For the latest Reinsurance News video interview, we spoke with Shevawn Barder, Founder and CEO of AM Specialty Insurance Company (ASIC) and Darren Powell, CUO of Pinpoint UK, to hear their plans for the new MGA and how progress has been so far as the E&S carrier expands beyond North America into the London and UK specialty space.
Now available to watch for free, our latest video interview covers all things Pinpoint UK, the FCA authorised, London-based MGA launched by ASIC following its acquisition of Pinpoint Insurance Solutions last year.
Pinpoint UK received full FCA approval to carry out regulated insurance distribution and underwriting activities in the UK in June, and Barder and Powell discussed the importance of this milestone and why now is the time to enter the UK marketplace.
“The London market has been something that’s been very close to my heart. It’s a fantastic place to trade. The talent pool that we have here, the variety of business we have here is something really special. So, to have the opportunity to really put together a team through all these many years of experience, with the backing of ASIC, was fantastic,” said Powell.
Expanding on this and what makes the UK a strategic priority for ASIC, Barder underlined that the E&S insurer views the London market as a centre of excellence.
<!–
–>
“We feel that there is underwriting expertise in the London market that is truly unique. So, it is so exciting for us to be able to create an office and partner with Darren to build a platform in the London market. It really brings a unique set of skills to be able to establish ourselves there.
“And as Darren mentioned, this is really a long-term play for us. We take a very long-term view with regards to our business strategy. We carefully select the lines of business that we’re participating in, and we want to consciously build out niche lines of business that are complementary to themselves and then complementary to our strategy back in Dallas. We have an excess and surplus lines insurance company established in the US market, and to bring that support capacity to be placed behind Pinpoint, I think, is a really unique approach,” said Barder.
During the interview, Powell explained how critically important technology and data analytics are to what Pinpoint UK does, highlighting the MGA’s large, aggregated pool of data and the benefits of technology being built on new architecture.
“So, what we’ve seen so far and what we’ve started trialling, we’re really delighted. And I think the fact that we’re new, we can be that nimble and flexible. Again, a lot of people look at embedding new technology, but they’re doing it on very antiquated architecture, and we’re lucky to have started that from scratch and built it in-house,” he said.
As well as technology and the FCA approval, Barder and Powell provided insights into the leadership team at Pinpoint UK and how that will shape the company’s culture, and growth plans for the MGA over the next year or so were also discussed.
“We really look at ourselves as almost a golden nugget, where we want to focus on long-term, building quality. We’re not in a hurry. We don’t need to write huge amounts of business. And we really want to create a sustainable model that will withstand market cycles,” said Barder.
Watch the full video interview to hear more from Barder and Powell on the plans for and progress of Pinpoint UK, and what this means for ASIC in the expanding E&S market.
The full video interview is embedded below.
The post Pinpoint UK a long-term play for AM Specialty Insurance Company: Barder and Powell appeared first on ReinsuranceNe.ws.
