PSC Insurance Group says its bot-enabled APEX trading system has facilitated the placement of more than $136 million in gross written premium (GWP) for over 81,500 individual policies since its launch last June.

Business package accounted for $69 million of GWP and 35,000 policies; commercial motor $23.5 million and 11,000 policies; homeowners $25.5 million and 13,500 policies; landlords $10 million and 11,000 policies; and private motor $8.5 million and 11,000 policies.

The Melbourne-based broking group introduced the trading system after leaving the Steadfast network last May.

MD Tony Robinson says the business is “really excited” about the potential of APEX.

“It’s going well, it’s running well, and we’re starting to talk to insurers about connecting with them directly,” he said yesterday at a half-year earnings call.

“We’re already having some conversations with underwriters where we’re going direct probably even over the next six months, rather than via Sunrise [Exchange].

“We were talking about this internally ... Sunrise charges insurers a lot and if we can capture some of the margins that Sunrise is capturing, we can afford to spend a good amount of money to try to achieve that outcome.”

PSC reported a rise in half-year earnings despite “headwinds” in parts of its business.

Underlying earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose 12% to $54.2 million and underlying net profit after tax before amortisation (NPATA) grew 6% to $37.1 million.

The group says it performed beyond expectations and has raised its earnings guidance for the 2023-24 fiscal period.

Underlying EBITDA is now projected at $125-$130 million, up from $122-$127 million previously, and underlying NPATA is in the range of $83-$87 million, up from $82-$86 million.