CEO Spotlight: Beazley Canada

This an edited excerpt from our December issue, where we talked to the CEOs of some of Canada’s largest insurers. Read the full story here.

Specialist insurer Beazley expanded its Canadian presence in 2017 when it acquired Creechurch Underwriters—and it plans to continue growing.

“Beazley didn’t buy Creechurch for it to stay as is—it was a platform for growth,” says Phil Baker, president of Beazley Canada and the former president and CEO of Creechurch. “We’ll continue with the existing business that we do, which is profitable, but with that we’ll roll out new products and we’re going to expand our underwriting capacity to match it.”

To that end, the company recently entered the environmental market, as well as the media, film and television space. Hiring skilled underwriters has been a key component to Beazley’s strategy.

“Our underwriters are very close to the business, so they should be the ones making the decisions,” Baker says. “That, ultimately, is what I think most of our brokers want—they want to do business with somebody who can make a decision.”

Beazley sees the potential for growth in the cyber market on the heels the high-profile Equifax breach and ransomware attacks that took place last year.

“Canada’s a few years behind where the U.S. is in terms of buying [cyber insurance],” Baker notes. “One of the great things we offer is not so much the insurance product—which is important—but the services we wrap around it.”

As part of its cyber offering, Beazley offers credit monitoring and forensics, among other value-adds.

“When you buy a policy from us, you’re buying a service as much as you’re buying the insurance,” Baker says. “Even before it gets into our claims department, you’re dealing with our breach response team. That’s our biggest selling feature.”

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This story was originally published by Canadian Insurance Top Broker.