Q&A: Camberford’s broker partners should expect ‘exciting developments’ in 2024

In the Five Star Rating Report – MGA Market 2023/24, which was officially launched on 10 January 2024, Brown and Brown-owned MGA Camberford Underwriting was awarded a four star rating.

This was an improvment on 2022/23’s result, when the firm achieved a three star rating, and represents a continued positive trajectory.

Brokers also improved their broker service ratings for Camberford Underwriting year-on-year, with the MGA’s rating rising 0.41 from the last report to reach a total of 4.53 in this year’s report. 

Barry Driscoll, chief trading officer at Brown and Brown Europe, spoke to Insurance Times about its results.

1. What is your reaction to the star rating awarded by brokers and the positive journey Camberford has been on over the last three years in the survey?

Firstly, the Camberford team would like to thank all the brokers who have participated in the survey and provided their feedback. We are, of course, delighted to have been awarded four stars this year, with the expectation that we will continue to improve our service in the future.

In 2023, global leader Brown and Brown rebranded our UK business from GRP to Brown and Brown Europe. We have some exciting developments in store for the coming year and we are looking forward to sharing these with our broking partners in the coming weeks and months.

2. How would you respond to broker concerns about the threat of arrangements at MGAs being withdrawn or altered in a precarious market?

Our expertise and commitment to underwriting excellence have delivered long-term positive results for our business and insurer partners, underpinned by strategic, long-term, stable A-rated capacity arrangements.

We will continue to grow our proposition sustainably and delivering for our customers remains fundamental to our strategy. Book profitability remains the single most important criteria to attract ongoing support from insurers.

3. What key developments took place at Camberford over the last 12 months and what are you working on for the next year?

Brokers will have seen engagement, including market activity, improve significantly in 2023, supported by a distribution strategy designed to meet the needs of our broker partners. We have also invested in people with great new hires across our technical underwriting, trading and claims teams.

In 2024, brokers can expect to see further improvements from data enrichment and investment in technology, as well as exciting product developments.

4. What trading support does Camberford provide to brokers in the UK?

At Camberford Underwriting, we are proud of the service we provide to our brokers. All of our experts provide unlimited support and are available to help via phone, email and/ or a relevant portal.

We have also created a brand new sales team in January 2023 who are dedicated to supporting our broker partners across the UK and Northern Ireland. The team are on hand to discuss broker needs and queries and also help to connect with relevant people within the business as required.

5. What do you think will be Camberford’s biggest challenge and how are you preparing to meet it? 

Moving away from the generic challenges that all MGAs face, the biggest challenge, but also the biggest opportunity, is scalability. As the market contracts, and in particular the composite market appetite continues to narrow, MGAs are perfectly positioned to grow to meet the evolving needs of its customers looking for niche, specialist and non-standard insurance.

We are already preparing for this by investing in systems, data enrichment and resources to ensure we meet this challenge.

6. How are you aiming to achieve a five star rating next year?

We are always working on ways to improve our service, offering and developing new products that work best for our brokers. We will continue to work hard in 2024 to bring our brokers the very best in the specialist commercial insurance market.

7. What is the importance of specialism to Camberford and the brokers you serve?

Camberford Underwriting is a specialist, not a generalist. So, it is fantastic that our brokers choose us for what we know and do best.

This is exactly why we are a specialist commercial MGA. We pride ourselves on being one of the leading MGAs in our chosen sectors and will continue to strengthen this position in the future.