Accelerate Underwriting Ltd was founded in 2015 by Scott Brown. Previously, Scott had worked in the MGA industry for many years. He then had the vision to create his own company, moving away from the traditional MGA model (consisting of MGA presentations submitted to insurers) to an exclusively online model where brokers could transact more efficiently.
Accelerate Underwriting Ltd specialises in bespoke/niche Commercial and Personal lines, backed by A-rated insurers and was one of Insly’s first clients.
With our help, the team built AcceleRATER™ – a web-based trading platform designed to create and transact non-standard specialist and niche policies. The portal covers a multitude of trades within the Property & Casualty sector and has sold over 500,000 policies so far.
We interviewed Scott to learn more about how Insly’s low-code/no-code insurance building and underwriting tools helped Accelerate launch over 35 new insurance products and become the go-to platform for a network of over 200 brokers in the UK.
The challenge: Create an online MGA platform to simplify sales and underwriting within niche sectors
Scott told Risto Rossar (Insly CEO) that finding the right insurance platform provider was fundamental in getting Accelerate Underwriting Ltd off the ground back in 2015. Scott had looked at several potential partners and chose Insly because we ticked all of their boxes as a platform provider.
“Insly was excited to learn and get involved with our project from the start. You had the developers with the intelligence and the bandwidth to come up with the right solution that allowed us to look at the smaller schemes in the market.”
Scott recalls that there were few portal options for non-standard insurance businesses back in 2015. Insly, in contrast, had the capabilities to build a question set and an online product that could cater to niche risk.
Risto remembers when Accelerate came on board and was excited to help them create the AcceleRATER™ platform. The solution can build bespoke propositions from the accounts side, making the reconciliation process a lot more streamlined. At the same time, the AcceleRATER™ platform boosts operational efficiencies with its automated document generation tools and rating engine integrations.
“In terms of the governance work, Insly does a lot of the underwriting for us. It does all the sanctions checks, flood mapping, etc. So, our headcount is much smaller than a typical MGA – making us more profitable. We have around three traders for nearly £18 million worth of premiums. In previous MGAs I’ve worked in, you may have around 12 underwriters on the rota for that £18 million – that shows you how much work the system is doing for us,” said Scott.
The solution: Insly’s latest platform update will help Accelerate win new customers while keeping costs low
Insly’s updated tools (including its new automated claims and financial reporting modules) allow Accelerate Underwriting’s operations to remain cost-effective. This means the company has a low loss ratio and can make the most of the low competition in their unique sector.
Scott notes, “That’s always been our vision; if we can write these smaller policies, we will have excellent profitability for our carriers. We spread the risks through many smaller schemes, and the trick is to have a platform solution that allows you to do this cost-effectively.”
The Accelerate Underwriting system provides valuable underwriting data, including claims triangles, sales, and underwriting data.
“We offer high volume, high numbers, and lots of small policies with a spread of risk. Lots of companies don’t do that. Providers like that no single claim will cost them tens of millions of pounds. Our average premium costs our business around £700, so our profitability will remain intact.”
Next steps for Accelerate Underwriting
Risto and Scott spoke briefly about broader economic factors impacting MGAs and insurers today, such as rising inflation, high-interest rates, and challenging capital markets. Risto asks how these global recession signals may impact Accelrate’s business model going forward.
“Capacity providers are very choosy and picky about what deals they do so getting capacity in the market is quite tricky. I wouldn’t like to start a business now. I’m pleased we started the company in 2015 and got capacity then when it was much easier, Scott said.
“Interest rates affect us as well, so we’ll build protections into our products,” he continued.
Broker-led distribution is key to Accelerate Underwriting’s growth
Scott also notes that Accelerate will continue to focus on broker-led distribution rather than direct sales.
“We believe that brokers are the best advocates of our products. We listen to what brokers want in terms of products, pricing, and innovations. And we will try to build it competitively with the help of Insly.”
Finally, Scott told us that he believes data enrichment will become vital to Accelerate’s growth plans.
“We’re looking at actuarial solutions online where we can take our data and get actuarial preset projections in real-time. We want to be in a position where we can put our data in, and hour later, we get a prediction as to where our loss ratios will go in the future. That’s a big part of what we want to do.”
We would like to thank Scott Brown for his customer story and wish Accelerate Underwriting the best of luck for the future.
Insly can help MGAs bring their vision of the perfect business model to life
Scott and the team at Accelerate Underwriting believe that if you’ve got the right business idea, find a technology partner like Insly that can help you realise your vision.
Insly’s no-code platform is highly configurable, allowing insurers and MGAs to launch new insurance propositions quickly, keep operating costs low and maintain full compliance with capacity providers. So, if you would like to find out more about our platform’s potential for your business, book a demo with us today.
