AMBestTV: Insurer-Delegated Authority Relationships Run on Trust, Say Amwins Execs

In this episode of ^AMBestTV, Bob Petrilli, president, and Ryan Armijo, chief operating officer, both with Amwins’ underwriting division, said managing general agents and other delegated underwriting authority enterprises (DUAE) must bring deep knowledge of their specialization to business relationships.

The pair spoke with ^AMBestTV during Target Markets’ 20th annual summit, held recently in Scottsdale, AZ, and both stressed the importance of trust and commitment between an insurer and a DUAE.

“The program space is really growing at a rapid pace,” said Petrilli. “If a carrier wants to delegate their authority, that's fantastic, but they need to understand that it's not an in-and-out proposition.”

“Specialization puts yourself in front of a carrier and gives them the trust that you’re focused on one thing,” said Armijo. “They're looking to delegate their underwriting authority to people who go deep and are experts in a class, and specialization offers that.”

^AMBestTV also spoke at the event with Ben Francavilla, president of Amwins Program Underwriters. He said fronting carriers backed by reinsurers are helping to shape the environment for program business, and agreed that harnessing specialization is key to achieving growth.

“We look for underwriters who have talent in specific niches. If you can find them, then the capacity will follow, because at the end of the day, specialization is always what makes this work,” said Francavilla. “I think being an AM Best-designated PA-1 is also a way to differentiate ourselves, especially as we search for new capacity.”

Amwins recently became the first DUAE to receive the top Best’s Performance Assessment of PA-1, largely reflecting its exceptional underwriting capabilities and performance. The performance assessment provides an objective, independent opinion of a DUAE’s ability to perform services on behalf of carriers, and given that DUAEs have become an important part of the insurance ecosystem, AM Best believes these independent assessments add value to the marketplace by providing a tool to differentiate among these organizations. To learn about the value of a Best’s Performance Assessment, or for answers to frequently asked questions, please click here.

In addition, ^AMBestTV has made available a number of executive interviews from the Target Markets event available, including discussions with Denise Olson, head of programs, Zurich North America; Claude LeBlanc, chief executive officer, Ambac and Everspan Group; David Howden, founder and chief executive, Howden Group Holdings; Kip Kelley, chief executive officer U.S., Aon Affinity. For these interviews, along with the discussion with Amwins executives and others, please go to http://www.ambest.tv/targetmarkets22.

^AMBestTV covers exclusive AM Best and insurance industry information and reports, targeted topics and key developments in the insurance, reinsurance and related sectors daily. Sign up for alerts of episodes at http://www.ambest.com/multimedia/ambtvsignup.html. View AM BestTV episodes at http://www.ambest.tv.

AM Best is a global credit rating agency, news publisher and data analytics provider specializing in the insurance industry. Headquartered in the United States, the company does business in over 100 countries with regional offices in London, Amsterdam, Dubai, Hong Kong, Singapore and Mexico City. For more information, visit www.ambest.com.

Copyright © 2022 by A.M. Best Company, Inc. and/or its affiliates. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

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