Insurance Times’s Broker Service Survey 2012 for Commercial Lines showed a shake-up in the industry with Sterling clinching the top spot from Chubb
Editor’s picks: risers and fallers
Want more commercial lines insight?
This year’s Broker Service Survey 2012 for Commercial Lines produced some surprises as Sterling knocked Chubb off the top spot and Arista grabbed second place with a superb performance, shooting up 12 places from last year.
Sterling’s rise to the top in the past three years has been nothing short of meteoric.
The Surrey-headquartered insurer rose 12 places in 2011, landing at number three; this year it rose another two spots to clinch the gold medal in broker sentiment.
Sterling has achieved success by launching an executive suite of specially tailored products, promoting them through well-attended roadshows aligned to broker feedback, and then backing it all up with responsive service.
For sheer improvement though, Arista stands head and shoulders above the rest. The Canopious-backed managing general agency improved its scores in the following service areas: Ease of Access to Decision-Makers; Underwriting Expertise and Flexibility; Claims: Speed of Settlement; Policy Documentation: Clarity of Wording; Quality of Cover; and E-trading Options for Brokers.
Arista’s biggest boost came through Claims: Fairness of Settlement. Last year it was near the bottom of the table, but in 2012 it rose 18 places to fifth spot.
Sterling’s rise to the top in the past three years has been nothing short of meteoric”
Coming in third place overall was Hiscox, which slipped one place from its 2011 position. The Lloyd’s insurer had another good year, improving its Total Score, but it couldn’t keep up with the blistering pace of Arista.
Other notable improvements were MMA, which rose six spots to ninth place, and NIG.
NIG’s commitment to brokers has been under scrutiny over the past month after Insurance Times revealed it had restructured its broker-facing staff as part of parent Direct Line Group’s ambition to save £100m by 2014.
So NIG will welcome news that it rose four places off the bottom of the list to number 22, having worked hard to improve e-trading and launch new products.
Those who fell down the rankings were Ageas, slipping seven places to 13th; mid-market and corporate specialist ACE, which fell seven places to joint 11th; and Lloyd’s insurer Catlin, which has big ambitions to establish a UK regional footprint, declining six places to 14th.
From the top-five UK insurers, the only notable news was that RSA ended up 21st, overtaking Aviva at 23rd.
Editor’s pick: risers and fallers
8th: QBE
QBE broke into the top 10 this year, rising three places to eighth position on overall score. QBE achieved this by improving eight points from last year, with its score rising to 3.70.
QBE’s most notable improvement area was claims speed. This year, with a score of 3.5, QBE was 0.03 ahead of the market average.
SCORE: 3.70
9th: MMA
MMA, which last month combined with sister company Provident Insurance to become Covéa Insurance, had a good year, rising six places to rank in ninth position.
Staff at MMA have clearly been working hard to improve policy clarity for brokers. MMA rose 10 places to number nine in this area, scoring 3.69 out of five, which was 0.06 above the market average.
SCORE: 3.64
26th: Equity Red Star
Equity Red Star was bottom of this year’s Broker Service Survey commercial lines table for overall performance in 26th place. The motor insurer dropped two places, with its overall Total Score declining to 3.30 from 3.35.
The Australian-owned insurer has suffered in the past three years as it has struggled to cope with bodily injury claims inflation. Equity dropped three places on both claims fairness and underwriting ability.
Since 2010, Equity has hiked up prices and withdrawn from a number of unprofitable broker relationships as it has made efforts to repair its damaged book.
Brokers will also be aware that Equity could be in fresh hands by this time next year, and must be wondering what the implications will
be for their customers.
Parent company Insurance Australia Group is deciding whether to sell the business. It is currently undergoing a strategic review before a potential sale process.
SCORE: 3.30
2012 Results
Methodology
The Broker Service Survey 2012 for Commercial Lines gathered responses from 391 commercial lines brokers during the period from August to October. Brokers rated insurers with which they had placed business during the previous 12 months.
On a scale of one to five, where one is very poor and five is excellent, insurers were rated for seven different areas of service: Ease of Access to Decision-Makers, Underwriting Expertise and Flexibility, Claims: Fairness of Settlement, Claims: Speed of Settlement, Policy Documentation: Clarity of Wording, Policy Documentation: Speed of Delivery, and Quality of Cover.
The average of these scores was taken as the Total Score. Additionally, insurers were rated on E-trading Options for Brokers. Insurers receiving more than 50 responses were included in the ranking, and compared with scores for the same insurers in 2011.
Want more commercial lines insight?
- Our in-depth reports provide greater insight into how insurer service levels are perceived by different market segments. There are a number of reports available, depending on the level of granularity your business requires.
- For every aspect of service, we can offer competitor comparisons and in-depth analysis of performance by region, size of brokerage, and broker job function. We can also provide verbatim feedback from brokers - a unique opportunity to understand what’s driving the rankings.
For more information contact Daniel Tena-Mullor on 020 7618 3406 or daniel.tena-mullor@insurancetimes.co.uk.
No comments yet