Welcome to the May edition of the Broker Business newsletter.

In this month’s newsletter, we cover several key items for our Brokers, including the launch of our Broker Charter.

Broker Charter

Unimutual has recently developed a Broker Charter – a shared commitment between Unimutual and Brokers to our Members/Clients, their people and the communities they serve.

Unimutual staff and Brokers provided valuable feedback throughout the development of the charter. This included the Broker forum at our Annual Conference this year, where we discussed the content of the charter and received valuable feedback.

Unimutual and Brokers have also agreed on a set of Unimutual and Broker goals, shared strengths, shared roles and responsibilities, shared activities, shared expectations and values.

We have officially launched the Unimutual and Broker Charter to our Broker community, and we look forward to working in partnership with you to bring the charter to life and work in a tripartite relationship in the best interests of each other, as well as our Members/Clients.

The charter can be found here. If you have any questions or feedback on the Broker Charter, please contact us at [email protected].

It’s data collection time

The renewal data collection process has commenced and the Resure system is now available for Members to input information for the 2023/24 renewal. As mentioned at our recent Annual Conference, it is so important that we receive complete Member data in a timely manner, to enable us to model our exposures and negotiate the best terms for Members on our reinsurance protection. Completion of data collection is due by Monday 31 July.

Following Member feedback, we are developing a new Fine Arts, Rare Books and Collectibles Protection, which will offer greater flexibility for Members in cover and retention options. Further details about the terms and conditions of this protection will be provided to Members shortly. In the meantime, we have requested Members to indicate their interest in this product.

Unimutual acts on ESG

Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) refers to a framework to integrate environmental, social and governance risks and opportunities into a company’s strategy, to build long-term financial sustainability and create value.

As a responsible, corporate citizen, the Unimutual team has developed a five-pillar framework to embed ESG into our core business and activities. We are pleased to present to you Unimutual’s draft ESG plan for 2023-2025, which can be found here. Similar to how we approach everything at Unimutual, we want this to be a consultative process with our Members and Brokers, and encourage you to review the draft plan and provide feedback by the end of May. All feedback will be considered prior to the plan being finalised.

As an initial action, and one of many ways we are demonstrating our commitment to the environment, Unimutual has become a signatory to the Business Council of Co-operatives and Mutuals (BCCM) Declaration of Climate Action. This declaration sets out how mutuals will respond to the net zero transition over the coming years, and take advantage of the opportunities for prosperity from a low carbon economy. Further policy details can be found here.

What is a “hard” market?

As we start looking ahead to the 2023/24 renewal, I have had the opportunity to meet with Members and Brokers and discuss the current global insurance market environment. Often in these discussions I am asked, “What do you mean by a ‘hard’ market?”

The terms “soft” market and “hard” market are commonly used in the insurance industry and describe the swing between profitable and unprofitable periods in the insurance and reinsurance market over time. This is commonly known as the Insurance Cycle or the Underwriting Cycle.

To support our Members, and their Audit and Risk Committees, we have written an article to explain the Underwriting Cycle, what drives movement through the cycle, and why the industry currently finds itself in a “hard” market. We encourage you to share with your networks.

As always, if you have any feedback, or if you have any suggestions or requests for additional industry-related fact sheets, please feel free to email me at [email protected].

Yours sincerely,

Geoff Henderson
Chief Executive Officer

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