MGA Q&A: MGAs ‘react to uncertainty better than other businesses in the market’ - FloodFlash

The Five Star Rating Report: MGA 2021/22 - compiled by Insurance Times - is out now. What is your reaction to the five star rating awarded to FloodFlash by brokers?

We are over the moon. To receive five stars in our first appearance in the survey is a massive endorsement of our approach to parametric flood cover.

There are some incredible MGAs out there right now, so achieving the second highest score in the survey is testament to all the hard work we’ve been putting in to make sure brokers have access to an affordable, effective flood solution.

What made me proudest was to see every area of the business recognised. The survey comments covered everything we do from the product design and flexible underwriting, to our easy to use quote portal and our market-leading claims service.

Whilst we’ve been aiming for excellence across the board, it’s not until brokers actually use the product that you know whether you’ve hit that standard. To have such a resounding ‘yes’ from our closest partners is a huge boost.

Our only concern now is how to exceed our score next time around – it’s a challenge we gladly accept.

In this year’s survey, which polled more than 1,000 brokers, we found that 7% of respondents were extremely concerned about the prospect of capacity being removed from an MGA, while 69% were moderately or very concerned about this. How do you reassure broker partners about this?

It’s an understandable concern, particularly during the market conditions we’re in, with the Covid-19 pandemic adding pressure to the hardened market.

At FloodFlash, we’re very fortunate. In changing the way we underwrite flood risk and applying the principles of parametric insurance, we are in a very strong position. Parametric insurance removes uncertainty from the underwriting equation because we know the value of every claim before it happens. Our smart sensor reduces the cost of administering those claims significantly too. The upshot is that insurers can be much more confident writing flood risk via FloodFlash than almost any traditional insurer.

In practical terms, we remain a coverholder at Lloyd’s, having switched our capacity to one of the world’s biggest reinsurers earlier in the year. With insurance partners that are as focused as we are on providing sustainable, affordable solutions to plug the flood protection gap - worth $58bn (£44bn) per year - we’re confident that brokers will have access to FloodFlash for many years to come.

There will inevitably be a series of challenges for the MGA market over the next 12 months - what do you think will be your MGA’s biggest challenge and how do you aim to tackle this?

If you had asked this question at the beginning of 2020, very few people would have answered a pandemic that turned the world upside down. The biggest challenge is likely to be something that we don’t anticipate. One of the key benefits of being an MGA is that you are agile enough to react to uncertainty better than many other businesses in the market.

In terms of foreseeable challenges, we’ve made it no secret that the ambition for FloodFlash lies beyond UK flood insurance. As we look to apply our unique brand of parametric insurance outside the UK and address other perils, we will face many challenges. Perhaps the biggest will be finding a way to grow effectively whilst maintaining our strong culture of customer first innovation. Surveys like the Insurance Times MGA Survey will no doubt keep us honest in the face of that challenge as we make the transition from successful insurtech to parametric market leader.

What new products or service developments do you have in store for the broker community across the next 12 months?

We’ve got loads of exciting stuff in the pipeline that we can’t wait to reveal. Sadly you’ll have to wait.