Stewart Croker, managing director of newly launched construction specialist MGA Casus Underwriting, talks to Insurance Times about the rationale for founding the firm
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1. What is your experience and why have you launched a ‘construction only’ MGA?
Throughout my 22 years in insurance, I’ve worked in various roles – from underwriting assistant to, more recently, chief operating officer at a Lloyd’s broker.
This experience has given me a deep understanding of brokers’ need for specialised markets that offer exceptional service and products – a vital role that I advocate for MGAs to fulfil.
Seeing a gap in the market for MGAs dedicated to single fields, I decided to found Casus Underwriting, focusing exclusively on construction.
Inspired by the saying “a jack of all trades is a master of none,” our mission is clear – to master construction insurance.
Our aim is to empower brokers with our expertise and provide innovative, tailored solutions, starting with liability and contractors’ all risks, with plans to expand our offerings in the future.
2. What expertise do you have in your team and why is this important for your broker customers?
At Casus, we’re dedicated to delivering exceptional service to our broker partners. With over 85 years of combined experience in the specific field, our team excels in all aspects of construction.
This expertise not only allows us to provide tailored solutions and innovative products, but to provide our brokers direct access to specialised knowledge and insights. This empowers them to navigate complex risks and achieve the best outcomes for their clients.
3. What challenges are there in the construction insurance market and how you hope to help these?
The construction insurance market faces many challenges, including regulatory complexities, project-specific risks and economic fluctuations.
Casus aims to tackle these issues with innovative, adaptable products and a flexible underwriting approach.
We can cover risk profiles often overlooked by traditional markets, such as high-risk trades, work in hazardous locations, timber framed construction projects, as well as moral or financial exposures, to name just a few.
Our contractors combined policy, exclusive to Casus and supported by A-rated UK insurers, offers comprehensive coverage for liability and contractors’ all risks, either standalone or combined.
It can include crucial extensions like financial loss, professional indemnity, pollution cleanup costs and defective workmanship and also includes complimentary legal expenses cover with contract debt recovery and tax disputes extensions as standard.
4. What are the advantages to brokers when building a relationship with an MGA?
Partnering with MGAs can offer brokers many significant benefits, including access to niche products and a willingness to accommodate risks outside conventional insurers’ scope. MGAs provide direct access to in-house underwriters, fostering better communication and quick decision making.
Many MGAs also operate without minimum commitments, ensuring brokers – regardless of size – receive the personalised support they need.
Casus exemplifies these benefits by providing tailored solutions to the construction industry, along with a dedicated underwriter assigned to each of our agents, ensuring a responsive and dedicated service.
5. How have you deployed technology to improve the underwriting experience for your staff and the brokers they serve?
In our endeavour to enhance the underwriting experience, we strategically invested in a modern underwriting and policy administration system.
Beyond efficient quoting and instant policy document delivery, our priority was automating administrative tasks and providing seamless access to underwriting tools.
This empowers our underwriters to focus on delivering exceptional service and support to our broker partners. Additionally, we are developing enhancements for quote and buy products, along with a unified journey to purchase multiple product lines seamlessly.
