Specialist divisions in manufacturing and technology have been added to McLardy McShane South East’s Victoria broking operation as it bolsters its presence in those industries.

Dandenong-based McLardy McShane South East (MMSE) was formed earlier this year when director Shane Brady was welcomed as a new joint venture partner.

The new Manufacturing Insurance Brokers offer will include property cover, product recall, equipment breakdown and liability for a broad range of manufactured goods.

The Technology Insurance Brokers division will provide cyber insurance, IT liability and other specialised products to technology firms such as network engineers, robotics, big data, cloud hosting and database management businesses.

“Industry partnerships with those that operate within those two sectors is definitely the way forward for us,” Mr Brady tells insuranceNEWS.com.au.

“It’s an exciting time. We are looking at this expansion with a great deal of optimism and will be leaning on our expertise and experience in these sectors as we look to grow and develop the portfolios.”

Mr Brady says while clients have been impacted by Victoria’s prolonged COVID-19 social restrictions, particularly in the areas of hospitality and retail, many have also adapted and innovated new products.

“There are businesses that have really prospered over the last six months. A lot have pitched in a different direction and really capitalised,” he says. “There’s still a lot happening in our industry that is positive.”

“We’ve seen a lot of opportunity to take this time to build these two divisions and once we are back out on the road again and can see people we really see it taking off.”

Both specialty divisions today launched individual websites at www.mmse.com.au/mib and www.mmse.com.au/tib.

Some strategic partnerships are also in the pipeline for MMSE, Mr Brady reveals, with the prospect to be the preferred insurance provider for a large group of manufacturers in the works. Alignment to the Australasian Promotional Products Association was also recently announced.

“Relationships with the right partners are key for us and is what helped us recently establish the commitment to build a cyber awareness training portal that will complement the technology offering,” he says.

The new divisions strengthen the national expansion of McLardy McShane Group after its recent acquisition of Perth-based Central Insurance Brokers and joint venture in Sydney with broker Charles Clark to look after its growing clientele in NSW.

The McLardy McShane Group now has 21 branches and more than 40 ARs across the country.