The insurer will withdraw Bonus underwriters from brokers who invite competitors in-house
Norwich Union (NU) has threatened to remove its onsite Bonus underwriters if brokers allow other insurers to write business directly from their offices.
NU director of specialist business Susan Adcock said if brokers accepted onsite underwriters for business that was in direct competition to NU, it would consider removing its underwriter.
"We will protect our position. If another insurer goes onsite with the aim of taking business that would be written by NU, we will review our position," she said.
"There would not be any point in having someone onsite if the business was going to move to another insurer. There would be no benefit to us or the broker."
But Adcock said that where there was no conflict of interest in the business that other insurers would be writing, she could see the potential for underwriters from more than one company being based onsite in brokers' offices.
The status of NU Bonus underwriters would be considered on a case-by-case basis, Adcock said. She said that the insurer was "in the process" of having conversations with brokers who had been approached by other insurers.
NU Bonus underwriters typically write commercial non-motor business, particularly small and medium enterprise business. The programme was recently expanded to smaller brokers.
In September NIG announced plans to increase the number of commercial lines underwriters onsite [NIG Plus]in brokers' offices. At the time, a source close to NU said NIG had made offers to a number of its Bonus underwriters.
