FEATURES Pet insurance – are brokers missing a trick by not selling more pet insurance?
Writer: Rosie Simms Contact Details: rosie.simms@infopro-digital.com
Deadline: 9 July, 2025 At the British Insurance Brokers’ Association conference in May Serge Raffard, managing director of personal lines at Allianz revealed that it was looking to enter the intermediated pet insurance market. Although he was unclear whether it would use its well-known consumer Pet Plan brand, the announcement underlines that there are opportunities for insurers and their brokers to tap into a growing market. https://www.insuranceage.co.uk/personal/7956661/allianz-to-sell-pet-insurance-through-brokers?ref=search Indeed, a sign of this growth was underlined in June when the Association of British Insurers revealed pay-outs by its members topped £1bn for the third consecutive year in 2024. In total a record £1.23bn was paid out in claims across the year, up 4% on 2023. Pay-outs have also more than doubled (+103%) compared to ten years ago. https://www.abi.org.uk/news/news-articles/2025/5/insurance-payouts-for-pawly-pets-top-1-billion-for-third-year-in-a-row/ The same data also revealed that a record-breaking 4.6 million pet owners took out insurance – a 3% increase since 2023 and 33% higher than before the pandemic (2019). In this article Insurance Age will speak to insurers and brokers about the potential for intermediaries to grab a larger slice of an insurance sector in which vets are no longer the dominant introducer force they once were. As reported by Insurance Age, it is certainly an area Markerstudy Distribution is keen to grow in. https://www.insuranceage.co.uk/insight/7956724/interview-emma-rawlinson-ceo-of-markerstudy-distribution? Of course, any broker looking to win business here will have to distinguish itself with the competition hotting up and the likes of Admiral and Policy Expert also both outlining bold plans in this space. For instance, one broker that has made a name for itself in the animal health market Tedaisy, acquired dog health and activity app Perro at the beginning of the year, aiming to combine the latest technology with insurance solutions. https://www.insuranceage.co.uk/insight/7956116/broker-buys-firm-with-airbnb-sainsburys-and-john-lewis-partnerships?ref=search What are others doing to stand out, and how easy is it to distribute and cross-sell pet insurance as an intermediary in terms of available markets and support from insurers? How much investment is needed in slick online offerings to meet expectations in the consumer market and how big does a broker’s book need to be to make this cost effective? Where do claims fit into the jigsaw and where can brokers get the specialist staff needed? Finally, the piece will explore if the entry of a market leader such as Allianz might stimulate more insurer interest, or whether it is seen as an opportunistic punt? If broking is really entering a new era, why are so many brokers resistant to exploring the benefits of AI?
Writer: Ida Axling Contact Details: idaaxling@gmail.com
Deadline: 9 July, 2025 The recent British Insurance Brokers’ Association Conference was titled “A New Era” with artificial intelligence being spoken about in sessions and on stands. But how much has the use of AI ACTUALLY infiltrated the day-to-day lives of regional insurance brokers? Research from Open GI has found as many as 80% of insurance brokers have yet to implement AI into their business, with the software house warning of a “gulf” between the progress of national brokers and smaller regional firms when it comes to gaining an advantage from early AI adoption. According to the technology specialists, around 45% of national brokers said they had implemented some AI initiatives and that there were more to come. This compared with just 9% of regional and provincial brokers. https://www.insuranceage.co.uk/insight/7956645/only-20-of-brokers-working-with-ai-open-gi-warns-of-smaller-broker-gulf?ref=search One broker Mason Owen launched a legal indemnity insurance platform, Instant Title Solutions (ITS), that uses AI to compare and assess terms from at least three A-Rated insurers and recommend the most appropriate one to the transaction in May 2024, but based on a scan of public announcement this would appear to be the exception rather than the norm. As well as Open GI other software houses are looking to introduce more AI into broker’s day-to-day lives. For instance, Acturis has launched Unify, an AI and data-driven offering that aims to aid placement strategies with granular insights and appetite matching for brokers and insurers. Aviva became the first insurer to join the platform in June. https://www.insuranceage.co.uk/insight/7956645/only-20-of-brokers-working-with-ai-open-gi-warns-of-smaller-broker-gulf?ref=search https://www.insuranceage.co.uk/insight/7956740/aviva-first-to-launch-on-acturis-unify In this article Insurance Age aims to explore whether the wider picture is as gloomy as painted by Open GI, and if there are more Mason Owen-type initiatives that have not been announced? It will seek to examine why regional brokers might be slow in coming forward to adopting AI, how these barriers can be overcome and the role of insurer and the software houses in whetting the appetite for wider adoption. Finally, the piece will investigate what dangers might exist for broker in being slow to enter a ‘new era’ in terms of losing business, being less attractive to new recruits and becoming less relevant to existing clients. Could the explosion of MGAs be slowed down by failure to take greater ownership and interest in how claims are handled?
Writer: Saxon East Contact Details: sax@saxoneastmedia.com
Deadline: 9 July, 2025 MGAs have become all the rage in recent years, with an explosion predicated by a growth in fronter and insurer capital/capacity and belief that they offer greater front-end service in terms of response speed and expert knowledge. However, are strains starting to show at the back end? For all the effort MGAs have spent on differentiation in terms of underwriting and placing risks for brokers; when it comes to the moment of truth, the claim, are they any better than mainstream insurers, if not worse? Frequently, MGAs are left using the capacity provider’s TPA of choice, with little or no control over the customer experience being delivered on their behalf. Issues on claims was raised in a recent Insurance Age interview with Commercial Express CEO Duncan Pritchard who cited the amount of brokers walking around the 2024 BIBA Conference who were dissatisfied with their MGA in relation to claims. https://www.insuranceage.co.uk/insight/7956646/interview-duncan-pritchard-ceo-of-commercial-express?ref=search And he is not alone in highlighting the topic. The outsourcing of claims as a potential pain point was flagged at the Managing General Agent’s Association’s conference last year, including a warning from the FCA which urged firms not to abdicate responsibility. This February the MGAA CEO Mike Keating said he saw an opportunity to ramp up guidance on claims. https://www.insuranceage.co.uk/insight/7955163/mga-has-to-own-its-claims-proposition-partners-boss https://www.insuranceage.co.uk/insight/7956120/mgaas-mike-keating-sees-opportunity-to-ramp-up-support-material-on-claims In this article Insurance Age will explore what MGAs are doing to wrestle control of claims back from insurer and capacity partners. It will analyse how MGAs manage claims and whether inhouse functions make much of a difference. The article will ask whether the emergence of new TPAs such as Reserv, which completed a $25m Series B funding round in June, are helping fill gaps? And how the legacy claims handlers are looking to distinguish MGA offerings from those they provide for insurers? Finally, it will seek comment on if this is a window of opportunity MGAs cannot let slide; and the consequences for the wider sector reputationally among brokers if they are seen as not fulfilling the same level of client service at the back end as the front. | 