Company sets £30m premium target by 2010

Commercial insurance underwriting agency APC has signed a unique contract within Lloyd’s combining Property, Combined Liability, Professional Indemnity, Directors & Offices and Legal Expenses.

The contract is 100 per cent underwritten in the Lloyd’s market by Catlin and Kiln. In a statement the company said that other Classes will follow in due course.

APC's underwriting property limits have also increased significantly from £3 million to £10 million in any one location.

Underwriting director Ian Russell said: "I believe this is one of the largest contracts within Lloyd’s and very possibly the largest authority for any underwriting agent in the UK for the classes of business that we write. While we will now be working with our brokers to attack the larger risks, we will also continue to write the usual high volume of our regular package business.

"Our brokers have been asking for us to write larger risks for some time, but until now having numerous single line Lloyd’s contracts has restricted us from doing so. This contract will now give us the power to compete with the major composite insurers and we are continuing to re-brand products that will include the option for add-on's such as Legal Expenses, D&O, and Professional Indemnity cover."

In 2006 APC underwrote 14,000 policies with an annualised premium of £13m. A substantial expansion programme is also underway and APC forecasts 17,000 policies with a premium of £18m in 2008, with the aim of £30m by 2010.

APC works with approximately 1,000 UK regional brokers. Its capacity is provided by a number of Lloyd’s Syndicates, all of which are 'A' security rated.

Commenting on the company's rebranding, which took place in November, Russell added: "[This provides] a raised platform from which we can launch the next phase of our development and our brokers will be seeing a variety of new products being released in 2008."