Insurance Age Broker Survey: Small Commercial Combined

Insurance Age Small Commercial Combined Survey – Arch Insurance triumphs
The SME sector is a crowded one and this means brokers can select from a wide range of potential suitors. It is also the case that products often contain many similar features and so brokers may be influences not only by price, but also claims service and efficient technology. But did the challenging times over the past 18 months widen the gap between players’ capabilities and what does it take for one pack member to emerge as ‘first among equals’?


The Insurance Age Broker Survey for Small Commercial Combined Category reveals that Arch Insurance has emerged as the winner in a tightly fought contest.

The Gold Award
The winner achieved an average score of 75.63% to secure gold position, just pipping Aviva, which scored 74.42% and so gains the silver placement. In bronze position came Covéa Insurance, which gained an average score of 72%.

Arch Insurance scored most highly in the ‘New business – efficiency in providing new quotes’ category, where a score of 81.25% was scored. Brokers highlighted a range of reasons for favouring Arch, which included competitive rates, the quality of underwriters, “being keen to do business” and “the overall speed and service of response”. There were very few negative remarks other than one broker saying there are “limitations as to what they will write”, but as a more specialist insurer, this does not warrant much of a criticism.

Steve Bashford, CEO for Arch Insurance’s UK regional division, comments: “Our aim is to build trusting, respectful and responsive partnerships. Our approach is based on collaboration, understanding brokers’ goals and a commitment to continually raising the bar. We work hard to ensure we deliver a consistently high level of service, sustainability of pricing, clarity of risk appetite and predictability of product.”

He adds the pandemic has reinforced the value of broker relationships. “We made it our number one priority to be available for brokers throughout and were able to quickly establish an effective rhythm for communicating virtually.”

The Silver Award 
Aviva scored highly across all commercial categories, and was the best scoring large composite, doing considerably better than it counterparts. Coming in second place in smaller commercial combined, brokers praised Aviva for its speed of response and competitiveness, as well as quality of underwriters. The insurer received its highest score – of 77.88%’ in the ‘Policy documentation – useability and clarity’ category.

There was also reference from brokers to flexibility, which may not always be synonymous with a large insurer. “Aviva is willing to discuss and design,” said one, while another added: “The Fast Trade portal through Acturis works well and generate quotes quickly with good terms.”  A further view is that Aviva is a ”well-known name that is financially strong and with good products.” Again, brokers put forward relatively few negatives, other than one calling for “more flexibility on limits”, while another said they had experienced “delays in documentation.”

Nick Major, Aviva’s managing director commercial lines, says Aviva moved quickly after the pandemic began to provide guidance to brokers. “We were able to transition to remote working very quickly and for brokers, it was about was about ensuring they could access quotes and work closely with ARMS, the risk management team. Over time, brokers had many questions, such as what would happen to businesses that were mothballed. We also looked to help with protecting cash flow, so as by offering flexible terms”


He says underwriters sought to be accessible and to offer flexible terms where possible and there were numerous online events for brokers and webinars. This was also a virtual risk manager facility and we sought to help brokers where they had more specialist queries such as with care homes. We sought to help with more specialist areas such as care homes. Overall, a mix of strong technology and conversation proved effective, and we also launched our Back to Business campaign, which supported brokers as they worked with clients on how to reopen safely.”

The Bronze Award
Covéa Insurance, which scored well across the survey, is a main provider of SME products and came third in the survey. Brokers said the company had “knowledgeable underwriters, who are looking to write business.” The insurer’s highest scores, both off 76.67% were attained for ‘Policy documentation – useability and clarity’ and ‘Cover – scope and quality’, while the business was also described as providing easy to use technology for its e-trading and with competitive premiums. There were few negative comments made about Covéa, other than one broker saying they received “too many no quotes”.

Moving up the ladder
With an average score of 71.56%, Zurich came in at an extremely close fourth place. In 2018, the business appointed David Martin, as head of retail, from Allianz Insurance – which is placed fifth, with an average score of 68.25%.

It is interesting to note that Zurich’s highest average score in the survey was 78.13%, therefore marginally higher than Covéa’s, in the ‘Product documentation – useability and clarity’ category. Martin comments: “It’s great to see that the transformation of our business over the last two years is translating into greater broker satisfaction - this is always our ambition.  As a business we’re genuinely customer obsessed, and we continue to invest in our capabilities to ensure we provide great propositions and a responsive service to our brokers. We’ve handled over 270,000 SME ETrade broker queries so far this year and over 74,000 Acturis referrals were managed in less than two hours.”

Close results show there is no room for any insurer focused on making gains in this sector to take their foot off the pedal – brokers’ perception of service and product remain highly influential. no matter what external or internal factors may be going on and continue to drive the market.