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When UnitedAmerica Insurance Group (UAIG), the U.S. insurance operations of the parent United America Indemnity, a provider of excess-and-surplus lines and specialty property/casualty insurance products, based in Bala Cynwyd, Pa., began looking to build its portfolio of specialty niche programs, the company sought a broker that had the ability to support its analytical needs, as well as proven access to the markets program producers. UAIG turned to Towers Perrin for answers.

"We were looking for a broker with the ability to help us in developing new business opportunities, particularly in the niche products arena," said Troy Santora, vice president, reinsurance and risk management, at UAIG. "We wanted a broker that had proficiencies in finding and developing program opportunities, which would allow our organization to provide solutions to insureds, as well as strong analytical abilities to support our thought processes and yield well informed decisions."

"We're in business to help improve the business performance of our clients," said Jay Woods, global business development officer at Towers Perrin. "We provide a sophisticated, analytical, client-focused approach to reinsurance consulting, applying actuarial quantitative methods to assess and price exposures and model alternatives."

The ability to put critical analytics together quickly, without becoming lost in esoteric analysis, was particularly important to UAIG.

"While pricing has not lost its importance in the transaction, and remains critical and drives many decisions, the ability of our broker to drive price is secondary to the abilities of the broker to provide timely analytics around quality data. It is our considered opinion that accurate begets accurate analysis and truer answers around structure and pricing," said Santora.

"Data equals power; however, as buyers we need to challenge ourselves and our broker and reinsurer partners to not lose sight of data that informs the thought process as opposed to clouding it. The ability to achieve this affords us collectively the ability to react quickly on short fuse, through timely but thorough analysis."

Towers Perrin takes a partnership approach with clients to customize each analysis and make the best use of their shared knowledge.

"We work very hard to get the most accurate data available from our clients and ensure that we receive the highest quality of data on which to base our analysis of their business," said Woods. "It's a fairly expeditious process that allows us to provide the appropriate information to our clients so they can act quickly."

In addition, Towers Perrin provides ongoing catastrophe modeling and exposure management services in order to assess clients' risks in real time.

"We understand that a client's book of business is constantly changing," said Woods. "We work with clients on a regular basis to view and measure their exposures and address how they relate to running their business day to day."

"This approach allowed us to set out clear timetables around managing the aggregate and catastrophic exposures of the organization, as well as understanding the potential impact of events as they develop and also consideration for business actions once an event has occurred," said Santora.

"To that end, our goal is to solve insurance needs for our clients quickly. While we seek to be proactive and understand our portfolio of risks as it develops, as an excess-and-surplus company, we also look to quickly and flexibly respond to the market on a timely basis. Having the appropriate data, and data management, on the front end helps us prepare for a loss as its happening, serve our existing insureds and supplement the flexibility inherent to our E&S operation, and quickly respond to market need for insurance solutions."

UAIG has been working with Towers Perrin since the fourth quarter of 2007.

"Our decision to move forward with Towers Perrin was squarely rooted in their ability to effectively and efficiently provide analysis the supported our reinsurance buying decisions, as well as decisions around our primary business," said Santora. "We're looking to create a transparent and informed reinsurance negotiation and transaction process, using strong analytics and a clear understanding of what the market is doing--and how best to move forward within that market space."

(The above piece is part of our continuing Insights series designed to highlight key products and services to our readers. This paid-for Insights was written and edited by Risk & Insurance® on behalf of our marketing partner. Additional Insights can be found on our Web site at www.riskandinsurance.com/.)

October 15, 2008

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