Thatch Home growth through the roof
Authored by Prestige Underwriting
As a leading provider of non-standard home insurance with specialist underwriting expertise of harder to place risks, Prestige Underwriting was delighted to evolve its niche household proposition in 2017 to include Thatched Home.
The Thatched product boasts a wide underwriting footprint and caters for properties that are fully, or partially roofed in a full range of thatch roof constructions including water reed, wheat reed, long straw and fibre.
Since entering the market, the Thatched Underwriting team have established excellent trading relationships with a network of Brokers who specialise in providing cover for their customers seeking appropriate cover for this niche risk. The business has enjoyed year on year growth since the product first launched and 2022 is no exception. Before year end the Thatched book was tracking over 45% growth in GWP YOY.
Chris Duck, Head of Property Underwriting shared his thoughts on the success, noting:
“Our main aim when developing a Thatched product was to build something which was sustainable in the long term and which our Broker partners could have confidence in in a market space which has traditionally been somewhat volatile. It was of paramount importance to us that we adopted a sensible approach both to risk selection and the partners with whom we trade. Rather than seeking to differentiate ourselves by way of our Underwriting footprint we have been keen to set ourselves apart in terms of service and making ourselves easy to trade with both for our Broker partners and their customers. To achieve this, we developed a full quote and bind option on our Covernet portal rather than asking people to complete a lengthy and arduous manual proposal form. This is an approach which has seen us implement a solution which enables our Broker partners to benefit from a same day turnaround on New Business quotes.”
The continued and successful expansion of the Underwriting team in 2022 has served to further improve the end-to-end service we have provided for both our Brokers and customers. Furthermore, the frequent review of the Thatched Home product continues to ensure our customers are getting the cover they need, while also ensuring that Prestige Underwriting remain competitive, both in terms of the product and premium offered.
The growth of Thatched Home is a strategic priority for the business in 2023 with a commitment to further growth and market share expansion.
