Danish insurer slashes UK motor presence after losses

Danish insurer Qudos has “more or less exited UK motor”, according to new chief executive Robert Thornedahl.

Qudos has cut back its presence in UK motor to just one binding authority agreement after making losses in the competitive business line.

The company announced in its first half 2017 results that it had cut its binders to 15 from 21, and that “most” of the six cancelled binders were for UK motor.

Thornedahl, who has been at the helm since May 2017, confirmed to Insurance Times that all of the six cancelled binders were for UK motor.

Quodos retains a single UK motor arrangement with broking group Adrian Flux for specialist niche UK motor business, which Thornedahl said Qudos wants to keep and possibly grow.

Thornedahl said: “We have more or less exited UK motor.

“We have lost quite a bit of money so our strategy going forward will be different. I don’t think we will be entering UK motor again.”

Thornedahl explained that Qudos’s bad experience in UK motor was partly down to the insurer’s own underwriting performance and partly down to the nature of the market itself.

He said: “I don’t think we did our underwriting well enough.

“Also, there are typically quite a lot of brokers involved in the UK business, which is different to how it would be in the Nordic markets.

“When you have a lot of different people dipping into the value chain then you will increase the likelihood that the insurer ends up with too little to pay for the risks.”

Ogden effect

Thornedahl added that Ogden did not trigger the decision, but did reinforce it, as claims payments have grown and reinsurance has become more expensive.

He said: “We took the decision before the Ogden rate change but now we feel even more certain we did the right thing.”

Despite Qudos’s decision, Thornedahl said the insurer is keen to maintain, and possibly even grow, its binding authority arrangement with Adrian Flux.

He said: “Currently it is performing quite well. As long as it is doing that and meeting our return on deployed capital criteria we will stay with that programme.

“We might even expand it a little bit because they are in really good control and do a really good job.”