Brunel Professional Risks has expanded its wholesale professional indemnity insurance (PII) broking arm to handle rapidly growing demand from brokers across the UK.
Two new Brokers have joined the wholesale team, which has signed 150 agencies and delivered £6.2 million gross written premium since launch in September 2011.
Brunel’s wholesale PII business was launched to give brokers a wider choice of insurers for their client’s PII cover and to provide them with access to Brunel’s market, risk management and claims expertise as well as bespoke PII policy wordings. Brunel currently accesses over 40 markets on behalf of its wholesale PII clients.
The new members of Brunel’s wholesale PII team are Account Brokers Tim Grant and Jody Rimmington. Tim joined Brunel in 2009 and has been promoted internally having previously been a key service-driven account broker within Brunel’s new business team. Jody joined from specialist will writing and estate planning business, ELM Legal Services.
Russell Lane, Managing Director, Brunel Professional Risks, said:
“At a time when many wholesale brokers are exiting the market, converting to MGAs or insisting on restrictive minimum premiums, there is a huge and rapidly growing demand for our whole of market wholesale PII broking service.
“Insurance brokers have to master many different classes of insurance and we find many firms are less confident of their in-house expertise in placing PII cover. This is a complex area of insurance and the size of potential liabilities means this is an area where many brokers do not want to inadvertently expose their own firm to the risk of loss.
John Stagg, Manager, Brunel Wholesale Department, said:
“In effect we act as the PII department for our 150 insurance broking partners. We offer access to PII markets they could not reach, handle questions and queries from brokers and their clients and provide our expert claims handling capabilities. We have a strong reputation for fighting for our clients and have an excellent record of getting claims paid by insurers.”
Stuart Love, Director , Archenfield Insurance Management, a Brunel wholesale client, said:
“We have worked closely with Brunel for the last 12 months and have placed a high percentage of our clients’ PII risks through their wholesale operation. They have consistently offered a wider choice of covers and far more competitive rates than we could access ourselves. They have also been able to place non-standard risks at highly competitive premiums. Throughout our relationship they have offered an excellent level of service – nothing seems too much trouble.”
