Rural Insurance Ltd, the specialist agricultural insurer, has signed deals with Coversure, leading Welsh broker Farmers Union of Wales (FUW) and Broker Network, as it continues to push for growth in 2012.
Commenting on the deals, Simon Stevens, Rural managing director, said that he had signed an agreement with Coversure to offer a broad range of Rural’s agricultural products to Coversure franchise branches, reviving a trading relationship that had been dormant for some time.
He said: “Historically we have traded with just 4-5 Coversure branches but we are now rolling out business motor and farm motor, as well as farm combined, a multi-section policy covering all aspects of farming business and can accommodate risks from the hobby farmer to large working farms and estates.”
“Rural has increased its reach from 80 regularly trading brokers this time last year to nearly 140 in January this year, and we aim to grow our footprint to 200 brokers by this time next year. Coversure includes around 92 franchise branches under the brand, so it’s a significant opportunity for us and we’re delighted to be on their panel.”
Coversure’s personal lines manager, Colin Dawson, said: “We are very pleased with the ‘Can do’ attitude within Rural and I’m more than happy to expand our relationship. I see this as an excellent opportunity for Coversure as we have many offices in suitable locations.”
Mr Stevens said Rural had started trading motor risks with FUW, one of Wales’s biggest brokers, in October last year, but “have now expanded the relationship to include farm risks, which are proving very popular. We are expecting to deliver in excess of £1m GWP during the next 12 months, making FUW one of our most important distributors.”
Mr Stevens added that Rural has also renewed its partnership agreement with Broker Network to distribute agricultural motor, equine and farm risks. The partnership will run until the end of December 2014.
These latest deals come against a backdrop of significant growth for the Harrogate-based business, which is aiming to cement its position as a top five player in the agricultural insurance market during the next 18 months. Mr Stevens said: “Following a complete overhaul of our sales team and service operation, we have almost doubled the amount of new business we have written over the last 12 months and we are on target to grow our GWP by 17% in this financial year.”
He said: ”The UK agriculture insurance market is going through a lot of change, and our brokers are highly receptive to agile specialists like Rural that have a strong service focus and the ability to introduce new products - such as renewables insurance - rapidly.”