Our Journey | Berkley Insurance Australia

Since 2007 – The incredible journey of Berkley Insurance Australia

It’s not every day that we get to tell our story. The simple, yet often untold tale of our organisation’s growth from humble beginnings in our Sydney office to becoming the insurance powerhouse that we are today, has been 14 years in the making. The evolution of our company is largely due to our unyielding commitment to providing quality service throughout all of our dealings.

Since Day One in 2007, when the idea of working in a paperless office seemed like a dot on the distant horizon, our dedicated approach to building firm and enduring relationships with our Brokers and their Clients has ensured our meteoric rise to the peak of the local insurance market.

Widely renowned for providing fast service deliveries, our turnaround times set a lofty example that many other insurance companies have tried to replicate. Through investing in state-of-the-art technological systems for improved speed and efficiency across all of our operations, we are dedicated to maintaining our reputation for providing Brokers and Clients with superior insurance solutions.  

“During the period from 2010 to 2012 we opened offices in Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth and Adelaide. The big turning point for our business was the introduction of the Graile Underwriting System in 2014”, stated the National Underwriting Manager of Berkley Insurance Australia, Mr Matthew McPhee.

“Whilst we had always endeavoured to respond quickly to brokers, the introduction of the Graile Underwriting System allowed us the efficiencies we needed to increase the volume and have information easily accessible in an electronic environment”, added Mr McPhee.

“We continue to benefit from the efficiencies that the Graile system has provided us and we continue to work on gradual improvements in that system”, he continued.

Another innovative process we have implemented is the flat referral system used by our Underwriting Team. This allows for decisions to be made quickly as there is no longer any need for matters to be referred through numerous layers of authority. A Senior Underwriter can give approval in a fraction of the time that the traditional referral process allowed.

Common-sense is the lifeblood of our Business

“Our culture is one of a common-sense Underwriting approach to everything we do. Our flat structure enables our Underwriters to quickly and easily refer risks that are outside of their authority. This means Underwriters and therefore Brokers are not waiting for a week or more to respond to Brokers”, stated Mr McPhee.

“The common-sense Underwriting approach also means that we can write any risk as long as it makes common-sense. We also encourage communication between offices and between individual Underwriters which develops a team attitude and a sharing of information and ideas”, he added.

It’s really no secret. Common sense lies at the heart of everything that we do. We keep this in mind when making staffing decisions within our organisation. Anybody we hire has to share our sensible and practical, yet also congenial attitude to the work.

We’ve carefully cultivated a dedicated team of employees that have the best insurance expertise on the market. Having such competent people in our Underwriting and Claims teams means that we can just trust them to get on with the job of delivering great outcomes.

Expertise, Service, Security and Support is where it’s at

Our fast turnarounds and common-sense outlook are really the hallmarks of our Company. So simple, yet really powerful. In the early stages of our Company’s history, these defining features helped us to become a prominent presence in the Australian Insurance Market.

However, we needed to crystallise our Company’s principles, making them well known to our Partners and Employees.

“The original strategy was really just to write business and provide great turnaround speed to brokers. What we needed to do was add to that and start to articulate exactly what we wanted to be and how we positioned ourselves in the market”, stated the CEO of Berkley Insurance Australia, Mr Tony Wheatley.

“After much discussion we came up with Expertise (experienced and empowered Underwriters as close to their Customers as possible, Service (fast reliable turnaround of quotes, call, wordings, claims), Security (APRA authorised and backed by the W. R. Berkley Corporation) and Support (Claims and helping even if we couldn’t assist ourselves), and whilst it took some time to embed this message, everything we did going forward was aimed at one of these key criteria. From there we started to look at how we could improve each of these things” said Mr Wheatley.

There’s no doubt that this was a pivotal moment in our history, now we could express our Company’s purpose in a succinct way. This gave us greater organisational structure and direction.   

“I think our culture has very much developed into what we aimed to achieve 10 years ago. The Expertise, Service, Security and Support strategy continues to be fine-tuned and everyone is part of making sure we achieve that aim. Whenever we think we have that nailed we need to look again and continue to improve”, stated Mr Wheatley.

You are an important part of our history

“We are open about our results and provide regular statistics down to state and Underwriter level so that everyone can see how they are contributing to the performance of the business and how they compare to their peers. Facilities produce regular reports to their Cover-Holders and work with them to adjust their strategies on a regular basis”, he said.

Through relentless self-examination of our systems and processes, we continue to enhance the experiences that our Brokers and Clients have with our firm. Encouraging a culture of ideas, we want all of our employees to be involved in our internal discussions and campaigns.

“Our database and data analytics have improved significantly allowing us to understand what is happening in the portfolio quicker and more openly than in the past. All of this data is available and discussed regularly with teams. Pricing reviews help us adjust and focus on the poorer performing segments without necessarily employing a broad brushed heavy-handed approach”.

“The key to everything though is having a group of people committed to providing the best possible level of service to our brokers and having them as close to our brokers as possible”, added Mr Wheatley.

We seriously address any feedback we receive from our external and internal Stakeholders, knowing that from listening to their concerns, is the best way that we can move forward to the next exciting chapter in our history.   

Growing Thoughtfully – Rob Berkley Sit down with Insurance Magazine Australia

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