By Chris Munro

Jan 24 - (The Insurer) - Lockton Re’s newly launched Portfolio Solutions unit is part of a “concerted effort” by the reinsurance broker to make US MGA, program and facilities business one of its core pillars, Jeff Fleming has told Program Manager.

The Tim Gardner-led reinsurance broker announced the formation of the Portfolio Solutions unit late last year.

Led by Fleming, the newly minted operation brings together Lockton Re’s existing expertise in the programs and MGA space into a collective team.

Talking to Program Manager, Fleming said when Lockton Re was rebooted in 2019 under Gardner’s leadership, the plan had been to build out the reinsurance broker’s core foundational pillars of property, casualty, financial lines and cyber in the US, and specialties like retro in London.

“We wanted to build and scale with the globals and nationals and our core client base, to be able to get to the size and scale where we have best-in-class analytics, sales, technology and modelling, and to then pivot and build the program business,” said Fleming.

MGA and program business has always been a part of Lockton Re’s build-out through its treaty teams. Indeed, Fleming said MGA and program business is “a decent chunk” of what Lockton Re already has on its books.

MGA, programs and facilities business had not been a core pillar with its own dedicated strategy – but with the formation of Lockton Re Portfolio Solutions, that has now changed.

“The goal is not to pull all that business out of where it's currently being handled and move it over to the Portfolio Solutions group,” explained Fleming.

“It's really to make a concerted effort to make MGA, program and facility business one of [Lockton Re’s] core foundational pillars,” he stated.

“MGAs and programs are a core pillar of the insurance business… We see there’s opportunity in the market. Programs and MGAs are not going away. If anything, they may become more niche as we go forward… and we've only got room to grow within this space,” said Fleming.

Fleming explained that Portfolio Solutions has not been formed to just bring business in “and pass it over the fence for other people to do”.

“It’s to bring the business in and use the breadth and depth of expertise that we already have to create the most state-of-the-art solution for our clients.”

Fleming said that Lockton Re has not formed a dedicated MGA, programs and facilities unit “because our competitors have done it”.

Instead, it is to show MGAs, facilities, fronting carriers and traditional insurers “that we are serious about this and making a concerted effort to build and grow the business”.

Fleming said a key differentiator for Program Solutions is that it will be able call upon the full breadth of Lockton Re’s contracts, claims, accounting, analytics, actuarial services and modelling specialists to support its MGA, programs and facilities clients.

Build-out

Lockton Re already had a “couple” of staff that specialised in MGA and programs business on its roster prior to Portfolio Solutions’ formation, and additional hires have been made over the past 12 months to further support the new unit’s build-out.

To that end, Portfolio Solutions is now home to around 13 staff, with further additions expected.

“Absolutely we are looking to continue to build and invest in Portfolio Solutions,” Fleming declared.

“We’re looking for the best people that fit within what we're trying to build, and that fit within the culture that we have,” said Fleming.

“There’s a lot of really high-quality people out there that know the nuances and intricacies of MGA and programs business that could be really good fits within what we do,” he added.

Fleming made clear though that Lockton Re’s collaborative culture means that any potential hires would not have to focus solely on programs and MGA business.

“They can still do traditional treaty business, they can do fac business. We don't have those silos. We try to collaborate and work together across the business.”

Since Portfolio Solutions was unveiled, Fleming said there has been “a pretty aggressive reach-out” from clients, prospects and carriers, along with individuals interested in joining the nascent platform.

Not a one stop shop

Discussing the types of MGAs and programs that Portfolio Solutions intends to work with, Fleming said the platform is “not a catch-all for everything”.

What does interest Portfolio Solutions are established MGAs that need help finding new carrier partnerships and solutions for the business they currently underwrite, or additional capital to further support their build-out.

“Interesting start-ups”, be they insurtechs or other de novo entities may also be of interest, Fleming said.

“We're going to be pretty selective in the clients that we deal with. It's not going to be a one-stop shop for everybody,” he stated.

“We're looking for first-class MGAs and first-class facilities from wholesalers and Lockton that we're looking to help build, expand and grow.”