Interim results have been pouring in from insurers across Canada this week and the first half of the year has not been an easy ride for the insurance industry, with extreme weather causing significant losses countrywide.
One company that managed to shine despite difficult circumstances, however, is
RSA Canada. The insurer managed to record improvements across the board in all divisions of its Canadian business. A major factor behind RSA’s success, it suggests, is its continued investment in, and improvement of, its broker channel.
President and CEO of RSA Canada, Martin Thompson explained: “Roughly 70% of our business is in the broker channel and about 70% of our business investment has gone into the broker channel. We believe that the broker channel has a big role to play in the future. A lot of our investment has gone into helping us make sure we are a good partner to our brokers so that we can serve them well and they can then do a good job for their customers.
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“RSA Canada wants to be seen as a number one partner for brokers. We are doing that by making continued investment and by building an environment within the business where we are relentless about continually improving what we do. We believe all of that will come through and help us to continue to deliver strong financial performances in the future.”
RSA Group worldwide has been investing in the broker channel in a number of ways. The Group has run a sales force effective programme to install better processes, discipline, diligence and communication among its broker sales force. It has also run a digital marketing campaign to improve communication and visibility among brokers.
“We’re now in the third wave of our digital marketing campaign,” said Thompson. “It’s for the ongoing education of brokers about our product offering. We believe we have one of the best home offerings in the country and our digital marketing campaign is about helping brokers to understand that so they can better service their clients.”
Despite making continued investment in the broker channel, RSA Group CEO Stephen Hester said the company must remain pragmatic and will service customers the way they want to be served.
“At RSA Group we intend to service our customers in any way they want to be serviced. Some customers like going direct, so we have direct offerings in each of our markets. But many customers like the support of brokers,” Hester commented. “Of course, it varies by type of business. At RSA, roughly half of our businesses is commercial lines and that is almost all done through brokers given the greater sophistication and complexity of the coverage. In personal lines, more customers choose to go direct given the greater simplicity of the products.
“Our point of view is that we want to serve customers as well as we possibly can through whatever channel they want to do business through. We are proud to be partners with a number of thriving brokerages and we want to be better partners in the future.”
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