BMS Canada Risk Services (“BMS Canada”), the Canadian arm of Minova Insurance-owned BMS Group, has announced the launch of Lions Gate Underwriting, a specialist MGA.
Lions Gate, set to begin underwriting immediately, will operate as a Lloyd’s coverholder and will underwrite “on behalf of large A-rated global insurers.” Its specialty lines include:
- Travel Medical Insurance
- War Risk & Terrorism Insurance
- Professional Liability
- Cyber and privacy
- Personal lines
Industry professionals familiar with BMS Canada welcome the MGA’s launch.
“I think it’s great news,” said Sherif Gemayel, president, Sharp Insurance. “BMS is an amazing broker who we’ve used in the past to connect with Lloyd’s. I wonder why the change in name since BMS had a good name in the market, but I don’t see any downside.”
Others feel that the establishment of Lions Gate is reflective of positive developments taking place in the Canadian insurance market.
“This just follows the trend of where we’re going,” said Mark Woodall, president & CEO of Special Risk Insurance Managers. “The MGA market is growing significantly, and the specialty insurance market is rapidly expanding.”
Woodall describes this as “a tremendous thing,” as the MGA distribution model is advantageous for insurers and brokers alike.
“We’re going to see more and more insurers or large capital providers looking at different distribution methods, with one of them being the MGA market,” he said. “Some will go direct writing, but that requires a significant influx of capital whereas an insurance company that distributes their products through an MGA has essentially no capital usage.”
As the head of an MGA that deals with 5,000 brokers throughout Canada, Woodall sees the benefit that MGAs can provide to brokers firsthand.
“With the consolidation of insurers, there’s very few specialty insurers in the marketplace that have the ability to distribute their products through multiple agents, so they’re using MGAs,” he said.
Most insurance companies, he attests, cannot distribute through that many brokers.
“Anywhere from 10-20% of an individual retail brokerage business is now deemed to be specialty-type business. If you’re looking on an overall basis, that’s 10-20% of the entire insurance market,” he said. “That’s a massive amount.”
