A talk with Underwriter John Josiah at the long-lived Equity Red Star
little opportunity to make an underwriting profit. And that leads one to wonder whether that opportunity might ever reappear in the aggregator world.
“But in specialist business and fleets we have the opportunity to get to know the risks in depth, and sort the wheat from the chaff. Above all, it gives our staff a better chance to influence our ability to get the right rate, for the right risk.” But Mr Josiah admits it would be foolish to ignore the possibilities for electronic underwriting. “One
day it might arrive for the specialist risk. We are currently experimenting with PowerPlace which allows us to both write and create products electronically, but still be in control and to bring our underwriting skills to bear. PowerPlace is a two-way conversation, exchanging data and ideas, so underwriting is not prejudiced.”
Equity Red Star has always welcomed new agencies, but having been around as long as they have, the chances of finding any new personal lines sources is
remote. But they do want to appoint more commercial brokers to expand the commercial accounts. The latter does of course run into the 15% rule at Lloyd’s, which would place higher solvency responsibilities onto the motor account. “We will be looking at that,” says John. “Lloyd’s now has a much better understanding of the motor market.”
Five satellite underwriting offices have been opened in the regions. Mr Josiah is anxious to make it clear that these pose no threat to
the relationship with wholesale brokers based in London. “We certainly do not want to harm that relationship as we like consider ourselves as ‘nice guys to deal with’.
“The satellite offices are there mainly to spread our recruitment, and provide more local coverage for fleets and specialist risks, and to service the national brokers’ regional operations. They help us widen our talent footprint and open up a whole new option for recruiting the best people.”
Renewal retained for 65 years
arping back to the Equity Red Star longevity, in a similar chat last year Underwriter John Josiah told the Editor about a risk originally written at Red Star that had been retained for an incredible 64 years. This year, the tentative question was posed. Is that client still on board?
H
“Yes, and they recently renewed,” was the proud boast. Dodd’s Transport is the fleet in question.
Since then another high profile haulage fleet has also been written - Eddie Stobart no less. The following details come from Spotlight, the Equity in-house magazine:-
A wheely-good deal
I
n June 2009 Equity Red Star won the underwriting account for the total Eddie Stobart haulage fleet - 1,850 trucks and 3,000 trailers following a competitive tender process. Over the past few years, Eddie Stobart has evolved from a predominantly road transport business to a multimodal operation. Today, it provides services for a wide variety of manufacturing, retail and public- sector customers across the consumer, food and defence sectors.
The story began in the 1950s when Eddie Stobart established
an agricultural contracting business in the Cumberland village of Hesket Newmarket. The business relocated to Carlisle in 1980, having moved into general haulage, and opened a second depot in Burton on Trent in 1988. By 1995, the company had a fleet of 500 vehicles, a turnover of £52m and 1,600 staff; three years later it opened its first international depot in Belgium. In 2004, Stobart was acquired by WA Developments International and a major rebranding exercise took place which included changes to the distinctive truck livery, new
John Josiah
uniforms and upgraded premises. The firm won its first Tesco Distribution Centre contract in 2005. A year later, Stobart’s parent company acquired Carlisle Airport and Stobart Air was formed. Stobart Rail was
launched shortly afterwards, offering a rail freight service. The firm made a number of acquisitions in 2008 and also set up a base in the Irish Republic for the first time. In 2009, Stobart Group announced it would buy Southend Airport in a £21m deal.
APRIL 2010 insurancepeople 17
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