{"id":2407,"date":"2024-01-24T10:38:58","date_gmt":"2024-01-24T15:38:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianbrokernetwork.com\/?p=2407"},"modified":"2024-01-24T10:38:58","modified_gmt":"2024-01-24T15:38:58","slug":"how-smaller-brokerages-can-level-the-playing-field","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianbrokernetwork.com\/fr\/how-smaller-brokerages-can-level-the-playing-field\/","title":{"rendered":"Comment les petites maisons de courtage peuvent uniformiser les r\u00e8gles du jeu"},"content":{"rendered":"

January 23, 2024 \u00a0\u00a0by Jason Contant<\/strong><\/p>\n

Smaller brokerages in the Canadian P&C insurance space can benefit from sharing best practices and platforms with other brokerages while still remaining independent, said the president of a family-owned brokerage in Nova Scotia.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Earlier this month, Halifax-based Keyes Insurance became a\u00a0member of the Canadian Broker Network<\/a>\u00a0(CBN)<\/span>, a national alliance of independent insurance brokerages representing more than $2.5 billion in property and casualty premiums, as well as employee benefits and life and financial services. Keyes Insurance remains a fully independent brokerage solely owned by president Shaun Keyes.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

He told\u00a0<\/span>Canadian Underwriter\u00a0<\/span><\/i>in an interview that the possibility of becoming part of a larger group gives a bit more relevance to a smaller brokerage like his.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe sharing of best practices allows independent brokerages to see how it\u2019s being done at scale and implement those [practices] in their own brokerage,\u201d Keyes said. \u201cThe value of being able to sit at the table with some of those other brokers that are larger across Canada\u2026is huge.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

A traditional family brokerage with 20 or fewer employees, for example, would have limits on who they can represent. However, with access to a broader network of brokerages, \u201cthere\u2019s really no company you can\u2019t access, or risk you can\u2019t look at, because you have a shared pool of expertise and market access,\u201d Keyes said.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

CBN has a shared platform where brokers have access to risks they haven\u2019t seen before.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cYou can go to the shared platform and say, \u2018Hey, has anybody seen this type of risk? Who would underwrite it? What things do we need to gather from an underwriting point of view?\u2019<\/span>\u201d Keyes said.\u00a0<\/span>\u201cSo that\u2019s really valuable. As a small broker, if you didn\u2019t have all the market access, there\u2019s probably somebody within the group you\u2019ve met who would be willing to help you with market access.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Also, collaborative opportunities exist. The broker network meets several times a year to discuss topics such as compensation or technology. \u201cWhat [tech] are people using?\u201d Keyes asked. \u201cWhat are the costs they\u2019re paying? What do you like? What don\u2019t you like?\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Cost-sharing is another benefit. \u201cAs an example, a bot is built\u2026and brokers who want to participate shared the cost.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Remaining independent was crucial for Keyes. He didn\u2019t want to get acquired by a consolidator or a brokerage with insurance company ownership. \u201cSome of us, when we would look at some of the acquisitions, and who owns the brokerage, [would] see a conflict of interest when the underwriter is the brokerage.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Keyes\u2019 brokerage has been family-owned for generations. His great-grandfather started the first Keyes Insurance about 100 years ago and Keyes\u2019 father started the brokerage he owns in 1980. The family brokerage also has another independent brokerage in Gananoque, Ont., owned by Keyes\u2019 cousin. Keyes\u2019 Halifax brokerage offers a variety of products, including auto, boat, motorcycle, RV, commercial, home, tenant and life and financial insurance.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

For Keyes, scale matters and size matters. \u201cDon\u2019t try to do everything on your own,\u201d he advised. \u201cThere are people rooting for you, hoping for you, and wanting to see you succeed. Independent brokerages, we\u2019re not each other\u2019s competition.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

View Full Article on Canadian Underwriter<\/a><\/p>\n

Like & Share on LinkedIn<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

January 23, 2024 \u00a0\u00a0by Jason Contant Smaller brokerages in the Canadian P&C insurance space can benefit from sharing best practices and platforms with other brokerages while still remaining independent, said the president of a family-owned brokerage in Nova Scotia.\u00a0 Earlier this month, Halifax-based Keyes Insurance became a\u00a0member of the Canadian Broker Network\u00a0(CBN), a national alliance […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":989,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2407","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianbrokernetwork.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2407","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianbrokernetwork.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianbrokernetwork.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianbrokernetwork.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianbrokernetwork.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2407"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/canadianbrokernetwork.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2407\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2408,"href":"https:\/\/canadianbrokernetwork.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2407\/revisions\/2408"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianbrokernetwork.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/989"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianbrokernetwork.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2407"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianbrokernetwork.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2407"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianbrokernetwork.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2407"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}