Australian insurance company Ensurance Ltd (ASX: ENA) has signed a series of agreements for its wholly owned subsidiary Ensurance UK Ltd, which it believes could be a ‘game changer’ for the company and its global growth ambitions.
Ensurance UK Ltd, which has been formed as a Managing General Agency (MGA – an Underwriting Agency) initially specialising in construction and engineering insurance, has executed partnership agreements with global heavyweights Swiss Re Corporate Solutions and XL Catlin and received confirmation of Lloyds Coverholder Status for its UK operations.
Swiss Re Corporate Solutions partnership
Swiss Re Corporate Solutions is the commercial insurance arm of the Swiss Re Group, the world’s second-largest reinsurer. It offers innovative, high-quality insurance capacity to mid-sized and large multinational corporations across the globe.
The exclusive partnership agreement with Swiss Re Corporate Solutions allows Ensurance UK Ltd to offer a range of construction and engineering insurance products across the UK and parts of the EU, targeting to insure construction and engineering contracts up to £100m.
It also provides the security backing Ensurance UK needs to provide the insurance broker market with bespoke Ensurance UK general insurance products. according to Ensurance the partnership also allows Ensurance UK to write insurance business up to triple the sum insured amount that most insurance companies can accept.
Commenting on the agreement with Swiss Re Corporate Solutions Ensurance MD, Stefan Hicks, said, “‘Not only has the company successfully expanded from the Australian market into the UK market in a short period, but by partnering with Swiss Re Corporate Solutions we will now receive significant exposure globally.”
“Swiss Re Corporate Solutions have very few partnerships of this nature globally, and this exclusive agreement has been achieved due to the experienced Ensurance UK team, headed by CEO Tim James, a former director at one of the world’s largest insurers specialising in construction and engineering.”
Lloyds Coverholder Status
Lloyds of London is the world’s specialist insurance and reinsurance market. It has an unrivalled concentration of specialist underwriting expertise and every day, more than 50 leading insurance companies, over 200 registered Lloyd’s brokers and a global network of over 4,000 local Coverholders operate in and bring business to the Lloyd’s market.
Ensurance now has two Lloyds Coverholder companies, one in the UK and one in Australia, meaning it has the authority to issue insurance documents on behalf of Lloyd’s syndicates.
“This allows the company flexibility to use different Ensurance centres to expand our footprint wider, using our Lloyds bespoke products, into global regions,” Mr Hicks stated.
“Pleasingly we achieved the Coverholder status for Ensurance UK after only nine months, which again speaks volumes for the calibre of the team driving the Ensurance UK business,” he added.
XL Catlin Partnership
XL Catlin is one of Lloyds largest and most prestigious syndicates. The partnership with XL Catlin will initially provide an exclusive bespoke construction insurance product to high net worth UK domestic clients.
Australian Ensurance Underwriting Pty Ltd already partners with XL Catlin for the provision of an innovative range of domestic home insurance products, including landlord insurance products, in Australia.
Mr Hicks said, “for a domestic dwelling to undertake large construction renovations, it requires alternative insurance, often to cover the dwelling itself in addition to the renovation.”
“The Ensurance UK product caters for this niche segment.”
In addition of selling this product through the brokering market, Ensurance UK has the opportunity of embedding it through insurers that only offer the standard House and Contents insurance, meaning Ensurance UK can sell this product directly through insurers to their clients.
“This product, whilst niche, provides Ensurance UK with the ability to expand its clientele from the broker market to the insurer market, essentially attracting insurers as clients”, says Mr Hicks.
“It’s a significant opportunity to sell Ensurance products through existing and established large books of business operated by some of the largest insurers in the UK,” he concluded.
Ensurance is a successful, group of insurance industry companies that have developed real-time, online digital distribution channels for general insurance with multiple insurers. Ensurance and its wholly owned subsidiaries provide complimentary services allowing them to leverage its capabilities and increase market share within the insurance industry.
It has developed innovative solutions to provide general insurance products through digital media channels. Following national success, Ensurance is positioned to expand its significant IT capabilities by offering additional products to both local and international markets.
