Gareth Hemming: Hiscox carrying ‘positive momentum’ on broker sentiment into 2025

Hiscox UK is an insurer that “can boast some real affection from brokers” – it therefore plans to build on and further develop this through a programme of trading simplification, clear communication and increasing its capabilities.

That is according to Gareth Hemming, the insurer’s chief distribution officer, who spoke exclusively to Insurance Times recently about his time in the role so far and the insurer’s plans for 2025.

Hemming joined the specialist insurer in August 2023 from his role as chief distribution officer at Aviva and took on responsibility for Hiscox UK’s trading strategy, which includes schemes, art and private clients and its regional operations.

And, after 15 months in the role, Hemming says that the insurer “has definitely got some positive momentum across different areas of the business” to take into this year and beyond.

This momentum has manifested in tangible results for Hiscox, with Hemming explaining that the insurer wrote 40% more business in 2024 than it did the previous year and doubled the amount of high net worth quotes from January last year to November.

Results like this help to support Hiscox UK’s profit and loss (P&L) figures and, while Hemming admits that this is vital in terms of business performance, he emphasises that these results are the product of a considered input and focus.

He explains: “We believe that if we do the right thing by the customer, the right thing by the broker, show up well in our markets and have the necessary expertise, then those are the inputs that create a good P&L outcome.

“We’re really focused on those inputs because that is fundamentally how Hiscox believes it makes money – and it does.”

Broker feedback

The task of deciding where and what to focus on within the business has been simple but effective, says Hemming.

He explains: “At the heart of our plan is to listen to brokers, get them to tell us what they need and then deliver on some of those things.

“We’re clear on where we want to go in terms of strategy and growth, but we’re going to do it in a way that’s informed by broker feedback and input.”

By way of example, Hemming says that Hiscox has put significant investment into “less sexy” elements of the business, such as new business automation.

Since May 2024, the insurer has operated an artificial intelligence assisted triage system for new business enquiries that can ingest information and reject unsuitable quotes quickly.

Hemming says: “The tool reads enquiries, works out what they are, whether they’re on the yes or the no list and gets responses out quickly. This also means that the yeses get to our underwriters, meaning they don’t have to look through everything.

“It’s not the world’s most exciting tool, but it means the team can get to stuff quicker and actually ring the broker.”

Hiscox UK also collects information and data from brokers on how they view the company and its performance, collating this into a broker sentiment score that is used to measure the insurer’s performance.

Hemming adds: “What we have definitely seen is quite a big shift in terms of sentiment towards us, of which service and responsiveness drives a large part of.

“We still have a lot to do – but I think we’re moving much faster than most on that stuff.”

Clarity on specialisms

One of the more significant changes Hemming has overseen during his tenure is a refinement and clarification of Hiscox UK’s specialisms.

As a specialist insurer, Hiscox lives and breathes by its brand reputation in the sectors it serves.

But, as Hemming explains, its work consulting with brokers over the last year or so threw up the finding that many brokers knew Hiscox was a specialist, but did not necessarily know what it was a specialist in.

He notes: “One of the things that we spent most of 2024 on was what we call our sector strategy, which we’re ready to go to market with now.

“What that basically is [is] us explaining that Hiscox has 12 sectors in which it is a specialist, which trades sit within those sectors, what covers we’re prepared to write in those sectors and what our unique selling points in them are.”

’Our staff engagement, particularly in the broker business, has jumped significantly and that has given us a real shift in momentum in terms of confidence and positivity that we’re taking into our plans for 2025’

Beyond a clarification of these sectors to broker markets, Hiscox UK has amended its internal structure so that both management and the reporting of performance is focused on these sectors.

As well as “shifting how Hiscox thinks about the business”, this “fundamental shift” has helped to emphasise the insurer’s specialist chops to brokers and promoted awareness of specific lines that it would like to grow in.

Hemming explains that while the strategy is to grow in each of its 12 specialisms, the focus for Hiscox’s more developed markets where it boasts a strong reputation – such as high net worth – will look different to the sectors where its brand reputation is not as strong, such as in health and wellbeing or sports and leisure.

He says: “There are four or five sectors where brokers know us as a specialist straight away, but there are others where we’re probably less well known, so they’re the areas that we will be putting some focus in to in terms of reputation building.

“What that will look like is talking to brokers to ask what they would like to see from Hiscox in these sectors and then we will try and develop that proposition around feedback.

“There will be some that are prioritised where we already have a strong proposition and others where we want to really lift our reputation to keep them growing well.”

Confident teams

It is hoped that the inputs of increased clarity and continuing to listen to brokers will not just improve broker sentiment and business P&L, but also create a virtuous circle that increases the confidence of Hiscox UK’s teams. 

One of Hemming’s key success metrics for his part of the business is the level of engagement that Hiscox staff have with their roles – and he says this has also increased recently, to the benefit of both Hiscox UK and its broker partners.

He says: ”Our staff engagement, particularly in the broker business, has jumped significantly and that has given us a real shift in momentum in terms of confidence and positivity that we’re taking into our plans for 2025. 

“What that’s going to look like going forward is that brokers will see our people as hungry, confident and in trading mode. That’s slowly been building, but now is the time to really say ‘ok, here we go’.” 

As for the work that Hiscox UK has already completed in “less sexy” areas, such as quote support, Hemming hopes this implementation will show up for brokers in 2025 as “quicker responses and quicker decisions”. 

He adds: ”This isn’t particularly hard, it’s just about doubling down.

”We’ve described our progress so far as a good start, but the focus now is on continuing to simplify our processes, continuing to give teams tools so they can spend more time on difficult cases and continue trying to find ways to do things at the customer level. 

“It’s like a snowball effect – the more we do that, the more people will see the benefit of it.”