Navigating the New Frontiers
of Professional Lines Insurance
From EPLI to Cyber, partnering with an expert professional
lines broker makes the rough road much smoother.
We live in a world where risks evolve rapidly, especially for businesses.
In the past few years, companies have weathered pandemic-related shutdowns, staff reductions, and supply-chain disruptions, with the cherry on top being economic and social inflation. The ripple effect of these changes has significantly impacted all professional lines of insurance, and we’ve seen the market hardening across the board, making it tough for businesses to get the coverage they need.
In challenging marketing conditions, a strong wholesale broker is an indispensable ally. Partnering with someone who focuses exclusively on professional lines allows you to tap into their vast knowledge, deep carrier relationships, and broad market access. When risks are difficult to place, you can be confident you’re getting the very best options available in the marketplace.
The Biggest Challenges
in Professional Lines Insurance
Professional insurance coverage is overwhelmingly complex, making coverage gaps and exclusions tricky to identify.
Terms and language can vary significantly from carrier to carrier, which makes comparing quotes difficult. If you don’t know what you’re looking for, it can be easy to miss coverage gaps or buried exclusions.
Retail agents can find themselves in an uncomfortable situation if they overlook something that results in an insured’s claim being denied. A mistake like this can result in an Error and Omissions claim for the agent and potentially even cost them their job.
It can be near-impossible to find carriers with an underwriting appetite for certain risks when there are drastic marketplace shifts.
Many carriers, for example, dropped EPLI coverage for all restaurants during the COVID pandemic, fearing the backlash and monumental spike in claims from laid-off restaurant workers. Securing the proper insurance coverage for your clients when there is so little available capacity requires strong, long-standing carrier relationships and industry-leading market access.
Quoting a risk with multiple carriers is essential for securing the most advantageous terms and best pricing.
The average retail agent typically has access to a handful of insurance companies that handle professional lines. In a hard market, where carriers are declining more and quoting less, a retail agent could quote with all the carriers they have access to and still come back with just one quote to work with, which greatly limits what they can offer their client.
Renewals are just as important as placing new business.
Many retail agents — and even some wholesalers — will renew by default year after year with the incumbent carrier. That can put the insured at a significant disadvantage when it comes to maintaining the best coverage terms and pricing.
Securing proper coverage often requires immense creativity.
When markets are hard and overall capacity is limited, it can be impossible to find a carrier willing to shoulder all of an insured’s risk. Carriers may place limits on the amount of insurance they’re willing to provide, or place exclusions within the policy that leave significant coverage gaps. In these cases, the only way to create the necessary coverage is by building a custom solution across multiple carriers, which cannot be done without sufficient market access.
Determining how much coverage to purchase is difficult and can feel arbitrary.
The amount of insurance a client chooses to buy is a very personalized decision and unique to the company. Some companies are simply more risk averse than others. While no broker can recommend a specific number, insureds can benefit from knowing what comparable companies are buying, as a starting point. Generalist retail agents often don’t work with enough professional lines policies to offer this kind of benchmarking insight.
Once they have quotes in hand, they know exactly what to look for when comparing terms to help you avoid common pitfalls and secure the best coverage at a competitive price. Wholesale brokers can also craft custom coverage solutions by combining brokerage, binding authority, and through exclusive program capabilities.
War Stories from Professional Lines Veterans
Here are some examples of how specialized professional lines wholesale brokers
helped their retail agents overcome some of the above challenges.
CASE STUDY 1
Restaurant Avoids an EPLI Policy Lapse after Being Non-Renewed
CASE STUDY 2
Large Real Estate Company Escapes Serious Policy Oversights
CASE STUDY 3
Hidden Trigger Clause Leaves a Franchise with a Major Coverage Gap
CASE STUDY 4
Toy Manufacturer Dodges a Nearly-Missed D&O Policy Exclusion
Get the full Professional Lines Case Study Report.
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Jencap stays current on the shifting landscape
of professional risks so you don’t have to.
From real estate and construction to healthcare and hospitality—and everything in between—we offer coverage solutions that protect your clients’ businesses. Get in touch with a Jencap specialty professional lines broker for more information.
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