Meet the MGA: NBS Underwriting

When did NBS Underwriting start trading, and with what products and capacity did you begin?

NBS Underwriting was founded in 2011, and started trading in the same year. The company initially focused on offering insurance within the leisure and hospitality sector.

We started with limited capacity but very soon gained enough premium to attract the likes of LV and Hiscox and then secured a long-term commitment as an Accelerant member, and we haven’t looked back since. 

Since then, we have expanded our product offering to include other specialty insurance lines, including retail and petrol stations, non-standard home insurance, property owners, sports and social clubs, community enterprise, combined and contractors’ liability, and very recently we launched a professional indemnity product.

What would you describe as the USP of NBS?

Our ethos is to make our brokers’ lives easy, which underpins all our decisions. We embrace technology, and we use an award-winning system, which provides speed of delivery for even the most complex of quotes.

By being agile, evolving to market conditions, and having a service-first approach, we have seen our business grow.

Communication is managed through the system, to ensure the process is easy and streamlined.

We also ensure that quotes are delivered on time – if a risk is urgent we respond immediately.

We back up technology with 40 skilled underwriters, who are empowered to find innovative ways to help.

How has the business evolved since launch in 2011 and have things gone as expected?

Since our launch, we have seen significant growth. Like most businesses, we’ve had a few setbacks along the way such as capacity coming in and out of the Flood-Re space.

By being agile, consistently evolving to market conditions, and having a service-first approach, we have seen our business grow.

Our gross written premium has increased from £19m to £100m in less than five years.

There has been a lot of talk about a capacity crunch; how have you found securing (re)insurer support?

We experienced this in our early days, but now NBS is in the very fortunate position to be a member of Accelerant, which empowers us with a rolling 5-year capacity deal.  

Alongside this, we also manage capacity for Hiscox, AXA Insurance and HCC Tokio Marine. 

Our insurer partners remain delighted with our standard of underwriting and excellent loss ratio results, so we have been able to continue to offer A-rated capacity across all products.

Consistent capacity in the MGA space is priceless and our relationships with our partners enables us to commit to the products we offer and provide a consistent underwriting approach for brokers, which absolutely makes their lives easier.

In terms of your core markets, how would you describe the rating environment presently?

The current rating environment is certainly a challenge right now, but by utilising our technology and data we have been ahead of the curve, and we have pushed rates through our products gradually. 

We pride ourselves on capacity management and an ability to enact forward-thinking changes rather than waiting for demands from our partners.

Data is key to NBS, and we pride ourselves on capacity management and an ability to enact forward-thinking changes rather than waiting for demands from our partners. This cushioned approach allows brokers to manage their clients’ expectations with ease.

There have been a lot of concerns about underinsurance in the commercial space. Do you see this as a concern, and how are you looking to address the issue?

Yes, we recognise that there is a huge underinsurance issue in the commercial space, which has been amplified in the past two to three years by an unprecedented increase in material costs, wages and inflation. 

NBS wants to support brokers and their clients, to prevent SMEs becoming underinsured and an average condition being applied, whenever we can.

We understand the difficulty that business owners face, especially in the current climate, when calculating precise sums insured. This is why we recently introduced a number of special provisions which provides a buffer to reflect the issues we are seeing in the marketplace. 

This is not a new problem but, together with our brokers, we are highlighting to business owners the importance of ensuring that the sums insured are at an adequate level. We are issuing information to all business owners highlighting the issues around underinsurance.

How would you describe someone who might be a good fit as an NBS employee?

To support our continued growth, we have had to scale up to meet increasing demand at a great rate. The most important thing for us it to ensure an employee has a strong work ethic and great personality. 

The NBS team is the lifeblood of the business. We employ the very best to ensure we continue to deliver a quality service.

While recruiting candidates with insurance experience is preferred, we like to nurture those who are committed to professional development. 

The NBS team is the lifeblood of the business. We employ the very best to ensure we continue to deliver a quality service.

By scaling up quickly, we have also created a lot of opportunity, therefore creating great career development for all.

In 2022, you unveiled a team charter. Can you explain what it is, and why you launched it?

In June 2022, we launched our team charter, which provides NBS employees with a clear understanding of our culture and behaviours. The charter clearly documents and explains how all employees can ensure we deliver on our core value of ‘making brokers’ lives easy’.

It was important for us to keep building on the great ethos we have created, moving from a small personal team to a more corporate setting while, at the same time, keeping the enjoyment within the team and ensuring all employees have a voice to enact positive change.

In June 2021, you acquired The Underwriting Specialist Limited. What do you look for in potential buys, and how would you describe your acquisition strategy?

We are an ambitious MGA and we are always looking to further strengthen the position of NBS and expand our product range by acquiring other specialist MGAs. 

When looking for potential purchases, we look for businesses with a great team who have a similar ethos to ours; the people are so important.  

We are always looking for books of business or schemes from our brokers, where we can utilise our quote and buy technology, and get to market extremely quickly.

Then we look for products that complement our existing portfolio, so we can offer a wider range of products to our broker partners.

If these products are niche and non-standard then even better. Further, we are always looking for books of business or schemes from our brokers, where we can utilise our quote and buy technology, and get to market extremely quickly.

What can we expect in terms of product diversification from NBS in 2023?

One of our key strengths is that we can react to market conditions quickly, and develop appropriate products to meet the needs of brokers and their clients.

We constantly research and keep abreast of developments in the industry to ensure we are continuing to provide market-leading products.

In 2022, we introduced two new products: community enterprise and combined liability to add value to our product offering. Within the past month, we launched a further professional indemnity product range in association with The Underwriting Specialist.

As businesses are closing at an unprecedented rate, we are already developing a new unoccupied commercial property insurance product to meet the needs of this growing trend. This property product will be launched in the coming months.

From there, we will then look to launch a new commercial combined product, but more on that will be announced shortly.

How many brokers do you deal with, and what would your message be to brokers that have not reached out to you yet?

We now have more than 600 agents in the UK regularly placing business every month, compared to under 300, 12 months ago.

The increase in the number of brokers that are using our system is testament to the service we are providing.

This is backed by the results of our recent broker partner feedback survey, where we were rated as excellent or good by 89% of brokers for our level of service, 94% for our range of products, 91% for quality of cover and 92% for speed of quotation.

We are always interested in building strong relationships with reliable and reputable partners, and we urge brokers to get in touch with us to see how we can support their business.

In five years’ time what will success look like for NBS Underwriters?

We are committed to growth and development of the company. We have bold aspirations to double the current size of NBS with a good mixture of organic growth and acquisitions.

We are very fortunate to have a young and robust team that can easily take us to the next level. We have a clear progression strategy at all levels, and we’re excited to watch the team grow and succeed.

Success for us will be a strong premium growth alongside watching the next generation of NBS talent becoming a major force in the MGA space.