Ecclesiastical restructures UK GI business

Specialist insurer Ecclesiastical has announced the restructure of its UK general insurance business with a distinct focus on the market and customer service delivery.

The reshaping of the business, which is aimed to make the company more responsive in its approach and development of business, includes the appointment of four new directors:

• Paul Glasper has been appointed bespoke and specialist director
• Mike Mintram as schemes, SME and personal lines director
• John Coates as corporate client director
• Tina O’Reilly as customer services director, effective from 1 March.

Among Ecclesiastical’s big clients are St Paul’s Cathedral and the Crown Estates.

Ecclesiastical’s UK managing director Steve Wood, said that the two main areas of focus required a different skill set and approach.

“This restructure is designed to sharpen our focus on key markets and to enhance the quality of service we deliver to brokers and end customers,” he said.

“We will continue to strengthen relationships with some of our biggest customers with whom we have direct relationships – the Anglican Church and Cornish Mutual for example – through our ‘corporate client’ channel. We will also continue to develop our specialist niche business – charity, property owners, heritage, care and faith.

“For these customers we plan to further develop tailored service and dedicated support. At the same time we will also improve the way we target, service and develop schemes, SME and personal lines business.”

Wood, who has been with the company for six and a half years, said that Eccelsiastical had already established a strong reputation in the market and was looking to build on it, particularly on the underwriting side.  

“Ecclesiastical is not a mass market insurer,” he said. “We will continue to focus on developing strong relationships with brokers, targeting specialist commercial business in our niches, whether they be larger, bespoke clients or more SME in nature.

“We will also be further investing in our online offerings and building our schemes business, where we have established capability and reputation.

“The new channel directors will be responsible for sales and marketing, relationship management, channel strategy and profitable growth.

As a result of these changes, Ian Wainwright, broker sales director, has decided to leave the business to develop his career in other areas.

The appointment of a dedicated customer service director will enable the insurer to maintain an oversight of its operations and customer service across its business.

Its claims and survey operations will continue to be managed by David Bonehill, claims and risk services director.

“Ecclesiastical has grown steadily over the past few years and we’re successfully building our reputation in the market,” said Wood.

“We’re well-known for protecting customers such as St Paul’s Cathedral and the Crown Estates for example.

“However, the bread and butter of our book of business is much smaller cases. Here, we’ve got to operate more efficiently if we want to step up our growth plans.

“This clearer focus within our new structure will start to help us to do that.

Wood said that the new team would look at the restructuring process as a whole and work out any necessary changes to improve the company’s efficiency and focus going forward.

“The new structure will take some months to bed in the business and we will communicate further with brokers as our plans develop,” he said.

“In the interim it’s ‘business as usual’ and brokers should continue to work with their normal contacts.”