MGA Initiative of the Year

This category is designed to recognise the outstanding achievements of the MGA community, a growing force with firms representing 10% of premium income for UKGI.

Judges were looking for MGAs that could demonstrate how they have excelled in delivering an outstanding initiative or delivered an excellent professional underwriting service .

All the finalists are listed below. Use the links to find out more from the entrants who have answered our series of Q&As.

CFC Underwriting
Collective Benefits
C-Quence
FloodFlash
iFarm Underwriting
iprism Underwriting
PIUA

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CFC Underwriting

What key achievement did your entry highlight?

Cyber insurance has been made unnecessarily complex by jargon and a lack of standardisation in policy wordings. Unsurprisingly many brokers find themselves confused about how it actually works, making it harder for them to sell to a sceptical client base.

We passionately believe in simplifying the way cyber insurance is brought and sold, so we set ourselves the goal of enhancing our products to meet the real-world needs of our brokers’ clients, while revolutionising their accessibility to smooth the transaction process and undertaking a massive educational programme to equip brokers with the tools they need to sell it effectively.

Can you share data or testimonials to back up your bid to win?

Our actions have translated into sales. New business has increased across not just the UK but Canada and Australia and our cyber book has grown by 43% over the past year. To support that growth, we now have 30 dedicated cyber underwriters, one of the largest teams in the market.

And we’re not just selling – we’re responding. Our in-house cyber claims and incident response team has handled over 2,500 cyber claims in the last year alone.

What sets your firm apart from the other shortlisted contenders?

Our new cyber insurance platform is a world-first, delivering instant quotes with supporting sales tools from the answer to just one question. We’ve built the world’s largest in-house cyber claims and incident response team, delivering fast, effective support to cyber incidents. Our education campaign has reached over 18,000 brokers; their feedback demonstrates that the insights and tools we provide is helping to build their understanding and confidence in selling cyber insurance.

Not wishing to blow our own trumpet, but we don’t believe that any other cyber insurer is going to the same lengths to help brokers sell this vital cover.

How will you celebrate if you are the victor?

Well CFC is renowned for its parties as anyone who has made it along to one of our Halloween bashes will attest, so despite the restrictions that we all understandably need to adhere to right now, we’ll find a way for the team to raise a glass or two!

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Can you share data or testimonials to back up your bid to win?

“Our industry has historically struggled to adapt to the changing dynamics and technologies of the workplace but by partnering with connected digital platforms, such as Collective, we can now create and distribute policies more efficiently, which ultimately means more cost-effective insurance products for the end user.” - Lewis Kateley, Canopius Group

What sets your firm apart from the other shortlisted contenders?

There’s a mismatch between what independent workers desperately need and what the industry currently offers and so really we’ve built first of their kind insurance products completely from scratch, having only launched this year.

It’s been a team effort to make this possible, involving the expertise, ambition and vision of not only our own financial product, digital product, operations and engineering teams here at Collective Benefits, but the commitment and insights from our partners in insurance and the on-demand economy. Collectively, we’ve enabled both insurers and on-demand platforms to step in to provide the necessary protections for the UK's self-employed.

How will you celebrate if you are the victor?

We’d be beyond delighted to share the win with our team, partners, investors and, of course, our members. We’re so proud to look back at what we’ve achieved this year, and this award would really top it all off!

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What sets your firm apart from the other shortlisted contenders?

There are many great contenders in the category for the MGA award. FloodFlash is the only company in the world that uses patented sensor technology to deliver mass-market parametric flood insurance. It is reopening small scale catastrophe markets for insurers and brokers whilst providing a very real lifeline to British businesses in a time when having adequate cover has never been more important.

How will you celebrate if you are the victor?

Our team is evenly split across North and South London so we'll probably set up some socially responsible celebrations either side of the river. It's an award we would certainly have to share with our underwriters and brokers without whom this would never have become a reality.

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PIUA

What key achievement did your entry highlight?

PIUA (Property Initiatives Underwriting Agency) is only five years old and 16 people strong, but it punches above its weight, with a reputation for covering the people, places and properties others can’t. Since 2017 we’ve quadrupled the properties on our books, and we continue to grow – including through the pandemic. 2020 to date business is 32% up, and we’ve maintained an 80+% retention rate - proving clients like what we do.

Can you share data or testimonials to back up your bid to win?

The policy wordings offer wide cover backed up by rated paper. The PIUA team offer excellent service.
Steve Duffy, MD, Ashgrove Insurance

We love the access to quick decisions, exceptional turnarounds, sensible underwriting and the flexibility of their appetite.
Matthew Bloomhill, MD, Bloomhill Insurance Solutions

The team at PIUA go that bit further to help out and understand the pressures we’re under.
David Llewellyn, Director, Dobson & Hodge Insurance Brokers

Buy to let’s, business parks or blocks of flats we never seem to have an issue, PIUA always get the job done.
Russell Hogarth, MD, Richard V Wallis Insurance Brokers

What sets your firm apart from the other shortlisted contenders?

We put brokers at the heart of everything we do. We prove every day that small and nimble is mighty, that the personal touch matters, that niche is necessary - and that the art of manual underwriting is alive and kicking.

PIUA started out with a mission to make property underwriting uncomplicated and memorable. We’ve built a name for ourselves taking on unusual risks, building great relationships, creating exclusive binders and wordings - and delivering a quote nine times out of ten. We’ve proud to be known industry-wide for our knowledge, agility, and reliability.

How will you celebrate if you are the victor?

It’s our people that make PIUA special, because they genuinely love what they do, and love doing it well. They’ve gone above during lockdown. Winning this Award would mean so much to everyone - including our customers/brokers.

Our mantra is #oneteam, and we’ll often celebrate the week’s successes on a Friday night with a glass of vino – even if we’re only able to do it over Microsoft Teams. If we won, we’d definitely be celebrating together – with a slice of socially distanced cake for those in the office, and Microsoft Teams drinks and a bit of a party to follow!