Becky Morris: Centricity targets £1.25m without falling into soft market ‘dangerous game’

Entering the insurance industry in 1998, Becky Morris has worked for several independent brokers and spent over eight years at BQI Insurance where she eventually became managing director in 2021.

Drawing on her experience in commercial lines and construction, Morris decided to take the plunge and found her own broker to fulfil her vision of a firm where the client sits “at the very heart” of its service.

Launched in 2021, Centricity focuses on commercial property, manufacturing, wholesale and SME business, with 70% of its book construction-led.

Five years later and Morris, owner and managing director at the broker, asserts that she has maintained her ethos that “if it makes sense for a client, we’ll do it”.

She tells Insurance Times that investing in the right technology and people to support that “easy and seamless experience” for clients has helped the business achieve 20% year-on-year growth and 98% client retention.

Having broken through £1m of income this year, Morris says the firm is “hungry” to maintain its consistent organic growth, with a target of £1.25m by 2027.

And, Morris believes that her team of eight make this feat “easily achievable”.

She continues: “We’ve got very transparent service standards that we share with clients, including our 360 promise to deal with mid-term adjustments the same day and ensure client emails are responded to immediately.

“It’s not a case of hearing back from us in over two weeks’ time – we go back to a client the same day.

”We’re extremely proactive in dealing with claims and bringing quantifiable value, as well as consistently reviewing claims reserves to keep those as low as possible. That then has a direct correlation to future premiums for our clients as well.”

Avoiding ‘dangerous’ games

Despite achieving such growth in only a few years of operation, Morris admits that the broker could have grown considerably faster if it were not for the soft market.

She says: “The soft market is challenging because you don’t really know what the holding market is going to do and the final price is not often the final price.

“We’re finding that if we push back on our renewals, then the discount pot seems to be endless at times.”

While Morris notes that the business has been “lucky” in retaining renewals, client growth has affected retention income.

She explains that, while the market has softened, many larger clients have continued to grow which has increased their exposure and premiums and, therefore, made the “underlying change difficult to quantify”.

Even after accounting for clients’ growth, she believes that the “overall market has had a 10% downturn”.

The challenge, she explains, is to “maintain some form of earnings while passing on the savings of the market”.

In turn, she says maintaining transparency with clients has been crucial in helping them understand the value the broker adds.

She continues: “If you pretend that the soft market isn’t there and try and keep premiums as expiry, that’s a dangerous game to play.

“That’s not something that we’ve done and I know a lot of brokers are trying to do that.”

This is where having “open and honest conversations with clients” is integral, she notes, as businesses with larger portfolios and premiums of more than £15,000 will “understand and appreciate the value that [the broker does] add”.

She continues: “Likewise, if you’re not having those conversations in a soft market, clients don’t understand the process when the market hardens either.

“It’s about having those informed discussions every renewal at six-monthly or quarterly reviews, but hopefully, things will change soon. There are hints of that as we move into Q1 next year.

“We do expect fleet to harden first. Professional indemnity and liability have been so low for so long, but there’s still quite a lot of capacity and I don’t expect that’s going to change. Certainly not in H1 next year – maybe towards the latter part of the year.”

Turning focus to talent

While Morris’ dedication for client service lies at the core of the broker, she also harbours a passion for addressing the “serious lack of talent” in the insurance industry.

For a small regional broker based in Horsham, West Sussex, without the resources of larger incumbents, attracting and investing in the next generation is no small endeavour.

Despite this, Morris was determined to play her part and established an apprenticeship scheme to take on one new apprentice every year.

She explains that three members of the broker’s eight-person team have come through the 18-month scheme.

In partnership with insurance apprenticeship and training specialist Skills Edge, the scheme provides a “blended mix” of webinars, studies towards the level three insurance practitioner and Cert CII qualifications, alongside in-house training from the broker.

Centricity also works closely with local schools and colleges to offer work experience opportunities.

For Morris, regardless of the financial strain of the soft market, there are no excuses when it comes to contributing to the future of the sector.

“Every business within the industry should really be turning their focus to that,” she stresses.

“Otherwise, I think the future could be quite dicey.”