The value of an insurance broker in a toughening market

Consumers should take a lead from how insurers are dealing with toughening market conditions, says Gallagher’s Chris McKeown, as reported in Business Acumen Magazine. “Shopping around for a broker with experience in your industry and insight into your professional needs will pay off when you need to claim.”

McKeown, a respected corporate advisor with more than 20 years’ industry experience, warns that most kinds of insurance will be likely to be harder to place, involve less advantageous terms and cost more.

He ascribes this to the flow-on effect of international insurance markets’ reaction to global disaster insurance losses in 2017 which, after a year of catastrophic weather events, have been estimated as being US$306 billion by reinsurer Swiss Re. 

McKeown says the resultant reduced international market capacity is combined with current conditions in Australia including

• governmental crackdown on financial institutions
• increased demand for accountability in corporate governance
• rising incidence of insolvencies
• effect of the flammable cladding issue on the construction industry
• Australia’s record as one of the most litigious countries in the world in terms of liability.

“That’s without touching on the cyber crime wave of attacks on businesses that experts such as digital security specialists McAfee are predicting,” he adds.

Solutions

McKeown says that shopping around for an insurance broker who understands how a business operates and the conditions it operates under, and who takes the time to run analytics on its risk profile, is a key asset in these kinds of market conditions because they can provide more informed advice and sometimes achieve savings for comprehensive coverage.

A broker can also assist with achieving integrated cover in a single package, without the gaps or loopholes that can occur when shopping for insurance on a policy-by-policy basis.

“A tailored solution packaged into a single program ensures your business is comprehensively covered and offers its owner greater control with a preferred insurer,” he says.

Other factors that help with containing costs are a low claims record and having a risk mitigation plan in place.

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