New programs push Accredited 2020 contracted premium to $1.28bn

Five new programs in Q4 helped push contracted premium at R&Q’s Accredited program management platform to $1.28bn last year, with strong 2021 momentum in its established European and US admitted subsidiaries, and a pipeline of deals to be unveiled once its E&S platform completes its licensing process.

In total, Accredited added 18 new deals in 2020 as contracted premium increased 52 percent to $1.28bn and gross written premium grew by 46 percent to $538.9mn.

Economic commission revenue generated by its expanding portfolio of programs grew even faster at 76 percent to $22.7mn, according to an R&Q regulatory filing this morning.

Contracted premium is a measurement of expected future GWP that will result in commission income over time.

In a highly active year for the Accredited platform – whose parent R&Q also has an established legacy acquisition arm – the fourth quarter saw a number of new programs added and the group’s new E&S platform secure its A- rating from AM Best.

The new programs added in 2020 took the total to 48 at year-end, and the London-listed program management and legacy insurance business said that it has a strong pipeline for the year ahead.

The five programs signed up in the fourth quarter included a trio of deals on the platform’s Florida-domiciled US admitted carrier Accredited Surety and Casualty Company (ASC), which has agreed new program partnerships with Tradesman Program Managers (TPM), Comprehensive Real Estate Solutions (CRES) and Novum Underwriting Partners (NUP).

New and expanded relationships

The TPM offering is in workers’ compensation and comes after R&Q took a 35 percent stake in the New York-based MGA in the third quarter of last year.

TPM has been writing general liability for select artisan contractors since 2017 and is now looking to add to the product by offering workers compensation statutory limits to the same insureds in its New York and New Jersey market areas.

The agreement is an expansion of Accredited’s existing relationship with TPM and the MGA’s CEO and founding partner Daniel Hickey said: “TPM and Accredited have consistently and successfully grown our relationship year over year and adding workers’ compensation in our core market base will add to our continuing success.”

CRES is part of US intermediary giant Gallagher’s affinity division and is a niche national MGA for real estate E&O insurance.

CRES will target E&O insurance tailored for real estate agents and mortgage brokers, focusing on residential with some commercial exposure, with Accredited acting as an issuing carrier for the MGA as the program initially launches in California, Texas, Florida, Arizona and Nevada.

Commenting on the tie-up, CRES CEO Steve Sargenti said: “We are thrilled to be partners with the fantastic Accredited team. Real estate professionals have another great choice when it comes to protecting their livelihoods.”

The other ASC deal saw the US admitted carrier enter a program partnership with NUP that will see it act as issuing carrier for the program administrator on its multiple line lumber and wood products manufacturing offering.

The program will initially launch in Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Wisconsin and Virginia with future phases of expansion to take place nationwide.

Novum CEO Donald Sellars said: “Accredited is the perfect partner to support our one-of-a-kind digital underwriting process. Our proprietary front-end system provides agents with a fast and efficient quoting process, all the while maintaining the strong underwriting fundamentals needed in the wood products industry.”

Speaking to The Insurer, ASC president and CEO Todd Campbell highlighted the carrier’s multi-year relationship with TPM as well as its new relationships with CRES and Novum.

And he also pointed to the strong outlook for the US admitted platform as it continues to grow its portfolio.

“We see these three new programs as continued evidence of our growing presence in the market. ASC has a strong pipeline of new partnerships and we are excited to be delivering on our mission to be the program underwriter of choice for US MGAs, MGUs, program owners and their capital partners,” he commented.

European growth continues

Meanwhile, R&Q’s European program management platform Accredited Insurance (Europe) Ltd (AIEL) was also active in the fourth quarter.

The Colin Johnson-led platform entered into partnerships with Global Litigation Limited for an after-the-event insurance offering, and Optio Underwriting Limited in professional indemnity insurance.

Global Litigation Limited provides after-the-event insurance to commercial ATE brokers, specialist litigation lawyers and litigation funders.

Optio Underwriting Limited is the Preservation Capital-backed MGA platform that brought together Cove Programs, Ascent Underwriting and Bay Risk Services

AIEL CEO Johnson said the additions to the platform’s MGA stable highlight the diverse nature of its business.

“Our new partners have very strong reputations in their respective markets, and we look forward to working with them. Whilst both are written out of our UK branch, we are seeing a number of exciting opportunities across Europe and expect to announce further partnerships in the near future,” he added.

E&S programs lined up

In addition to a strong pipeline in its established US admitted and European platforms, Accredited expects to launch several E&S programs in the coming months once it has finalised licensing arrangements for its Accredited Specialty Insurance Company (ASIC) platform.

As previously reported, ASIC secured its A- AM Best rating at the end of last year and has been building out its executive team under president and CEO Patrick Rastiello.

Earlier this month The Insurer revealed that ASIC had hired Paul Amrose from Ascot as CUO of property and Dawn Puro from ProSight Specialty as CUO of casualty.

Hartford, Connecticut-based Amrose was most recently executive vice president and head of programs at Ascot Insurance. He was responsible for generating new programs and managing the underwriting of programs.

Puro was most recently the underwriting executive responsible for generating new programs and managing program underwriting in the energy segment of US insurer ProSight Specialty.

In an interview with Program Manager at the end of last year, Rastiello said at that stage ASIC had already been shown a pipeline of around $1bn of program business.

But he added that only a select group of “best-in-class” MGAs will end up on ASIC’s books as onboarded premium, as he revealed that the carrier has a number of programs in its sights to launch.

ASIC will look to build out a “well-rounded” E&S book of business and will consider most lines with the exception of medical malpractice and products liability.

Lines it will target include general liability, construction, trucking – including cross-border trucking – inland marine, cyber, other liability including D&O and E&O, real estate professional liability, cargo and cannabis.

The Insurer comment

Accredited has reported tangible evidence of the strong growth opportunity for program management and hybrid fronting carriers in the segment.

Its next target is to replicate the growth trajectory seen in its European and admitted US subsidiaries to its new E&S operation. Arguably the E&S market is one of the hardest and fastest growing segments anywhere in the P&C industry, so the opportunity is there to be taken.