How smaller brokerages can level the playing field

Smaller brokerages in the Canadian P&C insurance space can benefit from sharing best practices and platforms with other brokerages while still remaining independent, said the president of a family-owned brokerage in Nova Scotia.

Earlier this month, Halifax-based Keyes Insurance became a member of the Canadian Broker Network (CBN), a national alliance of independent insurance brokerages representing more than $2.5 billion in property and casualty premiums, as well as employee benefits and life and financial services. Keyes Insurance remains a fully independent brokerage solely owned by president Shaun Keyes.

He told Canadian Underwriter in an interview that the possibility of becoming part of a larger group gives a bit more relevance to a smaller brokerage like his.

“The sharing of best practices allows independent brokerages to see how it’s being done at scale and implement those [practices] in their own brokerage,” Keyes said. “The value of being able to sit at the table with some of those other brokers that are larger across Canada…is huge.”

A traditional family brokerage with 20 or fewer employees, for example, would have limits on who they can represent. However, with access to a broader network of brokerages, “there’s really no company you can’t access, or risk you can’t look at, because you have a shared pool of expertise and market access,” Keyes said.

CBN has a shared platform where brokers have access to risks they haven’t seen before.

“You can go to the shared platform and say, ‘Hey, has anybody seen this type of risk? Who would underwrite it? What things do we need to gather from an underwriting point of view?’” Keyes said. “So that’s really valuable. As a small broker, if you didn’t have all the market access, there’s probably somebody within the group you’ve met who would be willing to help you with market access.”