Straight Answers at a Premium in US Insurance Market
On fifth anniversary as local US insurer, Beazley’s strong
premium growth shows demand for entrepreneurial approach to
underwriting
Farmington, CT - March 1, 2010
Five years ago today, underwriters at Beazley USA Services,
Inc., a subsidiary of Beazley Group, one of the largest insurers in
the Lloyd’s market, bound their first professional liability policy
on US soil. Beazley's locally underwritten US business has since
grown to more than $370 million in annual premiums and Beazley’s US
underwriters bound more than 24,000 policies last year.
On March 2, Beazley chief executive officer Andrew Horton will
formally open Beazley’s newest US offices - 17,000 square feet of
space at Rockefeller Plaza in midtown Manhattan, designed to
accommodate 75 underwriters and claims service professionals.
Unlike most insurers, Beazley does not have a ‘claims department’
segregated from underwriting.
Beazley has prospered in the US with an approach that has long
found favor with large scale US clients insuring with the Beazley
syndicates at Lloyd’s in London. To gain traction for its US
operation, Beazley has been able to point to its Lloyd’s track
record. The Beazley syndicates insure a third of the Am Law 200
list of the top law firms in the United States; more than half of
the top 50 US architectural and engineering design firms as ranked
by Engineering News-Record; two thirds of the top 25 global
software and software services companies as ranked by Software
Magazine; and four of the top 10 ‘Honor Roll’ US hospitals as
listed by US News and World Report.
“Our idea was to bring a style of underwriting that had served
us very well in London to the US,” said Mr Horton. “We knew from
our discussions with brokers in the US market that above all they
wanted straight answers from their underwriters. For a broker time
is money. They wanted to work with empowered experts who could
respond quickly and wouldn’t waste their time.”
‘Straight answers’ became Beazley’s marketing tagline in the
United States as underwriters moved swiftly to develop promising
markets. Early growth came from the architects and engineers
(A&E) professional liability team, which added more than 5,000
firms with fees of less than $3 million apiece to Beazley’s client
roster.
More recently, significant growth has come from the TMB
(technology, media and business services) team, which has ridden a
wave of demand for data breach insurance. This protects
organizations such as retailers and healthcare providers from the
loss or theft of personally identifiable customer data, such as
credit card details and health records. Beazley was a pioneer in
this market and its new flagship product, which responds to
information security breaches, pays for credit monitoring – among
other services – for up to two million affected individuals.
Most of Beazley’s growth in the US has been organic but last
year the company expanded its commercial property business through
the acquisition of First State, a well respected underwriter of
surplus lines commercial property risks. The First State team,
which Beazley had reinsured for two decades, contributed $93.9
million to the total $370.7 million written by Beazley’s US
underwriters last year.
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