The mid-market insurance landscape has undergone a significant transformation. Graham Stait (pictured), Graham Stait, director of mid-market (interim), described it as “a shift to solutions, rather than traditional underwriting.”
He explained: “So the traditional underwriting value chain would go something like sales to risk assessments, risk selection and underwriting policy, and then the claim was something that happened almost separate and after that. But the expectations for customers is that you're joining the two, you're providing risk solutions - not just risk transfer.”
This solution-focused mindset creates an opportunity for brokers. As Stait put it: “we see the opportunity for how we can add value to the risk profile of a customer's business.”
Among the most urgent risks brokers must help clients address are those around cyber and climate. Cyber risk, Stait noted, is no longer just emerging. “It’s very front of mind, I would say, now, and you could actually challenge whether you consider it emerging or just really established, and the solutions need to reflect that,” he said.
Allianz’s recent risk barometer lists cyber incidents - such as ransomware, data breaches, and IT outages - as the top global risk for 2025, a fourth consecutive year at the top. This underscores the importance of broker guidance in this space.
Climate risk also continues to grow in urgency. Stait said: “I think we focus quite a lot on education... so supporting brokers through some of our propositions to understand their carbon footprint better.” Yet, many clients still struggle to apply sustainability goals to their business. “I think a lot of clients will speak to the need to understand sustainability,” he said. “But in practice, in the context of that business, that can be quite challenging.”
Bespoke risk solutions may include:
Cyber:
Climate:
As these risks become more complex, brokers’ role in shaping tailored solutions is more important than ever. Stait stressed: “Clients are going to have different needs, so there's a heavy level of bespoke enhancement required, and that's where that client intimacy is so important.”
He also encouraged brokers to involve insurers directly in the conversation. “Brokers can encourage insurers to speak to clients when it's appropriate to do so,” and open dialogue about “how we can better provide insight data which allows them to run their business better.”
According to Stait, long-term value should drive the entire relationship - not just the renewal. “Value is added throughout the life cycle of the product, throughout the year, so claims, reviews, client meetings, all of that stuff, that's absolutely key. And really the renewal should kind of follow that, rather than being the thing that drives the activity.”
Practical ways brokers can deepen relationships include:
Technology is now central to brokers’ ability to deliver smarter, more bespoke solutions. Stait explained: “Increasingly, we’re using tools that simplify the process. These tools allow us to analyse all new business inquiries and broker proposal forms not just at an aggregate level, but in a much more detailed and sophisticated way. This has been really informative for our broker partners because it shows them how placement activity is happening across their businesses.” Traditionally, he said, “it's a very manual exercise... it takes a lot of effort, both for the broker and for the insurer.” But this is changing. “You can streamline that through things like data enrichment” and “increase our quotes to market,” which in turn frees underwriters to focus on “value adding activity”, he said.
Crucially, Stait sees digital tools as enhancing - not replacing - expertise: “If you can algorithmically do something, then it should really be digitalised... because it requires expert oversight now that can be augmented through digitisation and increased data capturing. Fundamentally, that is an augmentation to the underwriting process, not a replacement of it.”
To make the most of technology, brokers can:
