7 Reasons management liability needs to change

At Anzen we’ve spent two years unpacking management liability. We’ve paired our deep technology and industry expertise with that of reinsurers, carriers, claims professionals, employment attorneys, underwriters, brokers, and policyholders to understand and validate what makes an important product so volatile in its pricing and challenging for brokers to explain and sell.

Here are the 7 key areas we’ve identified that make management liability insurance so tough to sell. At Anzen we’re fixing each one to make it far easier and more profitable for agencies to transact and more attractive for policyholders to buy or renew with Anzen.‍

1. Quotes take forever 

90% of the time, most markets will take weeks to return a quote. Usually there are multiple follow-ups for additional information. 

‍SOLUTION: We’ve built technology to automatically scan any complete submission and get you a bindable quote in 1 day or less. In addition,  anyone can use our digital application which takes less than 10 minutes to complete. For select business we’ll waive additional uploads.

2. Premiums are volatile

Even before COVID premiums were rising. During COVID things got more wacky. IPOs and SPACs skewed the whole D&O market which rippled into the cost of $1-2 million limits. At the peak in 2022 premiums were up over 130% from 2018 levels. Social inflation and the increasing volume of EPL claims also continued to drive costs. As if this wasn’t already challenging enough, some carriers have taken advantage of the situation by providing unsustainable terms and pricing- in some cases going direct to the customer. All of this volatility puts brokers in a tough position- push the cheapest quote even if it may go up substantially the next year or push the best coverage and brand even if it’s more expensive?‍

SOLUTION: Anzen is focused on offering terms that balance excellent coverage for the right premium based on the risk. Our goal is to deliver you and your customer sustainable long-term coverage, and avoid volatility all together. 

3. Applications are frustrating

Underwriters and brokers have come to accept the status-quo. 15 page pdf applications asking tedious or irrelevant questions in “underwriter speak” doesn’t work well for anyone. Your policyholders are likely demanding a different experience. ‍

SOLUTION: Anzen has built an intuitive, fast, online application that takes less than 10 minutes for you or your customer to complete. Should the submission not fit within our appetite, we will automatically complete a PDF application for you to take back to the market. Alternatively, Anzen will ingest any traditional application to speed up the quoting process if you send one to us.

4. Underwriting appetite is narrow

You’ve spent a week or more putting a submission together only to find that no one is offering terms. Increased pricing volatility, the hard reinsurance market, digital underwriting solutions and underwriting complexity has driven many carriers and underwriters to only want a narrow slice of business.

SOLUTION: Anzen has a broad underwriting appetite across technology and non-technology classes including manufacturing, retail, distribution and construction. We underwrite to the risk.‍

5. Coverage is complicated 

Management liability coverage is complicated and often difficult to understand. Unlike other insurance products, coverage is often buried in the policy forms making interpretation to policyholders and brokers time consuming and confusing.

SOLUTION: Anzen has done its best to clearly articulate the coverage terms, exclusions, and endorsements with a core focus on making them easier to market and explain.

6. This is a relationship business

Given the complexity of the coverage and cost to your policyholders, you likely want more direct interaction with your underwriters. Many carriers, and most MGA’s, are cutting back on relationships with brokers by going direct, digitally underwriting, severely discounting price, and/or focusing more on distributing products through wholesale channels.    

SOLUTION: Management liability is not a “one size fits all” product. Every business is unique and the relationship with our brokers matters. Our underwriters are accessible. Our team has decades of experience both running agencies, as brokers, and as underwriters at leading management liability carriers. Relationships matter most. 

7. Where is the Risk Management?

Claims frequency and severity drive up premiums. Policyholders are buying insurance to respond when these claims do happen, but they likely want to take an active part in avoiding claims in the first place. They typically understand that a culture of safety results in less claims, but when it comes to management liability, they may not know where to start. 

SOLUTION: Anzen risk management is the first of its kind to offer real software, real services, and real solutions that tackle the specific drivers of risk that can be addressed. Anzen’s Safety Auditor is the beginning of a compliance platform that offers every policyholder tools such as onboarding and offboarding checklists, HR Services, employee documentation tracking and auditing.

Summary

At Anzen we’re serious about rebuilding management liability to address real and ongoing pain for brokers and policyholders. The support and feedback from the broker community has been one of our greatest resources. As 2023 kicks off we couldn’t be more excited to continue partnering with agencies across the U.S. to bring a better product to you and your customers.

We’d love to hear from you. Please let us know if you think we’re on the right track. ‍