Rob Munden: Euna’s Five Star service hinges on ‘not becoming complacent’

Euna Underwriting is an MGA on the up.

In Insurance Times’ Five Star Rating Report: MGA Market 2023/24, the managing general agent (MGA) took the top spot among the rankings with an overall five star score of 4.97 out of 5. 

However, in the previous year – the first time that Euna was listed in the annual report – Euna achieved a score of 3.90 and was rated just two stars. 

So, how has the MGA shot to the top of the rankings after only one year? Rob Munden, chief executive at Euna, tells Insurance Times that it has to do with “getting the mindset of everybody into that place that service is a key part of our proposition”. 

Munden joined Euna in March 2022 just after the release of the release of the MGA report that the MGA achieved two stars in. He says that this galvanised him to get the team together and explain “we need to be seen as a business that people wan to trade with and recognise as best in breed”. 

At that point, the team at Euna “really set out to re-evaluate who we were and what we were about”, he explains. 

“It’s very easy to say that we answer phones or reply to emails quicker and of course there is an element of that but, for me, service is really about engaging with out brokers – finding out what they really want and what they’re not getting elsewhere.” 

Munden says that it was also vital to show brokers that the underwriting team provided both “deep expertise” and accessibility. 

”I made myself very visible and made sure that brokers knew that, if they needed something, could pick up the phone and come to me or any of the senior guys straight away,” he says. 

“We’ve found that a lot of brokers really responded to that.” 

Staying the course

In the Five Star Rating Report, surveyed brokers’ comments noted that Euna provided “very quick responses” and “faster turnaround than all of their competitors”, as well as “flexibility in underwriting”. 

However, as the business grows in size and into news areas, the challenge is staying the course. 

Munden explains: ”It could be easy to become complacent, but we absolutely don’t take our brokers or anything else for granted.

“We had 40% topline growth across the business in 2023, but that could easily have been 60 or 70% if we really wanted it – but it’s got to be long-term, sustainable and profitable.” 

Euna works across a number of specialist lines, including medical malpractice, professional indemnity for architects and engineers, regulated business recruitment and healthcare and carehomes. 

Two of its newer specialisms include contingency and surety. 

Munden says: “The reason we entered those areas was because there was room in the market to be able to go in and get a meaningful share of wallet. With surety, we entered the market at a time when various other people were pulling out.

“We’re not some maverick company that sees a hole in the market and thinks ’let’s fly in and fill that gap’, but we think that if you have quality underwriters and you’re providing that service in the right way while being picky about the way you write that business, you can fill a hole and build quickly.” 

Capacity concerns? 

One of the most enduring concerns that brokers voiced in the MGA report was capacity – and fears that their MGA partners could have it pulled.

However, Euna is 100% owned by insurance platform Accelerant, which provides the majority of the MGA’s capacity.

Munden explains: “We’re in the best position that we could be from a capacity point of view and that gives our brokers a lot of confidence when we start to build a product or build in an area.”

This “long-term stability” could lead to more complacency, but Munden emphasises that, just because Euna are in a strong, this does not mean it is resting on its laurels. 

”We have review meetings every month with Accelerant and have to submit our results regularly to them – from a profit and loss perspective, we have to perform the same as everyone else.” 

Commenting on what the MGA is doing to defend its top-placed finish in the report for next year, he adds: “You’ve always got to be on your game and doing the right thing by your capacity provider, your customers and by your brokers.

”That’s not going above and beyond, I just see that as doing our job.”