Rural Insurance has launched delegated authority schemes for two Northern Ireland brokers, including Autoline Insurance Group.
Rural managing director Mr Stevens said: “We want to offer our broker partners the flexibility to consider gross or net rating, with the option to build in the margin they require, take control of service and administration and offer a variety of enhancements such as competitive rating and cover extensions.”
He added: “We only require a minimum commitment of £150,000 gross written premium (GWP) to implement one of these facilities, following feedback from our partners who said they didn't want to be tied to substantial investment and GWP targets.”
He said that Rural was actively exploring a number of partnerships with other UK brokers interested in implementing delegated authority schemes, available across business motor, farm, farm motor and equine products.
Leigh Patton, farm account manager of Autoline Insurance Group said: “We are delighted to be working closely with Rural Insurance to provide competitive cover for our agriculture and farming customers. The scheme is a fantastic new service which will allow us to provide instant quotes, documentation and cover to our customers.”
Ripe market
Commenting on his broader plans for Rural, Mr Stevens said: “Our ambition is to double our revenues and grow our market share to 5% during the next couple of years, cementing our position as a top five provider. The UK's agricultural insurance market is ripe for new and different thinking, especially around service provision, and I want to make Rural Insurance a market leader for service, as evidenced by our delegated authority schemes.”
Mr Stevens said the new service-led strategy has already had a positive impact: “We have achieved record new business figures for the last four months in a row.”
He added: “We have also just taken on a new regional sales manager, Gill Anderson, who joins us from Lucas Fettes, to spearhead our new sales push in the North West, and we expect to make more announcements soon.”