INTERVIEW
Aston Lark Associate Director Chris Mallett heads up the Chamber strategic partner's Derby office
Midlands economy, and those who have got the technical background to pick up more specialist risks that come up. “Nationally, we’re responsible for around £400m worth
of insurance premium getting placed every year. “That gives us fantastic leverage with insurers. It puts us
at that top table of brokers which insurers want to deal with. And that means we're in a fantastic position to get the best deals for our clients. “But the key differentiator we see between ourselves and
some of the other big national brokers is that it’s absolutely within Aston Lark’s DNA to retain that sense of being a community broker. “That means being really embedded within our
community, understanding its specific characteristics and making sure we’ve got the expertise to be able to respond challenges in a way that's bespoke to our clients. “You need to be a broker of a certain scale to get on the
radar of the big insurers and make sure you're getting the right deals for your clients, so resource across brokers tends to be consolidated into regional centres. “Unfortunately, sometimes that comes with the loss of
any sort of local expertise. “We have the scale and support to get the right deals for
our clients, but also understand exactly what makes businesses across the East Midlands tick. “We're embedded in the local community and we really
want to demonstrate we understand the specific challenges and respond in a way that gets the right solution for clients.” Insurance can quite often be played down as an essential that every business needs, but no business really wants.
But, when it comes to protecting your business and assets, insurance is worth its weight in gold. Chris explains: “At its most basic level, insurance is about
peace of mind. It's about making sure clients have got the ability to invest in and grow their business without having the nagging doubt that if something goes wrong, it's going to cripple them. Having insurance avoids the need for them to have big cash reserves which can act as a drag on the growth of their business. “Unfortunately, challenging situations arise, and bad
things do happen. You can be the best run business in the world, but you can't legislate for a lightning strike, or heavy rainfall that overwhelms drainage systems. “You can’t legislate for a member of staff or the public
coming to your premises, slipping over and deciding they're going to take you to court over it. “And you can’t legislate for your drivers being out on the
roads and someone running into them. “In all those scenarios and more, the absence of
insurance can leave a business facing a financial hole, as well as a potential reputational challenge. “And that can really, really impact the bottom line to the
point where it can run businesses down or put them in a position where they can no longer trade. “Having effective insurance in place mitigates all of those
risks. It’s a safety net that means you don’t need a pot of money on hand to make repairs, or to pay out compensation to a third party, or cover legal fees that might help defend against a spurious third party allegation.
business network June/July 2020 29
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72
