Disagreement ‘pushes the boundaries’ driving greater innovation
“Healthy and respectful disagreement between brokers and underwriters is good and fosters a strong area for change. If we are always agreeing we are not pushing the boundaries. Disagreement means we can think about things in a different way. It gives means to solutions for new areas.”
This was the view of Scott Sayce, global head of cyber and group head of the Cyber Centre of Competence at Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty (AGCS), speaking on a panel discussing how to build a productive relationship between underwriters and brokers.
Speakers at the session at the Intelligent Insurer Commercial Lines Innovation Europe 2023 conference in London included Shannan Fort, partner - financial lines at McGill and Partners, Renato Carrega, head of underwriting at Ageas, Tom Draper, head of insurance, UK, at Coalition, with moderator Saranyaa Mohan, founder and CEO of ARUVI Consulting.
Coalition’s Draper, said the broker/underwriter relationship is about the evolution of a product, insurance and new ways of working. “A healthy disagreement or a partnership can work as a great way forward,” he said.
AGCS’s Sayce added that open engagement enables underwriters and brokers to ensure they are working from the correct data. “Talking and healthy disagreement will help to identify why there may be different data provided by brokers or held by insurers,” he said.
McGill’s Fort said it helps everyone to have accurate and complete data. “I don’t think anyone is aiming to provide inaccurate or incomplete data as this causes problems in placing a policy, it does not benefit anyone in this process.”
She said that this is an ongoing conversation, adding that what is complete and accurate data for one client may not be for another. “But it’s incumbent on brokers and underwriters to have a clear understanding of the client to make sure we have the right data set,” she said.
“We’re not in the habit of pushing back on data requests for the sake of it. We don’t need to be incentivised.”
However, Sayce said that in the past he had experienced brokers presenting data that supports the narrative they had built and had even been “lied to” in the past.
Draper commented that Coalition is looking to brokers to innovate on how they gather data for this process. A lot of that data is historic, on paper, and it needs a lot of improvement.”
Fort said that ultimately everyone is aiming for client satisfaction. “To get the best result for clients we have to work together. Sometimes we have to align slightly different interests, so we have to work collegiately to get to that. Geographically that culture can look different in different regions, for example in New York and London.”
Ageas’s Carrega agreed with Fort that brokers and underwriters can be aligned, even in different countries with different prevailing cultures. “Alignment is a win win.”
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