Underwriting Expertise

UNDERWRITING EXPERTISE
Carrier performance: 7.44

FIVE-STAR CARRIERS

• Chubb
• Liberty International Underwriters Canada
• Northbridge Insurance
• Portage Mutual Insurance
• RSA
• SGI Canada
• Sovereign General Insurance Company
• Trisura Guarantee Insurance Company
• Wynward Insurance Group

What brokers want

“We need more user-friendy communication (from underwriters) so that we can provide timely and concise updates to the applicant”

Although carriers’ performance in underwriting expertise dipped slightly compared to last year, this category still ranked among the top three in terms of both performance and importance.

For the outstanding performers, brokers were quick to commend the underwriting staff as “one of the best” and “well trained” with “good knowledge and good personal skills.” As one broker described, underwriting expertise really comes down to the details and fine print: “I like to read policy wordings and find their staff are able to explain intent and provide good examples.”

There were others who felt their carriers had “some good knowledgeable [underwriting] staff,” but not quite enough of them to meet the demand. In other cases, the quality of underwriting is also linked to turnover. One reader who gave his carrier top marks in this area mentioned that “there is very little turnover in staff at [the company], so you are usually speaking with the same person for years.”

For the carriers that received low marks, brokers’ feedback revealed a lack of consistency – underwriters having different answers to the same question, for example. Another broker observed that underwriting service also depends on the carrier’s technological capacity, saying “[They have a] great team, but they could fix the auto underwriting in the portal.” However, this aspect can be tricky to navigate, as there are still brokers who prefer good traditional underwriting and are wary of carriers “relying too much on technology to solve everything.”