The role of underwriting agencies will continue expanding as specialised product knowledge and agile technology adoption fuel growth, experts participating in an Xceedance-Insurance News webinar say. 

Xceedance business leader for key accounts in Australia and New Zealand Prateek Vijayvergia says technology is the common thread in agencies’ success, and how it is used is “the secret sauce that differentiates one agency from the other”. 

Technology trends including optical character recognition, robotic process automation, artificial intelligence, large language models and the cloud are described as business enablers. 

“The true art is in actually knowing where to apply technology and how,” Mr Vijayvergia said. 

Agencies have more freedom to test and fail, they can “rise to the top” quickly if things go their way, and innovation and the application of technology comes naturally, he says. 

Webinar speakers also include Underwriting Agencies Council CEO Jenny Bax, Howden Re regional director of underwriting agencies Adam Matteson and Insurance News managing editor John Deex. 

Ms Bax says many mainstream insurers are distracted by old technology and legacy systems, and are moving away from portfolios that require a human touch because their technology is failing them and not facilitating efficient portfolio management. 

“Sometimes the loss ratio is not the push for the business to be thrown out, but the expense and the amount of work involved,” she said. 

Agencies’ specialised product knowledge, agile tech adoption and swift broker responses mean they are well positioned to fill critical coverage gaps left by major carriers.  

Mr Matteson says the sector is attractive to debt and equity capital, and a range of investors are interested. 

In the area of underwriting capacity, providers look at an agencies’ portfolio management and clearly articulated risk appetites, distribution channels, claims management, technology, strength in regulatory compliance and capital. 

The webinar explores how combining investment, technology and strategic operational support is key to the agency sector’s continuing success. 

Access the webinar here.