Australia’s Ensurance Ltd has announced that its wholly owned Managing General Agency (MGA) subsidiary, Ensurance UK Ltd, has partnered with Swiss Re Corporate Solutions and XL Catlin, and also received Lloyd’s Coverholder status as it continues its plans for international growth.
Ensurance UK Ltd will initially specialise in construction and engineering insurance solutions, and as the company targets global expansion it has announced a key partnership with reinsurance giant Swiss Re’s commercial insurance unit, Swiss Re Corporate Solutions.
The new and exclusive partnership between Ensurance and Swiss Re enables the former to provide a range of construction and engineering insurance solutions across the UK and parts of the European Union (EU), which will target protecting construction and engineering contracts up to as much as £100 million (US$129 million).
For both the holding company and Ensurance UK, Ensurance Managing Director, Stefan Hicks, feels the agreement with Swiss Re is a substantial “game changer.”
“Not only has the company successfully expanded from the Australian market into the UK market in a short period, but by partnering with Swiss Re Corporate Solutions we will now receive significant exposure globally.
“Swiss Re Corporate Solutions have very few partnerships of this nature globally, and this exclusive agreement has been achieved due to the experienced Ensurance UK team, headed by CEO Tim James, a former director at one of the world’s largest insurers specialising in construction and engineering.
“We look forward to working with Swiss Re Corporate Solutions in expanding the Ensurance product offering and brand globally,” said Hicks.
In addition to its Swiss Re partnership the firm has also announced an agreement with XL Catlin, one of Lloyd’s of London’s largest syndicates. Initially, this agreement will provide an exclusive and bespoke construction insurance solution for high net worth UK domestic customers, and Ensurance UK is able to sell this product both through the brokering market, and directly via insurers to their customers.
Hicks, commented; “For a domestic dwelling to undertake large construction renovations, it requires alternative insurance, often to cover the dwelling itself in addition to the renovation. The Ensurance UK product caters for this niche segment.
“This product, whilst niche, provides Ensurance UK with the ability to expand its clientele from the broker market to the insurer market, essentially attracting insurers as clients.
“It’s a significant opportunity to sell Ensurance products through existing and established large books of business operated by some of the largest insurers in the UK.”
Furthermore, Ensurance UK has now received Lloyd’s of London Coverholder status, so it’s able to issue insurance documents on behalf of Lloyd’s syndicates, a status it now has in both Australia and the UK.
“This allows the company flexibility to use different Ensurance centres to expand our footprint wider, using our Lloyds bespoke products, into global regions.
“Pleasingly we achieved the coverholder status for Ensurance UK after only nine months, which again speaks volumes for the calibre of the team driving the Ensurance UK business,” said Hicks.
