when there is a discussion going on. Um, because there is genuine interaction between a client and an insurer, Um, uh, or indeed a broker. Whereas, of course, uh, you know, an application stage now where the majority of of particularly motor insurance and and again a lot of household as well is is, uh, transacted online. Um,

Speaker 1:
being able to build

Speaker 1:
algorithms in that will maybe identify, um somebody who? Who? You know, I mean clearly if somebody's disabled, that's declared anyway up front. So you you know you can pick that up. But when it comes to you know whether it's financial, uh, impairment and and as we've gone on, you know, mental health issues, um, arising.

Speaker 1:
It's very difficult, and often it will. It won't manifest itself until the claim stage, at which point, um, clearly, you know, both brokers and and insurers need to have a mechanism in place to deal with that.

Speaker 0:
Is there a danger at that claim stage, you could end up treating customers unfairly because the temptation might be to say, um, we think they're vulnerable. We're not sure how to play it. Be extra generous to them. And somebody might come back later and say, Well, just because I didn't have a vulnerability you've treated, you know, you've treated me unfairly

Speaker 1:
again. I mean, I it's a very fair point. I think it's, uh, it's tough. It's a tough balancing act. Um

Speaker 1:
uh, in the you know? Yeah, I It would be It would be rare over the years, I think, for insurers to have been too generous on claim settlements, But, um uh, but yeah, I mean, I think, you know, in terms of well, I mean, even not necessarily actually at the claim stage, but in terms of, um, the application stage and paying for the premium, etcetera, Um,

Speaker 1:
being able to be in a position where you actually say to somebody, Well, yeah, because you're struggling. We will allow you longer to pay this or or whatever. And then, you know, to the next person you say, Well, because you're not struggling, you can just, you know, pay it all upfront. Um,

Speaker 1:
it does bring in, I think the the whole question of of, uh, treating every customer fairly. And that's you know what it's there for. I do think the consumer duty focusing on vulnerable customers, um, has added definitely another layer of complexity to that.

Speaker 0:
Martin, we've got a couple of minutes left. I want to move on to to a couple of other issues. Um, I think it's fair to say there's less money about in the round, and the price of money is, uh, it has gone up of late. Um, how do you see that playing out in terms of capacity in the market and what those knock on effect for brokers are likely to be for the rest of this year.

Speaker 1:
Well, I I think in terms of capacity, um, in its in its purest form, coming through,

Speaker 1:
um, uh, insurers that that, you know, brokers and unable to, uh, sell out into the market. There's undoubtedly been a squeeze on that. Um, and, uh, a lot of that has been brought about because by the cost of of reinsurance and excess of loss covers. And I think you know, quite a number of of motor insurers, um, certainly are not running with the same, uh, level of capacity, uh, ability going through, um, this year, as maybe they did last year. And so,

Speaker 1:
you know, the knock ons there are, um, the, uh in terms of the amount of policies they're gonna be able to remove, particularly with rates going up mean that there is going to be, um, undoubtedly a lot of people shopping around for, um, uh, car insurance this year. Household insurance this year, Um, and potentially not finding,

Speaker 1:
um, as much of a, um, supply in the market. And so I think you know, we're we're certainly seeing rates increase now. Um, and I think that we will. We will see that continuing through certainly through the first half of the year, probably through Q three. And then maybe it will start coming back down. Um, when

Speaker 1:
the results Hopefully for motor insurers, um uh are showing an improvement

Speaker 1:
and that then meaning that obviously they they should be able to obtain their reinsurance and, um, excess of loss insurance, uh, at a lower premium when that cycle starts again at the end of the year. Um, but I think, um, it's it's not great news for the consumer at the moment, because I just think there's gonna be There is less supply out there.

Speaker 0:
And finally, we've seen a lot of consolidation People buying broker firms up in the last few years. Uh, again, in a world of higher rates, uh, what do you see happening to that trend?

Speaker 1:
Um, I think I mean, it's a It's probably almost like a perfect storm in that. A lot of what one would have regarded as as prized assets have already been

Speaker 1:
purchased, uh, and have have been moved into one of the consolidating, uh, vehicles. Um, there do remain out there. Some some good assets, uh, which will always attract, um, interest and and, you know, a a good level of, uh, a good level of multiple, uh, of, uh, um, if we want to.

Speaker 1:
You know, the phrase it in that way. Um, I think what we are seeing is that some of the consolidators are Well, certainly over the past year have started looking more, um, into, uh, foreign acquisition. Uh, a number of those started really in Ireland, but have now moved out into Continental Europe. Um, and I think we'll see that continuing. As for the UK market, um, I I think that

Speaker 1:
we potentially could be seeing, um, some slightly more mega type mergers. Um, but similar to the Aston Aston Lark. How

Speaker 1:
a plan? Um uh, scenario, Um and so I think you know, we we potentially, um we'll be seeing one or two of those potentially, uh, at the the bigger end, um, surface during this year. Um, but I think in terms of, um

Speaker 1:
uh, if you look at our don p i b um g r p. You know, if if the right asset comes available, I think you know they will still be in there to try and buy it. Um, and, uh, you know, they they've got, um, good quality, um, equity backers who who seem to still have a good flow of cash.

Speaker 0:
We have to do it there. Martin Holdman. Thank you for joining us. Thank

Speaker 1:
you, Mark.

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Speaker 0:
Alan, can we start with a little bit about what Touchstone does and how the business is faring at the moment, particularly in the light of covid? Because I think you specialise in a handful of areas that have probably been pretty badly hit by covid over the

Speaker 1:
last couple of years. Yes, definitely. I mean, we specialise in four areas, which is the property and commercial hospitality, leisure, travel and tour and liability and construction. And, uh, we are now a sort of 15 16 year old company. So we've been around a long time,

Speaker 1:
and we had our issues with covid like everybody else did. And two of our particular sectors struggled, which is the travel and tour, because people couldn't travel anymore and because they couldn't travel. The the sort of the way we dealt with that business was we were reducing wages, turnovers. We were trying to keep the policy holder as such, but we weren't able to, uh, get the premiums that we'd been generating in the past because people weren't travelling.

Speaker 1:
Uh, the other area was the hospitality and leisure and hospitality and leisure. We all know what happened to hotels in that you know the hotels, um, stopped operating and people couldn't go there. I think with Brexit also happened in that the the workforce had moved back to Europe and was working from there. So it put a lot of stress on the business. But like every other businesses, I think in the covid time people diversified.

Speaker 1:
And I think that diversity, um, from a sort of like an SME, the grocery store suddenly starts to do the launderette. He starts doing the laundry, he starts selling other things. And what we did is we actually, um, found a niche property offering.

Speaker 1:
And that niche property offering was covering in various angles layers for primary covers, various different ways in which we could skin that cat. Um, but the big one was cladding. Nobody wanted to ensure cladding. Um, but we were able to, uh, through one of the our underwriting capacity providers

Speaker 1:
have a discussion about what we could do. And we wrote, um, that type of business in that period. So Touchstone actually grew in covid. It didn't reduce back. What is nice is that the travel and tour world is back because people want to go on holiday and I think UK. You know, people have actually kept their money back for the holidays because that's what you know. It's one thing they look forward to, so our numbers are rising,

Speaker 1:
the hotels are back and open and they're there. Um, but we still have the nice property. So therefore we we're in a position that, um, it's moved us on on nicely.

Speaker 0:
One thing with underwriting is, is how much capacity is there out there at the moment? What what's what are you finding the areas you specialise in and and what are some of the issues that's throwing up for

Speaker 1:
you? So capacity is always the issue and from an underwriting M g A, which is what we are. We have to really outperform the insurer's own business if it's a similar if they write a similar business. So,

Speaker 1:
um, but certainly Lloyd's are really good at delegated authority for underwriting. And, um, one of our major capacities are, and they are looking for opportunities with us to grow more and more. We made a decision about 10 years ago because we had too many capacity providers and we wanted to concentrate on only having 3 to 4, possibly five. And at the moment we have three major ones and one just sort of coming through and another one to follow. Hopefully soon.

Speaker 1:
Um, but what they do is we try and pick the types of business that they want to look at. Um, and when you then start to build the critical mass with those insurers or those capacity providers, what it does is that when you're looking for something different, um, they know you. You don't have to go through the compliance, the jumping, the hoops to be a Lloyds cover holder. All those sort of things are not there anymore, because you've done all that and you've actually got the confidence of them. You know, the underwriters, the people that you refer to,

Speaker 1:
and so we really that focus for us on that has been the best thing that we ever did because we have, you know, big, big, big accounts with our three major players.

Speaker 0:
But when you were looking at, I mean you mentioned cladding a little earlier when you were looking at that, What? What was their view? As as was it? You know, Alan, nobody else wants to be in that area for a reason. Don't be that sometimes the crowd is wiser than you are or great opportunity.

Speaker 1:
We looked at it as an opportunity because we felt that people were not being able to get that insured to full stop. And even the composite insurers were asking us, Could we do something about it?

Speaker 1:
Um, and the reason that we were able to do something is a particular underwriter that we're very, you know, knows us. But he's a global property underwriter. So he writes earthquakes, he writes. You know, all that sort of storm in Canada or wherever it is.

Speaker 1:
So he understood what we call high risk business, and to him, it was I can give you that facility, but I don't want to ensure everything fully. But I'll give you the possibility of writing a primary cover or a start point Um, when you'll have to fill up the capacity with other followers, which we did. Um, so it was, um, the ability to identify that. But is the ability to actually tell them how we were going to do it?

Speaker 1:
And the one thing that Touchstone, um, does do? Is it it it the underwriters that we have are quality underwriters who are really good at doing their business. And they're not just sort of a, um a tick box is a number. It really is proper underwriting. When you get into that and say, I'm I'm hopefully I'm touching wood But the performance has been

Speaker 1:
good for everybody. Um, those cladding properties will not be there soon because the government's facility of getting them repaired and back, but therefore that's moved us into other areas. So we now do you know, the sort of, uh, the fishing, the cooking, you know, the smoking of the haddock and that sort of thing.

Speaker 1:
Food manufacturers is another area, and, um, we're even looking at sort of the hotels that are moving to the asylum seekers side. So even that product is diversified over the last two years, because of the cladding was the number one. But as that starts to to move away, then, uh, we'll move into other areas.

Speaker 0:
But on this capacity point, I mean, you you were saying you you prefer to have deeper relationships with a smaller number of carriers because that keeps the capacity coming through. They know you. You know them. But if there's less capacity around full stop, do you worry that, um, some of those who are backing you might say, Well, we like you, but we can only give you 50% 60% of what we used to provide

Speaker 0:
and you need more carriers sort of on panel. If I can put it that way, how would you cope in

Speaker 1:
those? I think there's always a worry as to whether the carriers have the, you know, the capacity or the appetite to to want to do it. I think that's when we come back to our performance. If our performance is good, they'll continue to work with us. And if we bring new areas to them, I think they will

Speaker 1:
look at it and and and try and back as, uh as to sort of write more business in in that area. Because we've proved ourselves and to, you know, to be an M g A. This day and age, with compliance with all the rules and atlas for Lloyds and cover holder status. There's a lot of hoops that you have to jump through, and we've done that, so it's easier to add a product to an existing binder than it is to start a new one.

Speaker 1:
That doesn't mean we're not looking for other other new providers, either. So we have got, like I mentioned earlier, three major ones at the moment, with probably four and five not not far away, but in different areas and different products. So there's there is capacity,

Speaker 1:
Uh, for I would say you provided you can prove that you've performed well and you've got good quality underwriters. And I think you know that's that from touchdowns. Perspective is what we've tried to achieve

Speaker 0:
coming back. I mean, running throughout this conversation, this this theme of how you diversify your business and

Speaker 0:
and actually how tough it can be to diversify. Um, I mean, do you have thoughts of moving into new areas

Speaker 1:
very much. So we, um already we have in the pipeline. We have another specialist property offering, which is a line of business that we can sort of put forward either as a primary, a follow an excess layer. We're looking at Marine. We're looking at marine cargo. We're looking at cyber.

Speaker 1:
Um, we're looking at, you know, probably four or five. We're even doing an engineering inspection facility, which is unusual because it's not necessarily underwriting, but it's a service. Um, and what we're trying to do is you've added value to our broker panel, Um, so as they sort of deal with us, the more types of opportunities we have to give them and say, Did you know you did the hotel? But you can do the engineering with us, et cetera, et cetera, is the way that we want to to try and do it so that we are becoming I mean, our motto is

Speaker 1:
the the first choice for brokers.

Speaker 0:
But again, just back to that diversification point, I can see how, in some areas you say, Well, that's a natural adjunct to something we. But there must be other areas. We think that just totally different

Speaker 1:
from anything we've ever seen. So so therefore, what we look at in there and and we we've actually sort of grown organically over the last 13, 15 years, 2007, we were established. So by doing that growth, we've acquired people, um, to actually make us better. Um,

Speaker 1:
recently, in the last 2.5 years, we've got business development underwriters up and down the the country. So there's seven or eight of them dealing with a panel of brokers selling our ways, telling those brokers what our appetite is and hopefully, you know, making sure that we can win the business.

Speaker 1:
I think the future for us is to do more of that. However, there are some products, and there are some areas that we want to get in that we will have to acquire. So we are now acquisitive, um, business. We are part of the 17 group and the 17 group do have a A fund, um, available to us for the right acquisitions. But the acquisitions are going to be complementary, not necessarily the same.

Speaker 0:
And funny you mentioned there a team out working closely with brokers to help build that business. What are some of the things that you can help brokers with and provide them with a given the back this backdrop, we got inflation, cost of living crisis.

Speaker 1:
Absolutely. So

Speaker 1:
covid came along, and obviously people were worried about how do we speak to the brokers, et cetera. But we've always been using video, so we used to think it was called Blue jeans at the time. But of course, everybody's moved to teams these days, but teams enabled us to actually get to those brokers and speak to them. Um, even though they were working from home or laptops or whatever, Uh, we were able to have a chat. I think what happened to the Composites is because they weren't geared up for that type of approach. We've always had that type of approach because of the way we've been structured,

Speaker 1:
and the service that we provided to them was second or not. And I think M. G. A s have proved themselves in that way in that people wanted to have quick answers, wanted someone to speak to someone to deal with not. Here's a mobile phone of somebody that used to work in the office and is nowhere longer there. So that's one area that we've done so that brokers have really come and said, you know, the compliments that we get on a regular basis about the service, the speed because we've got I t. We've got platforms, we've got broker platforms, we've got all the right things.

Speaker 1:
Um, but one interesting one at the moment is rebuild cost assessments.

Speaker 1:
So we are talking to brokers saying that we have an arrangement with R C A. And you can jump on the back of that. And really, do you want to be offering your client a 18 to 19% index linking on a property? Or would you prefer him to pay a small amount to get a proper rebuild cost assessment on that? And we've tried a pilot of it, and the outcome has been really,

Speaker 1:
really good. It's been positive for us because the sums insured have gone up. But it's been positive, I think, for the broker, because he's now of offering the correct information to get terms on and the clients in a position that he knows he's not going to be under insured in the event of a loss. So areas like that are very much, um, the things that we want to try and do. Um, that's more property related.

Speaker 1:
Um, with regards to construction, we're always looking at the turnovers and and wages. So minimum deposits are the sort of area that we would, uh, try and help those clients with.

Speaker 0:
We have to do that. Alan Roath, Thank you so much for joining us. Thank

Speaker 1:
you.

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Speaker 0:
Bieber's 2023 conference takes place in Manchester on the 10th and 11th of May, and with a sneak preview, I'm joined now by head of Conference Emma Chapman. Emma, thank you so much for joining us, Um, for anybody who's not booked their tickets yet. Why should they take two days out of their diary and come along?

Speaker 1:
Yeah, well, thank you so much for having me. It's so lovely. It's always great to talk about conference. It's something that I I am so passionate about and get so excited about.

Speaker 1:
So Conference is, as you said, it's on the 10th and the 11th of May. And, um, last year we had about 8000 attendees over two days and about 220 exhibitors, and it's looking like it's the same. If anything. Actually, we've got slightly more people registered on this day than we had last year, and last year was record breaking. So it's looking like it's gonna be even bigger and better than last year. Um, this is now our 45th conference,

Speaker 1:
and, um, it's just a fantastic opportunity for the broking and the insurance industry to come together. It's the biggest UK insurance broken event and one of the biggest broken events in the world. And so it really is worth getting those two days in your diary. There's always too much to do on one day, so two days and come and network and do business with the insurance community. What does it cost?

Speaker 1:
Well, it is free for, um, brokers to attend. If you're coming for the exhibition and the fringe programme, and then for Bieber members, you get full conference access for free as well. So it's great for those pockets as well. Well,

Speaker 0:
what are the big themes for this year and why have you picked them?

Speaker 1:
So our overarching theme for conference this year, which we have one every year, and we take time really to, you know, consider what it's going to be This year is rising to the challenge, and it was taken really from looking back at the last year and the sort of political economic upheaval that we've had, but also changing trends and dynamics in the insurance industry, new regulation, everything that's happening and also looking inwards,

Speaker 1:
and the fact that our personal lives are seldom straightforward and that actually what conference is all about is about sharing experience so that you can turn these challenges into opportunities either for growth in your business or for learnings and sort of personal development. And so it really sort of encapsulated that, Um, but there are other themes that run through the conference in terms of our seminar agenda and our free

Speaker 1:
programmes. And they're really they go all the way from cyber and data breaches to regulation, to recruitment challenges to good customer service, to technology and all of that. So we really we take the time to really drill down into the like, hot topics of the industry that brokers really, um, want to discuss and hear from experts on. And that's what we're going to deliver this year.

Speaker 0:
And who are some of the speakers that you've got delivering on this agenda?

Speaker 1:
So we have as ever, we have four keynotes, and we're really excited about our keynote this year. I think there is something for everyone, and, um, we start off with a fireside chat with, um, the National Cybersecurity Centre, and actually, we've just announced or we're in the process of announcing that it is Lindy Cameron, the CEO, who is joining us, Um, and speaking on stage with Graham Newman from C F. C.

Speaker 1:
Uh, and that will be a fascinating, um, deep dive into the the work that the n CS e are doing and more of a sort of global outlook about security and cyber. Um, Then in the afternoon, we have a political panel with ed balls Alastair Campbell, uh, George Osborne, Philip Hammond and it's chaired by Sophie Ridge from Sky News. And that will be a fantastic way for brokers to ask their, you know, interesting questions about the sort of political state in the UK.

Speaker 1:
So then, the Thursday morning we have a session that everyone will need to get up for, because it will be an absolutely inspirational panel. And we've got Ellie Simmons, the Paralympic swimmer Doctor Alex George, the mental health advocate. Joe Wicks, the nation's favourite PE teacher. And it's chaired by Fern Cotton, the Radio one host. And that will be a look at the journeys that they have taken the challenges that they have overcome. And it will be an opportunity for them to really sort of candidly share their stories for brokers to hear

Speaker 1:
And then the one we've all been waiting for is our closing keynote. Which is, Sir Mo Farah, Um, being interviewed by Hugh Edwards, our conference host. And I think there will be a queue around the block for that one.

Speaker 0:
And what are some of the activities that you can get involved in if you're coming along?

Speaker 1:
Absolutely. Because the the thing that's important is that conference it is. The exhibition hall is full to the brim with exhibitions. We've got over 220 insurers and service providers. But what's great is that there are other bits and pieces that you can get involved in as well. Obviously, I spoke a bit earlier about our seminar programme. We've also got a fringe programme which is free for all ticket holders. And there's 15 brilliant sessions. Uh, we have a

Speaker 1:
wellness zone again this year. We had it for the first time last year and it went down really well. So it's back bigger and better. It's in its own room, Charter four, and it will have massage treatments and therapists and equipment and talks on good mental health and a secret that I am trying to uh wangle, so I can't say anything well, but it would be very exciting. So Wellness Zone is definitely something to check out, and that will be running on both days. Um, we have a quiz night on the Wednesday evening,

Speaker 1:
and that's always a fun evening with colleagues. And you can let your hair down And it will be, uh, a good example of rising to the challenge because it's very competitive. Uh, and then we have a young broker day as well on the Thursday on the second day, and that's free for brokers under the age of 35. And that's really a great day for the young brokers, those coming into the industry to network with other other young people in the industry, other young brokers. But also it's a learning development day. And so we have excellence

Speaker 1:
sessions on social media, creating a personal brand, um, mental health, career stories. So, you know, sort of really high profile people in the industry talking about how they came to be where they are. You know what their career ladder climb was like, um and so that will be a fantastic thing as well. On Day two,

Speaker 0:
huge amount that's going on. So if you had to sum it all up in a minute or two, what are the key things to think about?

Speaker 1:
Yeah, so I would say that just looking at the facts and figures you've got 8000 people. You've got 220 plus exhibitors. You've got over 50 expert speakers all in two days. So really it you know, it's a really brilliant opportunity

Speaker 1:
for brokers are members, but also the wider breaking and intermediary community to come together to do business. It's all about, you know, it's a fantastic way for them to do business and also to learn what's coming. You know what to look out for in the industry, Um, and not to forget that it's free for brokers to attend for the for the exhibition. And there's just so much to do. And I'm really looking forward to

Speaker 1:
welcoming everyone back because it's been 365 days, and I think we're all ready to to do another one. And actually, what I would like to like to say is one of my favourite quotes, because we get feedback every year. Um, and one of my favourite quotes from last year was Everyone I've ever met in insurance is in this hall today, and I think that's a brilliant sum up. With

Speaker 0:
so much going on, clearly preparing in advance is going to be

Speaker 0:
crucial. So what are your tips for? How delegates can get the most out of their trip to Manchester? Yeah,

Speaker 1:
really good question, because we know that everyone's diaries is so full, um, at conference. So I would say download our conference app, which we have this year. It's slightly different to last year, but it still has all of the key functionality. So it has a way to look at the exhibitor profiles a way to navigate around the venue to network with your attendees, you can message you can make me

Speaker 1:
meetings. You can personalise your agenda and your diary. So it really is the digital way to make your way around, uh, around the conference, and also to follow our hashtag hashtag Biber 2023. We're we're gonna be posting. All of our exhibitors will be posting. Our brokers will be posting, and it's the way to really keep up to date with the latest of what's going on at the show.

Speaker 0:
We have to leave it there. Emma Chapman, Thank you so much for joining us. Thank

Speaker 1:
you so much. Really looking forward to it.