How can high net worth brokers and insurers add more value?

Ann Marie Camp, executive vice-president and high net worth leader, Chubb Personal Risk Services

“High net worth is such an interesting part of the market because it’s so dependent on having the broad services and coverage and seamless claims experience. But it’s as important that we work with brokers who really help us tailor to the specific needs of the individual or family we are serving. 

“We have an exceptional partnership with our brokers. They’re the ones who really know the clients and who are able to help them identify their risks and understand all they have to protect and service them in a very personalised way.

“Our expertise is in managing that risk and having the balance sheet to pay those claims, so I think of that as the perfect synergy between the personalised experience that brokers can provide and the breadth of experience that Chubb can provide. 

“A client may have multiple properties, or collected things as they’ve grown, or acquired through inheritance or different things. It can become unwieldy. Even people who are savvy in their business know they have a lot to protect in their personal life, but not much time to deal with it. That’s the key opportunity: when clients have worked very hard to achieve financial success they need someone to help them manage it. 

“It’s important to have the right experts focused on the needs of HNW individuals, both specialists internally as well as a network of restorers for classic cars, for example. You need a whole ecosystem of experts to properly service a client. 

“Claims can be big and we need to make the experience as pain-free as possible. Offering exceptional service helps demonstrate the value of what we’re selling. Not all clients want the same thing. Speed is important, but also what the client wants – and sometimes that might be a painstaking restoration that takes two years. 

“We’re not trying to serve the entire population, but a specific group of people who care about insuring their possessions and about having the confidence that they will have a good experience even at a terrible time.” 

Guy Baxter, private client account, executive, Lycetts

“With the disappearance of some mid-net worth insurers and others increasing minimum premiums, there could be tough competition with online markets, there’s no doubt about it. However, for any customers having building work or taking an income from their property, such as holiday letting, talking to a broker to get professional insurance advice has never been more important.

“If customers are arranging cover themselves with online markets it could potentially leave them without adequate cover. 

“John Lewis and other big brands are offering a perfectly good policy which is hard to knock; however there is still space for brokers to operate in the mid-net worth arena where clients want advice.

“We don’t often see total losses, thankfully, but water damage claims are now the biggest issue in modern homes. Direct insurers can fall down here over their limits for trace and access when there has been an escape of water.

“Brokers should ask clients if they have underfloor heating and find out what it may cost to take up flooring to find a leak. A £10,000 limit on the policy may not be enough and I would really start to worry if it was as low as £5,000 – we’ve seen some very expensive trace and access claims recently.

“We’re always seeing jewellery values fluctuating, with the price of metals and precious stones increasing. If there’s been a valuation within the last three years, some HNW insurers will cover the fluctuations. It’s giving HNW customers a bit of extra cover in this area.”

 

Sara Simmons, head of high net worth and operational governance, Covéa Insurance

“Brokers with HNW clients want to add value and they want to find another way to engage with customers.

“Generally, most of the contact we have with customers is either at inception or point of claim and we’re finding HNW customers want more touch points, to demonstrate they can add value, to make insurance more about risk management than claims. 

“So for example, we’ve been offering connected devices as part of the insurance product, which enables a really positive and regular engagement with customers. 

“One of the challenges for the sector is all the new technology coming in. Customers are all different and some will want to access our products through different methods. 

“For example, some will still want a traditional service, where it’s face to face with the broker. And then, particularly in the mid net worth sector, they want a 24/7 option and to be able to do things automatically online.

“We’ve done some research in the last six months and there’s a complete mix in terms of how customers would like their insurance policy serviced. 

“But what you can say is that all customers want increased personalisation. They want the products to be entirely relevant to them and they don’t want to be paying for things that they don’t feel add value.”