Insurance agents depend on creative and expert insurers to respond (with a quote, not a declination) when presented with their unusual, higher risk submissions. Practitioners know that the majority of insurance written is standard business, but that the specialty (or surplus lines) segment is a significant and important part of the market. A leading specialty insurer is Markel Corp., an extremely well run insurer and the owner of a series of specialty insurance companies.
A recent article in the New York Times describes Markel from the investor’s perspective (see here). Their approach has brought good returns to investors over a long period of time, and their strategy, while easy to understand, is difficult to execute well. Like some other insurers, Markel focuses on tougher, hard to place risks using a specialty or niche approach. Their difference is in the execution – they execute well. As a customer, we see this every day. Their underwriters know the business, and understand that our clients need solutions, not declinations. Our business is providing competitive solutions for our agents’ professional liability clients. Markel does a good job supporting us in this mission, and as a result produces excellent results for their shareholders.
eSpecialty Insurance is your specialty insurance expert. We have developed a streamlined marketplace to provide multiple proposals from a range of competitive insurers, along with expertise to help you evaluate your exposures and choose the best combination of comprehensive coverage and price. We look forward to working with you.
Good post. When I work with vendors who promote insurance-industry products, often they don't understand this market. It's lucrative, it's organized(see www.aamga.org) and it moves fast. They make quick decisions to thrive, so if you're pitching a product or service,your marketing time is reduced and it's a much more pentrable potential client than say, Hartford or CNA.
The most interesting and enjoyable years I've spent in the insurance industry was working with this market.
Posted by: Nancy Germond | May 27, 2007 at 10:06 AM