Brightside MGA to launch next year after securing capacity

Broking group Brightside’s planned MGA will launch in the second quarter next year, Brightside chief executive Mark Cliff has said.

The company has now secured capacity for the MGA, which will be called Kitsune, and the new business is now in the build phase.

Brightside’s five-year plan, which runs to 2020, envisages that the MGA will write just over £100m of gross written premium in that time. Cliff said: “It is a pretty sizeable MGA.”

Cliff did not reveal the capacity providers, as the deal will not be signed off until the build phase for the new MGA is complete, but he hinted that capacity from reinsurers could be involved. He said: “It is none of the traditional primary insurers. But it is predominantly A-rated paper.”

The new MGA, headed by former Ageas executive Trevor Bowers, will initially write car and van business. But Cliff said that the company was also looking at opportunities to write SME business through an MGA.

He said: “We are looking at SME. Whether we do that within [the new MGA] or outside of it is something we will explore. We would be confident of getting capacity in the SME space.”