King Price woos UMA industry as part of growth strategy

The South Africa’s Underwriting Management Agency (UMA) industry has ‘a critical role to play’ in the ongoing growth of the local insurance sector, and remains an important channel for insurers to reach niche markets, says King Price Insurance.

King Price is increasingly looking to build relationships with UMAs as it builds out its commercial book, says Minnaar Fourie, Managing Director of King Price’s commercial Insurance arm. Over the last 9 years, the insurer has moved from a direct-to-market model to rapidly grow its broker and UMA relationships.

Fourie says strong partnerships and open lines of communication are the bedrock of successful alliances between UMAs and insurers.

“The key to the good UMA relationships we already have lies in mutual trust, allowing the UMA to be creative and innovative and us being able to provide the wide mandates they need to operate independently as true entrepreneurs. As insurers, we’re bringing our expertise and knowledge to bear to help them manage their risks, streamline their administration and processes, and help them grow through better technology, branding and products,” he said.

King Price is increasingly demonstrating its our ability to write big business to its broker and UMA community. The company’s 15% shareholding by Germany-based global reinsurance giant Munich RE gives it the financial leverage to write big risks in the business and specialised insurance space, and also gives the market peace of mind that King Price can pay any potential claims.

The insurer is backing this up with what it calls ‘industry-leading’ technology and reporting. “We’re confident that our ‘ratings box’ is the best on the local market, with the ability to make complicated underwriting decisions within 48 hours. This empowers our clients, who benefit from cover that’s customised to their unique needs,” said Fourie.

King Price is also growing its presence in niche segments like sectional title communities; cybercrime liability; engineering, where a big part of its book is yellow metal; and agriculture. “This is where we appreciate our UMA partners’ deep expertise in their select niches. They’re agile and have good relationships with brokers, and can help us reach a wider market very quickly – which is obviously great for us as we scale our commercial insurance division,” said Fourie.