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Broker Strategy
By Bethan Moorcraft
Every broker faces it sooner or later: when do you tell a client they’re wrong?
The question came up during a panel at the RIMS Canada Conference in Quebec City last month, where risk managers had a clear answer: more often than brokers might think.
Paul Bains, associate director of corporate and capital insurance services at the Greater Toronto Airports Authority (GTAA), wants brokers to stop “transacting on what the ask is” and to “really think outside the box and bring solutions forward.”
Few insurance buyers in Canada carry a load like his: a 47-million-passenger airport, by GTAA’s 2025 count, with a multibillion-dollar construction program running through live operations.
At that scale, an order-taking broker leaves the client to find the weak spots alone. Bains needs partners willing to challenge his assumptions and propose tangible solutions before a loss exposes the gaps.
Strip out the scale, and brokers will hear the same expectations from clients of any size.
Guide, don’t rubber-stamp
Victor Dhir, SVP, risk and insurance at Brookfield Asset Management, framed it differently.
“Rather than challenging, I would say guide,” he said. The broker’s job, in his view, is to steer the client strategically.
“I’ll be the first to admit there’s a lot I don’t know,” he said. In sectors like data centres, utilities and energy, he expects his advisors to bring specialist expertise to the table.
That includes telling a client when they’re wrong. If a client questions why terms available on the utility side aren’t offered on the energy side, for example, a good broker should explain why that comparison is misguided.
“It’s a partnership,” he said. “Partners work together if you’re able to keep each other in check. It only works if it’s 50-50.”
Risk managers in the audience agreed. “Tell me about new products. What’s an advantage to me? What’s a disadvantage?” one said. “I don’t want to sit there and have you rubber-stamp what I choose.”
Why brokers hold back
Grant Williamson, president of Willis Canada Inc., acknowledged that brokers sometimes get “caught up in wanting to always please their clients.”
There’s good reason for that.
Broking is competitive, he said, and in a crowded market a client can always bring in another broker. “But it’s good,” he added. “It’s good to have choice as a client.”
For a smaller brokerage, where one lost account can make a real dent in the book, that competition hits harder. It can make brokers hesitant to challenge a client, particularly if they worry that disagreeing could damage the relationship.
Williamson believes building trust is essential, and experience helps too. “If you can actually challenge [clients], that builds a better relationship,” he said.
Candour cuts both ways
So how does a broker earn the right to push back?
Knowing the client’s business is the baseline. Beyond that, it comes down to candour: being willing to give advice openly and fairly, even when it’s unwelcome, and trusting the relationship to hold.
Like any true partnership, that candour has to go both ways. “I wish brokers would be a bit more forthcoming with the information of what some of our competitors are doing,” Bains said.
“There seems to be this hesitation ... to share that information. We’re not asking [brokers] to call out names or share confidential information, but you certainly can speak to it at a scrubbed level.”
Bains reports into finance, where he’s often asked what organizations of similar size and exposure are doing with their insurance programs. Brokers who work with a wide range of large clients are in a position to share what has and hasn’t worked, he said.
“As a client, we’re expected to share our financials, our manuals, our safety, a lot of in-depth company information […] but I feel like sometimes that’s not reciprocated,” he said.
The best brokers have found the line between protecting confidentiality and sharing what they know, according to Williamson. Plenty of brokers handle the transaction well, he said, but experience across industries and clients is wasted if it stays in the broker’s head.
The conversation he’d like to see goes something like this: “Look, I’ve seen this before. Here are a couple of thoughts to think about. Might not be the path you choose, but you still need to offer those paths.”
Beyond the renewal
The panel was discussing some of the largest insurance programs in the country, but the lesson scales down.
A broker whose book is full of contractors, restaurants or small manufacturers has what Bains is asking for: a view across many clients that no single client has. Telling a business owner what similar firms did after a water loss, or why a cheaper quote leaves them exposed, is the same scrubbed-level insight at a different size.
The renewal pressure is familiar at every size of account. Responding to Williamson, one public-sector risk manager in the audience said the broker relationship is still “dead transactional,” and stays that way until there’s real trust.
As a public-sector buyer, he has to take the insurance program to market every few years. When he does, he tries to downplay the price and focus on what the broker has done for the organization.
Often, that comes down to a broker willing to say, “This is a really bad idea,” or “This is a really good idea.”
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MGA Q&A
More capacity, more solutions: WSI outlines its plans for brokers
Q1What changed when WSI launched under Wawanesa?
We’ve retained the same specialty expertise, underwriting approach, and trusted relationships we developed as Everest Canada, while expanding what we can offer. We’re backed by Wawanesa, but WSI maintains its own identity in Canada’s large corporate and specialty insurance market.
On day one, we could go to market as we did before, but with coverage enhancements, more capacity, better terms, and fewer exclusions. We have the local authority to handle claims and develop products and solutions tailored to Canadian needs. As of October 1, we now offer insurance for the mining industry. With mining being such a big part of the Canadian economy, we felt it was important to support those organizations. We hired a leader three months ago to develop the product and proposition, and we now have a fully operational mining insurance practice. As Canada develops its internal supply chain and invests in infrastructure, we’re here to support those initiatives.
Q2What does the transition mean for brokers?
Nothing has changed in the way brokers deal with us. We have the same people and capabilities as before, and if we can enhance that, even better. We’re building on that foundation with a whole new set of capabilities and speed that will make brokers’ jobs easier.
Coming out of the gate with more products, more solutions, and more capacity sends a signal. We were very careful to structure the company to maintain our independence while also leveraging broader Wawanesa resources. Being part of a mutual group gives us a long-term view. We won’t go in and out of the market based on market fluctuations. We’re here for the long-term.
Q3What’s your five-year plan for WSI?
Our immediate goal is to consolidate the brand and establish WSI as one of the leading large commercial lines specialty insurers, while maintaining and expanding our existing relationships and entering new lines and sectors. With that comes growth opportunity. We want to grow our existing programs by adding more capacity, dropping down to lower parts of the tower, and going from excess to primary. We’re currently at around $300 million in annual gross written premium, and we want to double that in five years.
Q4What do you want to see from your broker partners?
The more brokers give us direct access to clients and their challenges, the more we can create solutions. That’s where we win: by providing tailored solutions, and we can only do that by having those conversations with brokers and clients. We don’t compete only on price; we compete on providing the right solutions.
Q5Can small- and medium-sized brokerages partner with WSI?
Yes. For specialty solutions, smaller brokers have an opportunity to use WSI, particularly if they have marine, construction, or energy business in their brokerage. Wawanesa has a commercial lines division that serves small commercial and middle market clients, while WSI focuses on clients with $100 million or more in revenue. If brokers send in a commercial submission outside Wawanesa’s thresholds, it automatically goes to WSI, and vice versa.
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EDITORIAL. The Broker Brief is editorial content for information only and does not constitute professional, legal or financial advice. No sponsor influence on editorial.
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