Brokerage launches its own exclusive MGA

Brokerage InsureLine Brokers Inc. has officially launched its new managing general agency (MGA) – InsureLine Solutions Inc.

Available exclusively to InsureLine franchisees, “the intention is to help fill gaps in current coverages, and also identify lines of high-risk or niche market business where InsureLine already has volume among its group and to provide tailor-made coverages and products exclusively for its brokers,” the brokerage said in a press release Wednesday.

When asked to elaborate on some of the gaps in current coverages and high-risk areas, InsureLine president and CEO Aly Kanji told Canadian Underwriter that “for starters, we recognized that we have lines of business where we can consolidate volume across our various offices, resulting in significant enough premium that warrants creation of our own programs.

“The world is moving at a rapid pace and we see opportunities for new products that are not available today in the marketplace,” Kanji said Tuesday. “We can pitch these concepts to underwriters knowing that InsureLine now has significant distribution.”

The MGA’s first products will be a vacant home product and a “flipper” program for insureds who purchase a property to renovate and resell, Kanji reported.

There are also other areas within personal lines that have left homeowners exposed. For example, skyrocketing deductibles have left many condominium owners unprotected. And in commercial lines, many of the domestic insurers are backing away from writing basic risks that can be very profitable but the premiums are seen as too small. “These are the types of gaps that we are hoping to fill with InsureLine Solutions.”

Kanji added that “some of the high-risk markets where we are already working on capacity include commercial trucking and hospitality.”

InsureLine Solutions is technically licensed and ready to place business, Kanji said. It is already an approved Lloyd’s coverholder and is establishing relationships in both domestic and foreign reinsurance markets to build new capacity for its franchisees. “We are still building out a team and searching for top talent to help us!” Kanji added.

InsureLine is an insurance brokerage franchise that enables independent insurance brokerages to retain 100% ownership in their business while providing the scale necessary to compete in the marketplace. A little over six years into its operation, InsureLine has more than 30 offices in British Columbia, Alberta, Manitoba, and Ontario.

Kanji told Canadian Underwriter that InsureLine has plans to expand across Canada. “Our focus at the moment is to continue expansion across the Prairies and specifically in Ontario,” he said. “We view our role as helping to preserve the independent broker channel in Canada.”

Kanji added that all franchisees are licensed brokerages that operate completely independently. “We don’t own any shares in the franchisee,” he said, but through the franchisee agreement, franchisees get access to tools, technology, market capacity and marketing support to grow their brokerage.

“Our target is converting an existing small independent brokerage that has aspirations to grow, or to help set up a team with an existing book of business to start a brokerage,” he said, adding the InsureLine has helped brokerages “triple and quadruple in size in a short period of time with the help and support of our head office team.”

 

Feature image by iStock.com/terng99