Aviva’s Phil Bayles is the latest insurer name to join the broking world - what can we make of this move?
Aviva’s Phil Bayles is the latest insurer face to join the broking world.
Mark Cliff, Brendan McManus, Janice Deakin and Adrian Brown are other memorable names to leave insurers to work for brokers.
Last month, former ex-RSA and Travelers operations chief Aaron Devitt teamed up with Phil Barton and Stuart Reid at Partners&, for example.
It’s a well-trodden path, but what attracts insurer leaders to brokers?
Bayles’s ex-Aviva colleague Janice Deakin also joined Ardonagh
One of the big reasons is that having spent their whole lives in corporates, with the pace slowed down by committees and meetings, they want to relish the entrepreneurial challenge of brokers.
Brokers are fast and furious, making decisions quickly.
By comparison, at insurers, decisions move like crippled insects crawling down a motorway.
There is also the small matter of better pay.
Brokers are cash rich and make much higher profit margins than insurers (see below).
The escalation of private equity investment has poured millions into the coffers of insurance brokers to spend on acquisitions and staff.
It’s not easy money though; insurer-turned-broker chiefs will have to work hard and serve out a reasonable time to get the rewards.
Invaluable experience
Looking from the other side, why are brokers keen to recruit senior insurer names?
Brokers are willing to pay for insurer chiefs because they have relationships and knowledge.
In the case of Bayles, he will bring a big black book of contacts to Ardonagh Advisory.
He knows all the brokers, the good and bad, which is useful for acquisitions and relationships.
Furthermore, he knows how insurers think. His knowledge will be useful in negotiations with insurers.
Lastly, he gets to team up with Ardonagh leaders he likes - such as Ardonagh broking chief Rob Worrell and personal lines boss Ian Donaldson.
Some have said they find it ironic that Bayles, who did not have an easy relationship with the old Towergate and GRP over commissions, is now working for a consolidator.
Bayles, for his part, would likely argue he was never anti-consolidator since he has good relationships with PIB, Aston Lark and Ardonagh.
He was part of an Aviva organisation unprepared to pay what they felt were over the top commissions.
Ultimately, Bayles is the latest in a long line to make the leap. He certainly won’t be the last.
No comments yet