The last two years have been particularly challenging as the global insurance market went through a ‘hard market’, that is, a sustained period of constriction and correction. This environment, coupled with the uncertainty generated by the Covid-19 pandemic meant insurance brokers have had to ensure key parts of cover remain in play, hire even more quality associates and invest in innovative technology to support their clients further.
“We saw reductions in capacity, increases in premiums and deductibles, restrictions in coverage and limits of liability available to our clients,” details Gareth Abbott, senior vice president, Lockton Companies LLP. The firm’s tech investment came in the form of the Lockton Global FI digital portal, which helped streamline its client renewal process by doing away with a number of proposal forms and having one centralised resource for their insurance needs.
Abbott notes clients continue to need and demand the highest level of standard and service from their insurance broker. The digital portal means Lockton has created a process that delivers this in the most efficient way possible. “This enables us to spend more time looking at their common problems/risks and to provide uncommon and innovative solutions to these,” Abbott outlines.
Over the course of 2021, Lockton reviewed and revised its bespoke wording with the help and advice of top international insurance law firms.
Abbott discusses the impact of this exercise: “To best protect our clients, we have upgraded our policies to provide the right cover going forward which will ensure that we can retain top quality rated security. This includes the Senior Managers and Certificate Regime as well as cyber insurances which continue to be at the forefront of boardrooms.
“Many insurers have advised that they wish to remove key parts of cover, but we have pushed back and managed to resist this. As the indemnities provided by service providers change, understanding where insurance can fill that gap is the key to good operational and risk governance that Lockton strives to provide.”
Moving forward, the broker aims to continue to develop its services to add value to clients beyond transactional placements. For example, Abbott highlights how in 2022 and beyond Lockton looks forward to continuing keeping existing clients and prospects informed regarding evolving and emerging risks and changes in the market through delivering high quality content and events aimed at sharing knowledge and best practice and exploring new innovations and trends.
“Lockton is committed to engaging regularly with our PE clients. We make sure they are informed and educated in what their existing policies provide. We also strive to innovate, to try and find new solutions for our clients which can help mitigate the evolving risks that could potentially impact their portfolios as well as their own businesses,” he explains, “We have always viewed our offering to the alternative asset community as far more than just the policies we place. We are able to draw upon the resources of the whole business to influence our servicing and understanding, including the work we do within the eco-system of the wider financial sector.” 
