April 4, 2024 • 20 mins
Gain valuable insight into the ever-changing E&S property market with CRC Group's property brokers, David Christopher and Jonas Williams. This episode peels back the layers of market trends as the calendar flips from 2023 to 2024, highlighting the significant role of quota share and layered business in navigating complex accounts. Get ready to grasp the importance of precise property valuations and the innovative tools CRC leverages to help you win in today’s marketplace.
Visit REDYIndex.com for critical pricing analysis and a snapshot of the marketplace.
Do you want to take your career to the next level? Join #TeamCRC to get access to best-in-class tools, data, exclusive programs, and more! Send your resume to resumes@crcgroup.com today!
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Amanda Knight (00:00):
Hello everyone.
Today, scott and I are joinedby a couple of CRC's property
brokers.
We've got David Christopher, aSenior Vice President and
Property Broker with CRC Group'sDallas office, as well as
inside broker Jonas Williamsfrom our Birmingham Alabama
office.
This is the Placing you Firstpodcast from CRC Group.
Scott Gordon (00:20):
This podcast features news and insights from
a vast knowledge base of over5,100 associates.
Amanda Knight (00:26):
Who write more than $35 billion in premium
annually.
Plus, we give you the latestinformation on what's happening
at CRC.
This, this, this is the Placingyou First podcast, and now the
hosts of the podcast, amandaKnight and Scott Gordon.
Welcome to the podcast.
It's good to have you both withus today.
David Christopher (00:44):
Thanks for having us.
Thank you for having us.
Scott Gordon (00:46):
Okay, well, let's jump into this.
We recently put out the writtencompanion ENS property state of
the market piece, and it seemsas though 2024 is looking a
little brighter than 23 when itcomes to property renewals.
How does the current marketcompare to 2023?
Jonas Williams (01:05):
What we've seen so far in 2024 is the market's
kind of stabilized compared towhat we saw in 2023.
There is more capacity comingout domestically and out of
London and Bermuda.
We're seeing rates stabilizedthere, but reinsurers are still
pushing for rate increasesoverall.
So I don't think we're seeingrates stabilize there but
(01:26):
reinsurers are still pushing forrate increases overall.
So I don't think we're going tosee a drop anytime soon.
There's still a fair amount ofdemand out there, but not quite
enough.
Supply is what we saw five, six, seven years ago, where you saw
large chunks of capacity comingout of single carriers, where
you saw large chunks of capacitycoming out of single carriers.
(01:46):
We're seeing more quota shareand layered business, especially
on tougher accounts, and Idon't think that's going to
change anytime soon.
David Christopher (01:54):
I'll add to that.
So the majority of the carriersthat we're trading with, we're
seeing an increased appetite.
If you look at their combinedratios the carriers combined
ratios they've significantlyimproved, which for the most
part means that seniormanagement is saying we want
more and we need to get more asfast as we can while our
(02:16):
profitability is up and ratesare still up.
So there's an increase inappetite.
For sure, there's certainly astabilizing effect.
With reinsurance renewals thispast year.
Versus last year there's notquite as much of a crunch in
Florida as there was last year.
And then we've also got somenew market capacity that's come
(02:37):
in.
That's allowed us to navigatesome of the tighter placements
where we were really tight downto the last market.
Now we have markets that we canmaneuver around and be more
creative with.
In addition to that, we havein-house products that I think
are helping us every day, andour in-house products are
(02:59):
getting more and more robust.
So I think all of those factors, combined with what Jonah said,
that's where the market isright now Still underwriting
discipline, but we've got moretools to work with and a little
more flexibility in the market.
Amanda Knight (03:14):
So with insurers sort of signaling a cautious
readiness to embrace a littlemore risk, what sort of factors
are influencing sort of theunderwriting decision-making
process?
Jonas Williams (03:29):
I think quality of data is still key for a lot
of our underwriters and ourcarrier partners.
You know, and valuations, theyall kind of know what you know
frame habitational would take torebuild after a loss and they
have these metrics and sothey're comparing everybody's
(03:51):
submissions to what they haveinternally and seeing if it adds
up and if it doesn't, thenthey're seeing more than enough
opportunities so they canhappily pass if valuations are
not adequate enough or if we'remissing, you know, key
information that would help themunderwrite the risk.
David Christopher (04:12):
I'll jump in.
I think the corporate theaverage combined ratio of the
different underwriting companiesis driving a lot at senior
levels, a lot at senior levels.
And then there's an enhanceddemand for underwriting results
at rate levels where these CUOsfeel like the profitability is
(04:33):
there to be had.
So I think that's certainlysomething that you see.
You see, companies are a lotmore aggressive.
Certain companies with thelower combined ratios are a lot
more aggressive.
Certain companies with thelower combined ratios are a lot
more competitive and a lot moreaggressive right now.
If you go to the London market,the stamp capacity is up among
(04:53):
syndicates across the board.
So the majority of the Londonmarket is looking to grab market
share.
There's still a fair amount ofdiscipline, like we talked about
earlier, but I think all ofthose things are driving demand
right now.
Jonas Williams (05:07):
Well, to add to that, last year, what we saw is
carriers either had enoughcapacity or they didn't, and so
the ones that had, they wereopportunistic, and the ones that
didn't have enough, they kindof had to sit on the sidelines
and watch.
You know, some of theircounterparts write risks at high
rates and capitalize on thehard market.
(05:30):
You know, in 2024, I thinkwe're seeing the ones that were
opportunistic or trying to holdon to what they have, and the
guys that you know were morecautious last year they're
looking to grow this year.
So there is some wiggle roomand placements and trying to get
some new capacity on accountsthat maybe wasn't available last
year.
Scott Gordon (05:51):
So, in the face of rising property values and
construction costs, how criticalare accurate property
valuations for insurers andreinsurers?
What sort of tools andstrategies can brokers employ to
ensure precise valuations andmitigate these unexpected losses
?
Jonas Williams (06:08):
As far as the property valuations go, all of
our carrier partners, they knowwhat it costs to rebuild a
property after it's been damaged, so they have this data on the
back end.
So if insureds are notadequately valuing their
property, you know they won'tget a look sometimes from these
(06:30):
carriers because they know whatit costs to replace.
And so what CRC has is we havetools that can help us guide our
retail agents and how to valuea property.
And we can run it on the backend with our CRC SOV fixer,
which takes any spreadsheet youknow, regardless of the quality
(06:53):
of data, and can help fill inthird party information that it
sources out from other places.
But then too it gives us a low,a medium and a high range of
expected valuations and we canshare that with our retail
agents and can help them havethat conversation with their
insureds on how to properlyvalue their property.
(07:15):
Are CAT models that you know,take the insurance information
and run that through you knowthe AIR and the RMS model to
kind of see where the insuranceexposure is based on values that
(07:36):
they've provided, and so thatcan be used as a tool again for
our retail agents to have thatconversation and help them
determine, you know, what istheir actual exposure to wind
events, convective storm, toflood, to fire, and help them
determine how much coverage theyneed to buy for those certain
perils.
Amanda Knight (07:57):
David, before you jump in, I know you probably
can also talk with us about howimportant property valuations
are, but I know we talked aboutthis last year right, especially
after, you know, hurricane Ianstruck in 2023.
Itv valuation really seemed tobe the theme of the year.
So going into 2024, we're now,you know, wrapping up Q1.
(08:20):
Do the insurance understandthat?
I know that some folks werehaving a hard time with
valuation and how much they werereally needed to increase in
2023.
Has that shock sort of worn offat this point?
David Christopher (08:34):
I think the communication has been
consistent over a period of 18months to two years.
We need to address valuationand that persistence of the
underwriting market has led toan awareness that may or may not
have been there in the past.
And you know, obviously thebest and ultimate you know test
(09:00):
for valuation is to get a truereplacement cost appraisal.
That's not done overnight.
There's a lot of planning andthere's cost involved, and then
the tools that Jonas mentionsthat we have are certainly there
as well.
But I think ongoingcommunication awareness has
increased.
So all of those things areplaying into it.
(09:21):
I don't think it's being lost.
The awareness is a little bitmore prevalent now than it was.
Amanda Knight (09:29):
So in this marketplace, where multiple
carriers often have to be pulledonto a risk, what options exist
for tailoring those solutions?
I know we've talked aboutlayering, we've talked about
quota share, but you guys havealso mentioned we have some
proprietary products, somefacilities that help with that.
Do you guys use those?
Are they helpful?
Jonas Williams (09:48):
Yes, I use them all the time, especially when we
have some of our largerplacements, our market carriers.
They use the AIR or the RMSmodels or sometimes a
combination of the two.
It kind of helps us understandwhat they're seeing on their end
.
What can we expect from thosecarriers when they are running
(10:08):
their models themselves?
Now, of course, they're runningit against their portfolio and
seeing how that compares, but itdoes give us an idea of what is
their probable max loss for acertain peril, or you know what
is the worst case event that aninsurer could have.
(10:28):
You know which locations aregoing to get hit the hardest.
So we can use those tools anduse our relationships with our
market carriers to have betterconversations and more directed
conversations around how do wewant to place this specific risk
.
We're very transactional and sowe're often using the same
(10:50):
underwriters for different risks, because they know what each
carrier wants to do in a certainlayer or in a placement and
they're familiar with the termsthat their counterparts are
putting out there.
So we can use that relationshipto leverage the opportunity to
write other accounts with thosesame carriers.
(11:12):
And so those are just some ofthe tools that we have that can
be used to place accounts.
But we also have our in-houseinsurer risk spectrum facility,
which is a quota share or a metoo facility, and so they follow
behind.
You know several of our carrierpartners that they have
(11:32):
agreements with and can helpfill out capacity, and that can
be really useful.
We're using them all the timeto place tough deals or deals
where, you know, not everymarket has the same price in a
layer and they follow maybe oneof the cheaper markets in the
layer and so it can help fillout that capacity at better
(11:56):
pricing than we would be able toget otherwise.
Amanda Knight (11:59):
And if I'm not mistaken, we also have our
insurance builders risk facilitythat rolled out in January.
Have y'all had any experiencewith that yet?
David Christopher (12:07):
I would say the insurer's property tools
have been very valuable to us.
You know, we can quote winddeductible buybacks from our
desk.
We have enormous flexibilitywith an in-house underwriting
team that's very senior.
They're well equipped to handleand manage the different
(12:28):
placements that we're involvedin, which is refreshing A lot of
times.
You know, you don't always havethe luxury of working with
senior underwriters, but thein-house team is certainly
excellent in terms of justquality of underwriting.
You know, I feel like it givesus an option on just about every
placement to pick out a spotwhere we can apply some pressure
(12:51):
to the existing pressure youknow the existing placement,
excuse me and create anenhancement.
Or, if it's an account that wedon't currently write, we look
at it and we go, oh, we can putinsure risk in this spot or that
spot and, you know, create somerestructuring that might bring
(13:11):
a client some savings.
So we're looking at using thosetools to be more creative every
day.
Scott Gordon (13:17):
Whether it's placing business or working
through a claim.
You know, at CRC Group we prideourselves on being specialists
that can help get the job donefor our retail partners.
How can partnering with a CRCGroup producer help agents with
property placements?
David Christopher (13:32):
I think you know we try to be consultative.
It's not like we bringvaluation to the table and say
these are the values that youhave to use for renewal.
Our team, we talk about it allthe time.
We're trying to engage acustomer with information, to
bring a value added and aknowledge and awareness, but
(13:52):
we're a consultant.
We're providing them withfeedback.
So I think most of the brokerswithin the company are very
collaborative and consultantwith the clients.
I find that when we can createpartnerships that go both
directions we listen to thecustomer, the customer listens
to us, we collaborate.
That collaboration is verypowerful.
(14:14):
Many times we even bring theinsured into the middle of that
discussion.
So those are ways that we cancreate a better outcome, and
part of my background is spent11 years on the retail side.
So bringing in the retailclient, bringing in the buyer,
the CFO CEO, into the discussionand really hearing from them is
(14:38):
meaningful to the process, andI feel like we do and I think
that's a benefit.
You know we would try to dothat wherever possible.
Jonas Williams (14:47):
Well, and to add to that, you know, one of the
things that we really focus onon our team in Birmingham is to
be service oriented to ourretail customers.
You know, by and large mostbrokerages have access to the
same markets.
You know, of course we have ourinsurer risk products, but by
(15:08):
and large we all have access tothe same same markets.
So the one thing that we cancontrol is service.
And so if a retail agent has anexisting relationship with a
CRC broker, you know David and Iare specialists in property, so
that's all we focus on isproperty.
But if somebody comes to measking about casualty or
(15:29):
trucking or professional lines,they have a contact person
within CRC and we can kind ofhelp direct them to the right
service or product that CRCprovides.
And CRC is looking to growthose all the time we're coming
out with new or we're purchasing, I guess, more and more
(15:50):
companies to kind of help addvalue to what CRC can offer our
customers so that we can be moreof a one-stop shop for the
retail agents.
Amanda Knight (16:00):
Absolutely.
Scott Gordon (16:01):
This was very informative.
Thank you, guys, for neverhaving been on the podcast.
You sound like you've been on amillion of them.
You're both very excellent andbefore we go, can we do a little
something fun?
You guys mind.
David Christopher (16:14):
Let's go.
Scott Gordon (16:18):
These are all Amanda's questions and they're
really good.
This time I took a little peekat these, and this is something
we like to call rapid fire, andit's just right off the top of
your head, whatever comes toyour mind.
Our first question which famousperson, dead or alive, would
you like fighting by your sideduring the zombie apocalypse?
Jonas Williams (16:40):
I wouldn't be much good in a zombie apocalypse
, but I think Achilles wouldprobably be a good option right
there.
David Christopher (16:47):
There you go yeah.
Amanda Knight (16:51):
You know, he'll be dragging me along, though.
As long as you're alive, that'swhat counts.
Scott Gordon (16:54):
Yeah, yeah, that's what he's there for.
That's it, david, you don'thave anyone.
David Christopher (16:58):
Uh, let's go with Zeus.
Scott Gordon (16:59):
Wow, See these are much better.
I was going to say Andre thegiant, but Andre the giant was
had a bad back.
He couldn't really move thatwell at his old age.
So yeah, I know I would havebeen a round one elimination.
Question number two If youcould appear on any game show,
which one would you choose?
Jonas Williams (17:20):
I'll go with Family Feud.
Amanda Knight (17:21):
Good one.
I hope your family is yourfamily smart Like, are we taking
everyone?
Are you going to handpick yourfamily members?
Jonas Williams (17:28):
I think I've got enough family members to fill
out a team.
David Christopher (17:33):
You know I'm not picking everybody.
I'll go with Jeopardy.
Amanda Knight (17:37):
Yes, hey see, I'm going with zero strategy and
I'm going with the price isright because I know the price
of household goods.
I'm the grocery shopper for myhouse.
I can totally I could kill iton the prices, right, 100%.
What about you, scott?
Scott Gordon (17:55):
I'd have to go with the old Nickelodeon program
Legends of the Hidden Templewhere they get to run through
like Indiana Jones, through acollapsing temple and collect
prizes.
I would have loved that as akid.
David Christopher (18:06):
I'm going to stick with property for 5,000.
Scott Gordon (18:12):
Well, okay, speaking of property, since you
guys are property brokers, thisseemed like a good question.
If your house caught on fire,what's the first object you
would run in and save?
Jonas Williams (18:24):
I'm probably getting my insurance policy so I
can file a claim.
Amanda Knight (18:29):
Good answer, Jonas.
David Christopher (18:31):
I would probably make sure I have the
dog.
Amanda Knight (18:34):
There you go.
David Christopher (18:35):
Because if the dog didn't make it out, I
would be put back in the house.
Scott Gordon (18:39):
See, I would have included that in the family, so
I would have been like he'salready out of there.
I got another bonus pick.
Amanda Knight (18:45):
I think my insurance policy is in a
fireproof box inside a safe, somaybe it would be fine.
So I don't think I'd have tograb that.
Kids are already out.
Jonas Williams (18:54):
Yeah.
Amanda Knight (18:57):
I think I've got all their baby pictures and
stuff stored on like a flashdrive or a disc or something.
I guess I'd go for that becausethat's irreplaceable right.
Scott Gordon (19:04):
Yeah, my hard drive with the family photos
would be mine.
Yeah, there are no photo albumsanymore, it's all on a stick so
yeah, the computer.
David Christopher (19:13):
The computer would be one of the first ones,
along with the dog.
Amanda Knight (19:17):
You got two arms, david dog, computer.
Scott Gordon (19:20):
Got it.
Amanda Knight (19:21):
Well, listen, it has been a pleasure having you
guys with us today.
Listeners, if you have not yetdug into the written companion
piece titled less turbulenceahead in the ens property market
, you can find it on team crc'swebsite at wwwcrcgroupcom.
You can click on tools andintel or simply search the title
(19:43):
.
Providing current insights intothe marketplace is just one
more way crc group is placingyou first.
Don't forget to subscribe andshare.
Hello everyone.
Today, scott and I are joinedby a couple of CRC's property
brokers.
We've got David Christopher, aSenior Vice President and
Property Broker with CRC Group'sDallas office, as well as
inside broker Jonas Williamsfrom our Birmingham Alabama
office.
This is the Placing you Firstpodcast from CRC Group.
Scott Gordon (00:20):
This podcast features news and insights from
a vast knowledge base of over5,100 associates.
Amanda Knight (00:26):
Who write more than $35 billion in premium
annually.
Plus, we give you the latestinformation on what's happening
at CRC.
This, this, this is the Placingyou First podcast, and now the
hosts of the podcast, amandaKnight and Scott Gordon.
Welcome to the podcast.
It's good to have you both withus today.
David Christopher (00:44):
Thanks for having us.
Thank you for having us.
Scott Gordon (00:46):
Okay, well, let's jump into this.
We recently put out the writtencompanion ENS property state of
the market piece, and it seemsas though 2024 is looking a
little brighter than 23 when itcomes to property renewals.
How does the current marketcompare to 2023?
Jonas Williams (01:05):
What we've seen so far in 2024 is the market's
kind of stabilized compared towhat we saw in 2023.
There is more capacity comingout domestically and out of
London and Bermuda.
We're seeing rates stabilizedthere, but reinsurers are still
pushing for rate increasesoverall.
So I don't think we're seeingrates stabilize there but
(01:26):
reinsurers are still pushing forrate increases overall.
So I don't think we're going tosee a drop anytime soon.
There's still a fair amount ofdemand out there, but not quite
enough.
Supply is what we saw five, six, seven years ago, where you saw
large chunks of capacity comingout of single carriers, where
you saw large chunks of capacitycoming out of single carriers.
(01:46):
We're seeing more quota shareand layered business, especially
on tougher accounts, and Idon't think that's going to
change anytime soon.
David Christopher (01:54):
I'll add to that.
So the majority of the carriersthat we're trading with, we're
seeing an increased appetite.
If you look at their combinedratios the carriers combined
ratios they've significantlyimproved, which for the most
part means that seniormanagement is saying we want
more and we need to get more asfast as we can while our
(02:16):
profitability is up and ratesare still up.
So there's an increase inappetite.
For sure, there's certainly astabilizing effect.
With reinsurance renewals thispast year.
Versus last year there's notquite as much of a crunch in
Florida as there was last year.
And then we've also got somenew market capacity that's come
(02:37):
in.
That's allowed us to navigatesome of the tighter placements
where we were really tight downto the last market.
Now we have markets that we canmaneuver around and be more
creative with.
In addition to that, we havein-house products that I think
are helping us every day, andour in-house products are
(02:59):
getting more and more robust.
So I think all of those factors, combined with what Jonah said,
that's where the market isright now Still underwriting
discipline, but we've got moretools to work with and a little
more flexibility in the market.
Amanda Knight (03:14):
So with insurers sort of signaling a cautious
readiness to embrace a littlemore risk, what sort of factors
are influencing sort of theunderwriting decision-making
process?
Jonas Williams (03:29):
I think quality of data is still key for a lot
of our underwriters and ourcarrier partners.
You know, and valuations, theyall kind of know what you know
frame habitational would take torebuild after a loss and they
have these metrics and sothey're comparing everybody's
(03:51):
submissions to what they haveinternally and seeing if it adds
up and if it doesn't, thenthey're seeing more than enough
opportunities so they canhappily pass if valuations are
not adequate enough or if we'remissing, you know, key
information that would help themunderwrite the risk.
David Christopher (04:12):
I'll jump in.
I think the corporate theaverage combined ratio of the
different underwriting companiesis driving a lot at senior
levels, a lot at senior levels.
And then there's an enhanceddemand for underwriting results
at rate levels where these CUOsfeel like the profitability is
(04:33):
there to be had.
So I think that's certainlysomething that you see.
You see, companies are a lotmore aggressive.
Certain companies with thelower combined ratios are a lot
more aggressive.
Certain companies with thelower combined ratios are a lot
more competitive and a lot moreaggressive right now.
If you go to the London market,the stamp capacity is up among
(04:53):
syndicates across the board.
So the majority of the Londonmarket is looking to grab market
share.
There's still a fair amount ofdiscipline, like we talked about
earlier, but I think all ofthose things are driving demand
right now.
Jonas Williams (05:07):
Well, to add to that, last year, what we saw is
carriers either had enoughcapacity or they didn't, and so
the ones that had, they wereopportunistic, and the ones that
didn't have enough, they kindof had to sit on the sidelines
and watch.
You know, some of theircounterparts write risks at high
rates and capitalize on thehard market.
(05:30):
You know, in 2024, I thinkwe're seeing the ones that were
opportunistic or trying to holdon to what they have, and the
guys that you know were morecautious last year they're
looking to grow this year.
So there is some wiggle roomand placements and trying to get
some new capacity on accountsthat maybe wasn't available last
year.
Scott Gordon (05:51):
So, in the face of rising property values and
construction costs, how criticalare accurate property
valuations for insurers andreinsurers?
What sort of tools andstrategies can brokers employ to
ensure precise valuations andmitigate these unexpected losses
?
Jonas Williams (06:08):
As far as the property valuations go, all of
our carrier partners, they knowwhat it costs to rebuild a
property after it's been damaged, so they have this data on the
back end.
So if insureds are notadequately valuing their
property, you know they won'tget a look sometimes from these
(06:30):
carriers because they know whatit costs to replace.
And so what CRC has is we havetools that can help us guide our
retail agents and how to valuea property.
And we can run it on the backend with our CRC SOV fixer,
which takes any spreadsheet youknow, regardless of the quality
(06:53):
of data, and can help fill inthird party information that it
sources out from other places.
But then too it gives us a low,a medium and a high range of
expected valuations and we canshare that with our retail
agents and can help them havethat conversation with their
insureds on how to properlyvalue their property.
(07:15):
Are CAT models that you know,take the insurance information
and run that through you knowthe AIR and the RMS model to
kind of see where the insuranceexposure is based on values that
(07:36):
they've provided, and so thatcan be used as a tool again for
our retail agents to have thatconversation and help them
determine, you know, what istheir actual exposure to wind
events, convective storm, toflood, to fire, and help them
determine how much coverage theyneed to buy for those certain
perils.
Amanda Knight (07:57):
David, before you jump in, I know you probably
can also talk with us about howimportant property valuations
are, but I know we talked aboutthis last year right, especially
after, you know, hurricane Ianstruck in 2023.
Itv valuation really seemed tobe the theme of the year.
So going into 2024, we're now,you know, wrapping up Q1.
(08:20):
Do the insurance understandthat?
I know that some folks werehaving a hard time with
valuation and how much they werereally needed to increase in
2023.
Has that shock sort of worn offat this point?
David Christopher (08:34):
I think the communication has been
consistent over a period of 18months to two years.
We need to address valuationand that persistence of the
underwriting market has led toan awareness that may or may not
have been there in the past.
And you know, obviously thebest and ultimate you know test
(09:00):
for valuation is to get a truereplacement cost appraisal.
That's not done overnight.
There's a lot of planning andthere's cost involved, and then
the tools that Jonas mentionsthat we have are certainly there
as well.
But I think ongoingcommunication awareness has
increased.
So all of those things areplaying into it.
(09:21):
I don't think it's being lost.
The awareness is a little bitmore prevalent now than it was.
Amanda Knight (09:29):
So in this marketplace, where multiple
carriers often have to be pulledonto a risk, what options exist
for tailoring those solutions?
I know we've talked aboutlayering, we've talked about
quota share, but you guys havealso mentioned we have some
proprietary products, somefacilities that help with that.
Do you guys use those?
Are they helpful?
Jonas Williams (09:48):
Yes, I use them all the time, especially when we
have some of our largerplacements, our market carriers.
They use the AIR or the RMSmodels or sometimes a
combination of the two.
It kind of helps us understandwhat they're seeing on their end
.
What can we expect from thosecarriers when they are running
(10:08):
their models themselves?
Now, of course, they're runningit against their portfolio and
seeing how that compares, but itdoes give us an idea of what is
their probable max loss for acertain peril, or you know what
is the worst case event that aninsurer could have.
(10:28):
You know which locations aregoing to get hit the hardest.
So we can use those tools anduse our relationships with our
market carriers to have betterconversations and more directed
conversations around how do wewant to place this specific risk
.
We're very transactional and sowe're often using the same
(10:50):
underwriters for different risks, because they know what each
carrier wants to do in a certainlayer or in a placement and
they're familiar with the termsthat their counterparts are
putting out there.
So we can use that relationshipto leverage the opportunity to
write other accounts with thosesame carriers.
(11:12):
And so those are just some ofthe tools that we have that can
be used to place accounts.
But we also have our in-houseinsurer risk spectrum facility,
which is a quota share or a metoo facility, and so they follow
behind.
You know several of our carrierpartners that they have
(11:32):
agreements with and can helpfill out capacity, and that can
be really useful.
We're using them all the timeto place tough deals or deals
where, you know, not everymarket has the same price in a
layer and they follow maybe oneof the cheaper markets in the
layer and so it can help fillout that capacity at better
(11:56):
pricing than we would be able toget otherwise.
Amanda Knight (11:59):
And if I'm not mistaken, we also have our
insurance builders risk facilitythat rolled out in January.
Have y'all had any experiencewith that yet?
David Christopher (12:07):
I would say the insurer's property tools
have been very valuable to us.
You know, we can quote winddeductible buybacks from our
desk.
We have enormous flexibilitywith an in-house underwriting
team that's very senior.
They're well equipped to handleand manage the different
(12:28):
placements that we're involvedin, which is refreshing A lot of
times.
You know, you don't always havethe luxury of working with
senior underwriters, but thein-house team is certainly
excellent in terms of justquality of underwriting.
You know, I feel like it givesus an option on just about every
placement to pick out a spotwhere we can apply some pressure
(12:51):
to the existing pressure youknow the existing placement,
excuse me and create anenhancement.
Or, if it's an account that wedon't currently write, we look
at it and we go, oh, we can putinsure risk in this spot or that
spot and, you know, create somerestructuring that might bring
(13:11):
a client some savings.
So we're looking at using thosetools to be more creative every
day.
Scott Gordon (13:17):
Whether it's placing business or working
through a claim.
You know, at CRC Group we prideourselves on being specialists
that can help get the job donefor our retail partners.
How can partnering with a CRCGroup producer help agents with
property placements?
David Christopher (13:32):
I think you know we try to be consultative.
It's not like we bringvaluation to the table and say
these are the values that youhave to use for renewal.
Our team, we talk about it allthe time.
We're trying to engage acustomer with information, to
bring a value added and aknowledge and awareness, but
(13:52):
we're a consultant.
We're providing them withfeedback.
So I think most of the brokerswithin the company are very
collaborative and consultantwith the clients.
I find that when we can createpartnerships that go both
directions we listen to thecustomer, the customer listens
to us, we collaborate.
That collaboration is verypowerful.
(14:14):
Many times we even bring theinsured into the middle of that
discussion.
So those are ways that we cancreate a better outcome, and
part of my background is spent11 years on the retail side.
So bringing in the retailclient, bringing in the buyer,
the CFO CEO, into the discussionand really hearing from them is
(14:38):
meaningful to the process, andI feel like we do and I think
that's a benefit.
You know we would try to dothat wherever possible.
Jonas Williams (14:47):
Well, and to add to that, you know, one of the
things that we really focus onon our team in Birmingham is to
be service oriented to ourretail customers.
You know, by and large mostbrokerages have access to the
same markets.
You know, of course we have ourinsurer risk products, but by
(15:08):
and large we all have access tothe same same markets.
So the one thing that we cancontrol is service.
And so if a retail agent has anexisting relationship with a
CRC broker, you know David and Iare specialists in property, so
that's all we focus on isproperty.
But if somebody comes to measking about casualty or
(15:29):
trucking or professional lines,they have a contact person
within CRC and we can kind ofhelp direct them to the right
service or product that CRCprovides.
And CRC is looking to growthose all the time we're coming
out with new or we're purchasing, I guess, more and more
(15:50):
companies to kind of help addvalue to what CRC can offer our
customers so that we can be moreof a one-stop shop for the
retail agents.
Amanda Knight (16:00):
Absolutely.
Scott Gordon (16:01):
This was very informative.
Thank you, guys, for neverhaving been on the podcast.
You sound like you've been on amillion of them.
You're both very excellent andbefore we go, can we do a little
something fun?
You guys mind.
David Christopher (16:14):
Let's go.
Scott Gordon (16:18):
These are all Amanda's questions and they're
really good.
This time I took a little peekat these, and this is something
we like to call rapid fire, andit's just right off the top of
your head, whatever comes toyour mind.
Our first question which famousperson, dead or alive, would
you like fighting by your sideduring the zombie apocalypse?
Jonas Williams (16:40):
I wouldn't be much good in a zombie apocalypse
, but I think Achilles wouldprobably be a good option right
there.
David Christopher (16:47):
There you go yeah.
Amanda Knight (16:51):
You know, he'll be dragging me along, though.
As long as you're alive, that'swhat counts.
Scott Gordon (16:54):
Yeah, yeah, that's what he's there for.
That's it, david, you don'thave anyone.
David Christopher (16:58):
Uh, let's go with Zeus.
Scott Gordon (16:59):
Wow, See these are much better.
I was going to say Andre thegiant, but Andre the giant was
had a bad back.
He couldn't really move thatwell at his old age.
So yeah, I know I would havebeen a round one elimination.
Question number two If youcould appear on any game show,
which one would you choose?
Jonas Williams (17:20):
I'll go with Family Feud.
Amanda Knight (17:21):
Good one.
I hope your family is yourfamily smart Like, are we taking
everyone?
Are you going to handpick yourfamily members?
Jonas Williams (17:28):
I think I've got enough family members to fill
out a team.
David Christopher (17:33):
You know I'm not picking everybody.
I'll go with Jeopardy.
Amanda Knight (17:37):
Yes, hey see, I'm going with zero strategy and
I'm going with the price isright because I know the price
of household goods.
I'm the grocery shopper for myhouse.
I can totally I could kill iton the prices, right, 100%.
What about you, scott?
Scott Gordon (17:55):
I'd have to go with the old Nickelodeon program
Legends of the Hidden Templewhere they get to run through
like Indiana Jones, through acollapsing temple and collect
prizes.
I would have loved that as akid.
David Christopher (18:06):
I'm going to stick with property for 5,000.
Scott Gordon (18:12):
Well, okay, speaking of property, since you
guys are property brokers, thisseemed like a good question.
If your house caught on fire,what's the first object you
would run in and save?
Jonas Williams (18:24):
I'm probably getting my insurance policy so I
can file a claim.
Amanda Knight (18:29):
Good answer, Jonas.
David Christopher (18:31):
I would probably make sure I have the
dog.
Amanda Knight (18:34):
There you go.
David Christopher (18:35):
Because if the dog didn't make it out, I
would be put back in the house.
Scott Gordon (18:39):
See, I would have included that in the family, so
I would have been like he'salready out of there.
I got another bonus pick.
Amanda Knight (18:45):
I think my insurance policy is in a
fireproof box inside a safe, somaybe it would be fine.
So I don't think I'd have tograb that.
Kids are already out.
Jonas Williams (18:54):
Yeah.
Amanda Knight (18:57):
I think I've got all their baby pictures and
stuff stored on like a flashdrive or a disc or something.
I guess I'd go for that becausethat's irreplaceable right.
Scott Gordon (19:04):
Yeah, my hard drive with the family photos
would be mine.
Yeah, there are no photo albumsanymore, it's all on a stick so
yeah, the computer.
David Christopher (19:13):
The computer would be one of the first ones,
along with the dog.
Amanda Knight (19:17):
You got two arms, david dog, computer.
Scott Gordon (19:20):
Got it.
Amanda Knight (19:21):
Well, listen, it has been a pleasure having you
guys with us today.
Listeners, if you have not yetdug into the written companion
piece titled less turbulenceahead in the ens property market
, you can find it on team crc'swebsite at wwwcrcgroupcom.
You can click on tools andintel or simply search the title
(19:43):
.
Providing current insights intothe marketplace is just one
more way crc group is placingyou first.
Don't forget to subscribe andshare.
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