Fortegra adds to E&S build-out with Rockwood professional liability program
Fortegra P&C Group is seeing a strong pipeline of deals for its recently launched E&S platform after adding a second program with a new professional liability offering aimed at off-duty police officers in partnership with Rockwood Programs.
As previously reported, the US insurer’s new Arizona-domiciled surplus lines carrier Fortegra Specialty received an A- financial strength rating from AM Best in November 2020.
The first E&S program signed up by the new carrier was a professional liability offering for mortgage service providers through Innovative Risk Services.
And earlier this month Fortegra Specialty provided the E&S capacity behind the launch of Patrol Protect with Rockwood Programs, an MGA it already has a relationship with on its admitted platform.
The new coverage is designed to protect police officers performing duties outside of their role in law enforcement.
Customised plans are available to groups such as police departments and law enforcement-related associations and organisations, and claims are adjudicated by law firm Wilson Elser, which provides advocacy defence for Patrol Protect policyholders.
Speaking to The Insurer, Fortegra’s executive vice president and CUO of insurance Mark Rattner said the tie-up with Wilson Elser brings a proactive approach to the educational process for insureds.
“It’s not just a reactive insurance policy, we educate and provide assistance before anything happens,” he explained.
The program relationship with Rockwood also harnesses artificial intelligence capabilities to help identify leads and enhance distribution capabilities.
Rockwood Programs president Glenn Clark said that the firm’s research found that of over 700,000 law enforcement professionals in the US, 43 percent are engaged in some sort of part-time work, accounting for over 40 million hours in total.
“We developed this niche, first of its kind product for law enforcement professionals because we saw uninsured exposures and coverage gaps. Our partnership with Fortegra enabled our team to bring an innovative new program that can provide professional liability protection for this very important community,” he commented.
The product offers limit options of $100,000 and $250,000.
Strong pipeline and higher retention
Rattner said that Fortegra is seeing a “very robust” pipeline of programs as he suggested the carrier’s target market is different from some other players in the sector.
“We’re a casualty liability targeted market and are very comfortable writing small or even start-up programs like Patrol Protect. Programs that have $2mn to $20mn of premium and a great idea are very attractive to us,” he added.
Opportunities are coming as a result of changing appetite from existing carriers, including in areas where Lloyd’s had previously participated on a binding authority basis.
Fortegra also typically takes a higher retention than the majority of participatory or hybrid program fronting carriers that have launched in the last few years.
“A lot of the new markets want to take 5-10 percent, and that’s not the case with us – 20 percent would be light. We’ll write up to 50 percent of the primary million and if we like a program then we like it, we put our name on it and our money behind it, which helps us get the reinsurance terms we get as well,” Rattner added.
The insurer’s group chairman, president and CEO Rick Kahlbaugh commented: “We’re open for business as a program underwriter. Our preference is casualty, but we will look at property. We will use reinsurance but we are a risk taker and if we believe in the program we’ll stand behind it.”
He also said that the carrier has a strong focus on using AI and marketing skill sets to enhance the sales ecosystem for its agents.
“What we’re trying to do is deliver not just a capital warehouse but some additional value to make the program as successful as possible. It’s not just policy issuance and claims, there’s a lot more to this today than there was 20 years ago,” said Kahlbaugh.