Broking Success: High expectations in High Wycombe

When Edward Finch joined MRIB, he was in his mid-twenties and it was already a successful company with 35 staff and gross written premium of £12m. His task was to bring greater marketing and sales discipline to the organisation and, eight years later, with GWP doubled and the headcount having grown by 20, it seems that success has been achieved.

Finch explains: "I came in originally to look at corporate new business: in the first year we doubled the new business revenue by using the sales disciplines I had learnt at Independent. The next stage was picking up larger clients and improving the conversion ratio." While appreciative of the negativity that continues to surround Independent, Finch is quick to thank the company for the training and exposure they allowed him from 1999 to 2001, initially as a graduate trainee focused on the London markets.

After Independent, he worked for a short while at Alexander Forbes before joining MRIB in 2002. The company had been set up by his parents in 1973 to deal with motor and mortgage insurance. By 1975, it had its first office on the high street but by the late 1970s the company had switched its focus to business insurance. "Dad saw an opportunity; he was very entrepreneurial," says Finch. In 1986, MRIB moved to its present location, which used to belong to Eagle Star.

Thankful

MRIB became a limited company in 2006 and Finch was promoted to managing director. His parents remain on the board, his father as chairman, splitting their time between France and the UK. Finch is thankful for their ongoing support and sets out the next steps for the broker with great pride.

He says: "My five-year plan comes to fruition in 2012: to double income. We are on target. From the latest statistics, we are around the 75th biggest broker in the UK and the 10-year plan is to be in the top 50 by 2018." Finch knows that with growth must come increased profits and fresh challenges. They are ones he is keen to face head on as he has done bravely in the past.

He recounts: "At the height of the credit crunch, we doubled our marketing team. It is now a team of six and we utilise it to cross-sell throughout MRIB." The marketing team is overseeing a revamp of the company website as well as undertaking projects such as sending letters to all residents in a particular postcode and cross-selling to company directors. It also organises seminars to support clients and create new business opportunities: Finch cites a recent example on directors' and officers' liability as having been particularly well received.

Over the last two years, the company has grown GWP by 32% and Finch is confident that his expansive marketing policy is bearing fruit, though he accepts other steps will be needed. He says: "To hit the 10-year plan I need to make some acquisitions, so we are looking at that." The company has completed two recently: in 2007, it bought a local broker with four staff and GWP of £1.5m while in 2008 it took on another broker's book. Finch is pleased that the head of the acquired broker has stayed at MRIB to lead the claims trouble-shooting unit, organising matters for those clients needing round-the-clock support on claims that go beyond the normal.

Although keeping his cards close to his chest, Finch is aware that making the right acquisitions will be crucial to hitting his targets. He says: "You have to make sure that the people you are looking to work with are of the same mindset because there is nothing worse than a firm coming in and after two or three years it just falls apart."

Clarifying the further elements that will drive growth, he lists retail and information technology as two areas in which the company has a lot of expertise. Dreams, the UK's largest specialist bed retailer, provides one of the testimonials on the broker's website, though Finch points out that his broker is not trade specific. His belief is that a wide client base provides MRIB with protection against any particular area of the economy being hit. Instead, the broker is targeting clients of a certain size within a 200-mile radius. He adds: "Where we are looking to be is in the SME larger side. Our hunting ground is clients with a premium spend of over £150k. By default, they are more likely to be with a national rather than another independent."

It is also part of the reason why he has kept MRIB by itself. He says: "We are independent and proud of that. It gives MRIB strength because we are flexible; we have grown but if we see an opportunity we can still go for it. As part of a consolidator, you don't have that.

"A lot of our success has come from winning clients that were with an independent broker that has [been subsumed by a consolidator] and the client doesn't get the service or the choice. I see being independent as a massive opportunity."

Wide base

The broker's business splits as 70% corporate and 30% personal, with high net worth being a key section of the latter. Finch is determined that this means the broker should have a wide agency base and open lines of communication with insurers. He cites QBE, Catlin and Chubb as three that MRIB has worked closely with on technical trades, with Aviva and Allianz for more traditional corporate manufacturing clients.

According to Finch, the retention rates of 96% in corporate and 90% in personal insurance have been consistently high for the last five years. He puts this down to knowing the clients and matching them to products that meet their needs, from those who demand only the lowest price to those prepared to pay extra for higher-quality coverage.

With only one office, Finch believes it is the quality of his staff and their expertise that will keep these previous successes secure and help to hit the new business targets. All members of staff are encouraged to be active problem solvers; it was their ideas that created the paperless office policy that has improved MRIB's ability to trade, as well as freeing up staff to be deployed in other areas.

He admits: "I'm delighted that the one cost we went over budget massively on this year was exam bonuses: that's a nice place to be." He is proud of his company running its own qualifications programme that gives staff access to Chartered Insurance Institute courses and qualifications. It has also founded a graduate trainee programme with two people on the course at any given time. He says: "If you can grow from within, you have them ready as the businesses model grows."

With such a high level of forward planning already in place to back Finch's focused enthusiasm, high expectations are the order of the day for this proudly independent broker.