UK General signs QBE capacity deal

UK General Insurance is looking to double its commercial book over the next three to five years after signing a deal with QBE to become its sole commercial carrier.

QBE will also be the provider for the major part of the specialist agricultural insurer Rural Insurance, under the terms of the agreement.

The new deal comes into force on 1 January 2013 and will run until at least January 2016.

But UK General will keep on Ageas as capacity provider for its schemes book. The agreement with Ageas has been extended by two years to January 2018.

UK General group chief executive Peter Hubbard said the reason behind the move was the need to grow the commercial book.

“One of our objectives was to move the business on,” he said.

“Currently, we have a fantastic relationship with Ageas - it represents by far and away the biggest bit of our business.

“But the commercial business has shrunk quite substantially over the past three to four years, and we were really looking to see if we could regrow it, so we decided to have a look and see if there was someone else out there who could help provide us with that growth momentum and QBE came into the frame.”

Hubbard said UK General was focused on growing its transactional business through improving existing broker relationships, utilising its skills in commercial schemes to expand its book, and leveraging its Acturis platform to do more business online.

Currently, UK General’s commercial book accounts for about £30m in gross written premium (GWP), Rural Insurance is £27m in GWP and schemes are just under £300m in GWP.

Hubbard said: “We would look to double that figure for commercial over the next three to five years.”

Hubbard is also keen to continue growing UK General’s schemes business after partnering with MMA and Catlin.

“Ultimately, where our strengths have laid has been in being a specialist,” he said.

“We are always looking for other capacity providers that enable us to extend our specialisation.”

UK General strengthened its schemes business with the appointment of Martin Kennedy in a new role to develop niche motor products, and Hubbard said the firm was on the lookout for new opportunities in that space.

Hubbard added: “The agreement with QBE will enable us to significantly broaden and deepen our general SME commercial appetite, in order to grow the commercial book.”

QBE’s chief underwriting officer for property, casualty and motor Ash Bathia said: “This partnership underlines QBE’s appetite and ambition to work with MGAs on deals of this nature. This agreement, which through UK General provides UK-wide access for our commercial and agricultural business lines, will be one of the catalysts for the transformation and growth of our ‘Fast Flow’ business, which offers a broad range of products for small to medium-sized businesses.”