Parmia Insurance director and NIBA Broker of the Year Danny Gumm is planning ‘rapid national expansion’ for the Queensland-based firm, particularly around the allied medical and alternative health industries.
“There is a great opportunity where a lot of those industries are being treated as a commodity: there is a ‘bulk buy’ cheap policy that is out there,” said Gumm. “At the end of the day, it is medical malpractice [if things go wrong] and you are dealing with humans and different reactions.
“We’ve had a number of industries that have asked us to get involved more on the risk management front. That’s not only providing insurance products, but also advice and self-regulation to improve industry standards through associations to their members and to the community in general.”
Gumm added that Parmia Insurance is also looking at wholesaling many of its products.
“Our initial philosophy was very much about working with industry groups through their professional associations,” said Gumm. “That’s still a successful philosophy that we’d like to maintain. What’s turned around is that we have some very unique products that insurance brokers are asking to have access to. We’ve steadily done that – primarily in the beauty industry, as well as finalising a market-first solution for the tattoo industry.
“If we have these products, and there is that need, we certainly shouldn’t write off the opportunity to wholesale those products to other brokers.”
Established in 2002, Parmia looks after 15 associations and their members across Australia, covering a wide range of industries including beauty, health, graphic design, IT and learning and business development.
The firm has been the recipient of several insurance and industry awards, including Queensland Young Professional Broker of the Year and a finalist at the Australian Insurance Awards for the past two years. However, Gumm is especially proud of being named Broker of the Year at last week’s NIBA Convention.
“It’s a great honour – I basically floated on the stage, it was totally unexpected!” said Gumm. “By the very nature of our business we try and fly a little bit under the radar in that we’re a small company, we like to punch above our weight but like to stay out of the limelight. We’re certainly not going to knock the recognition from winning such as prestigious award.”
“Also, having Natasha [Burr] up there in the Warren Tickle Award [for young professionals] was great. For two of us to be nominated for national awards was an amazing situation for us.”
