Getting into the 80/20 Club Take the network route!


Nick Houghton Managing Director - Broker Network


Managing Director - Countrywide Insurance Management Partner - Towergate Partnership


Nick Houghton left school with A-levels in 1989. Like most of us, insurance did not initially figure on his radar - landscape


gardening was his original target vocation! However, he joined Eagle Star in Leeds with a leaning towards becoming a surveyor, but it soon became apparent that his skills lay more in the direction of sales and development - on the road!


“ Nick Houghton


Eagle Star sent him up to Newcastle upon Tyne in 1999 where after a year he went broking for Alfred Blackmore Group.


After 5 years and starting a family in Newcastle, there was a yearning to get back to West Yorkshire. Following a brief spell at Marsh, he joined Towergate in 2005 as Regional Sales Director.


In 2006 Nick was promoted to Managing Director of Towergate Professional Risks - a specialist retail broker selling Professional Indemnity to Psychologists. In 2008 the call came from Grant Ellis to join the Network Division as Sales and Marketing Director where he was promoted to Managing Director in January 2010.


Out of work Nick’s time is spent with his wife and 2 children (ages 6 & 4 years), on the golf course and in the garden.


from competing networks, a trend which I believe will continue as the ‘me too’ networks struggle to retain mutually beneficial relationships with the insurers.” When asked if he is enjoying the challenge he replies, “I still


sometimes find myself looking at the fantastic opportunity I have been given and I have to pinch myself! To be at the helm of a business that is a leader in its market, innovative and influential - what more could I ask for?”


The network future rests on adding something to the process, rather than depleting it. For any network to work effectively it has to be giving something back to both brokers and insurers. The traditional demands for higher commission, schemes, etc sometimes tends to favour brokers, but insurers must also obtain benefit if the network concept is to prosper.


During the period we are talking about many new networks have appeared, and for some it remains to be seen whether they will all achieve the level of longevity so necessary to acquire the track record that both brokers and insurers depend on.


And how does Broker Network itself fit into that situation?


Broker Network has been up and running since 1994. I believe it’s that kind of longevity that is the key because that is what builds up the trust. It’s the old equation of weighing up a proven track record against promises of results yet to be achieved.


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So far as adapting to the times, and seeking out opportunities to open up broker access to underwriters the NTR - our trading room - is a big success.


risks are all the same... right?


Professional Wrong!


MUM is dedicated to making your business grow through helping you to make intelligent choices for your clients. We’ll give you expertise and service with integrity and we promise you’ll enjoy working with us.


T 01494 770700 www.manchesterunderwriting.com MARCH 2011 insurancepeople 21


What does the future hold for networks?


A question posed to Nick Houghton, MD of Broker Network and Countrywide


Over the past 10-15 years market forces have steadily driven brokers towards networks. At the beginning it was more to do with scheme rates, commission, and supply savings, but so many things have changed over that period that today brokers need something extra.


Networks must move with the times, and seek out opportunities to keep brokers one step ahead. The current quagmire for brokers is coping with the dramatic fall in insurer service. Retraction and consolidation have seen overall insurer service levels and access drop significantly, largely because the best insurers now concentrate their best people and service efforts on keeping their key accounts happy. The network is one way for brokers to join that club.


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