Insurer creates sales director role.
Ecclesiastical has promoted Ian Wainwright to the new position of broker sales director in order to drive growth in its niche business.
Wainwright, who has spent 25 years at Ecclesiastical, is currently group chief surveyor and will take up the post in October.
He will target growth in the insurer’s niche markets, including the care, charity, education and heritage sectors.
Wainwright admitted that Ecclesiastical had not had a strong sales culture in the past. “This is changing, though,” he said. “My appointment is another sign that we are serious about selling what Ecclesiastical can offer.
“We’ve already established ourselves as a leading specialist insurer and an increasing number of brokers have recognised this, but we want more brokers to sit up and notice us and rely on us for cases of every size and shape.”
He added: “We need to work hard to maintain our position as a specialist insurer. At the same time, we’re not trying to compete directly with the big players. The package of product, service and added value we offer is really quite different.”
A spokesman for Ecclesiastical said the insurer was looking to expand into new areas. “We’re continuing to widen our risk appetite, meaning there is more room for expansion. We’re looking to make sure we compete for more business. We will be increasing the overall proportion of our UK business which is in these niches.
“This is something we have been doing over the past few years, but we will be very focused on with Ian’s appointment.”
Ecclesiastical posted a pre-tax loss of £21.5m for the first six months of 2008, down from a £28.7m profit in the same period last year. Its investment portfolio reported a pre-tax loss of £35.3m, compared to a profit of £48.1m in the first half of 2007.
The group’s overall combined ratio dipped slightly to 104.5% from 101.2% in 2007.
