Brokers: The past is another country

Thinking of go-betweens, what is the role and value of brokers in today’s commercial insurance market? With carriers slowly but irrevocably evolving into advisers, and with end-insureds more capable of risk-sharing, and with MGAs eating everybody’s lunch, it is time for the global broking firms to ask themselves some existential questions.

How do they answer the ‘Why Us’? question today?

Some boldly, some more blandly.

Some outcomes-focused, some more service-focused.

AON sticks its neck out to promise “Better Decisions”. Marsh and WTW seem to have compared notes. Marsh offers “Perspective and Possibility”. WTW “Perspective that moves you”. Gallagher still thinks it’s 1927, speaking lamely of being a “Trusted Partner”.

Yes, personal relationships still matter. But being a trusted partner is a hygiene factor which should go without saying. With big data being wheeled out to enhance specialist market expertise, there is a crying need - and a welcome opportunity - for the behemoth brokers to step up and carve out a markedly future-focused role. By better mustering their collective smarts and taking ownership of pooled data, brokers can help both client and carrier partners to look forward, anticipate and adapt to emerging risks.

And whilst service counts for more than style, brokers still need to stand out from each other to reinforce their distinctiveness. Sadly, the look and feel of three of the big four is largely interchangeable - i.e. reassuringly corporate. The exception, of course, is Gallagher, whose visual styling evokes an era of luxuriant sideburns and kipper ties.

So, unless brokers start looking and talking like Tomorrow’s People, they may end up as Yesterday’s Men.

Written by Alec Rattray

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