ch, Technical Expertise &
ete With Giant Brokers
o testimonials, rugby sponsorships draw new-business interest
fices in Philadelphia, Leeds, London, Paris,
Amsterdam, Hamburg, Hong Kong and
most recently, Kampala, Uganda.
“We currently have four employees in
Uganda who are able to place business
from any COMESA country (Common
Market for Eastern and Southern Africa),”
Bartlett says. The region is currently growing at 8 percent, compared with an annual
rate of 1 percent in the U.S.
Bartlett opened its Philadelphia office
in 1997, originally to service the American
business interests of its European clients
(each office operates as an independent profit center). Since then, Bartlett has developed
a large and expanding roster of U.S. clients.
Currently, about 50 percent of Bartlett’s
Philadelphia-branch business is generated from
overseas; the other half is U.S.-based, much of
which has an overseas exposure. Carriers include ACE, AXA, Chartis, Chubb, One Beacon,
The Hartford, Travelers, Zurich and XL.
“I have big ambitions for our U.S. operation and hope to see a greater percentage of
business generated from the U.S. in the future,” Bartlett says. “As [American compa-nies] become increasingly interconnected
with other countries—and with 95 percent
MEET RICHARD BARTLETT
Richard Bartlett, principal in charge of the
Philadelphia office of Bartlett & Co., joined the
business in November 2008 after training as a
CPA with PricewaterhouseCoopers in London.
“From an early age, I
grew up with talk of
insurance around the
kitchen table and used
to spend my summer
vacations helping in the
business,” Bartlett says.
In his late teens and
early twenties, Bartlett spent a lot of time
working and traveling in Africa and was torn
between pursuing a career in international
development or joining the family business.
The family business won: He started working
in the London office, and in March 2009, he
relocated to Philadelphia to run the U.S. office.
of the world’s consumers outside the U.S.
borders, coupled with the world-class products and services American businesses produce—we only see more and more demand
for an insurance broker with our profile.”
FOCUS ON NICHE MARKETS
In addition to its ability to offer global service
to its clients, Bartlett sees two other factors as
critical to the firm’s solid performance in a
slumping market: its approach to pricing and
a laser-sharp focus on niche markets.
New-Client Case Study: Used-Car Start Up
A GOOD EXAMPLE of how Bartlett ap- proaches new business is evident in its relationship with webuyanycar.com,
a Philadelphia start-up company launched
earlier this year. The company, financed from
overseas and based on a U.K. business
model, allows used-car sellers to get an
instant online valuation, then drive the car to
the nearest branch for an onsite inspection
before selling the car to the company.
Although webuyanycar.com was already
being advised by one of the world’s largest
brokers, Bartlett was invited to put a program
together due to a number of frustrations the
company was experiencing—because it was a
start-up company, funded by overseas capital,
the company was finding it difficult to access
a program willing to underwrite the risk with-
out being prohibitively expensive. Bartlett
was able to successfully place the risk while
achieving cost savings by:
J Accessing and analyzing the company’s
U.K. loss history and presenting this to U.S.
underwriters as a basis for expected losses.
J Advising the company in lease and con-
tract reviews to minimize its overall risk
exposure.
J Using Bartlett’s experience working with
foreign-based companies to establish cred-
ibility and a confidence level with overseas
management.
J Demonstrating the account’s growth poten-
tial to garner underwriter interest. NU
PropertyCasualty360.com
October 3, 2011 | National Underwriter Property & Casualty | 17
