In Person: Head of Marsh Networks David Hopwood

Hopwood on being owned by Marsh, restructuring the networks division and why he wants brokers to remain independent.

From our perspective it’s more important to bring the right members on board, they’ve got to be of the right profile and fit with our philosophy and our ethos

While membership is growing, Hopwood insists that the business is not targeting a specific number of brokers.

“We want to continue to grow and to a certain extent you have to add new members in this market, because the acquisition activity is so strong.

“But from our perspective it’s more important to bring the right members on board, they’ve got to be of the right profile and fit with our philosophy and our ethos.”

According to Hopwood the most important characteristic of a new potential Marsh Networks member is that it puts its customers first.

“It’s a joint selection process when a new member comes on board, they’ve got to see the value in what we offer them and likewise we have to see that they’re going to bring value to the wider network business and our insurer partners.”

But he argues that no potential members have been put off by the fact that the business is owned by broking giant Marsh, adding that the resource and expertise that sits within the wider business is available for members to tap into.

In May 2018, Marsh Networks partnered with Shawbrook Bank to help its members fund acquisitions.

Hopwood stresses that he wants as many brokers as possible to remain independent to ensure that customers have more choice and argues that the acquisition support was not put in place to increase consolidation.

Instead it’s there to “help those independent brokers stay independent and not get swallowed up by the consolidators”.

He adds: “We’ve got a lot of conversations going on at the moment around those acquisitions.

“The deal we’ve done is that the broker remains completely independent and there’s no requirement for them to place business in a particular market or with a particular insurer. It’s a straight financial transaction.”

The company has also launched a solution aimed at helping start-up brokers wanting to either go down the appointed representative route or to get directly authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority.

Hopwood explains there has been a huge demand for this from newly created broking firms, which he believes is positive for both the industry and the UK economy as a whole.

“New brokers tend to want to go to a network because we can use our strength with insurers to get them agencies and that’s probably the biggest barrier for a new start-up.”

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