insufficient contents coverage. On a home
with structural values between $2 million
and $7 million, the average level of
underinsurance for contents came close
to $600,000, says Boyd.
So ACE developed the Home
Contents Valuation program that
involves sending risk consultants to
the home to ensure adequate coverage
for the structure. These consultants can
gather additional information when
visiting and use a special application to
analyze the contents’ value.
Encompass Insurance, whose program is
dedicated to the affluent client with assets
The greatest challenge is directing
potential customers to independent agents.
When these clients are handled by direct writers,
[the necessary] services are not offered—and a
lot of [buyers] don’t know what they don’t know.”
Lee Roth, President of Chartis’ Private Client Group
Division of North America
UNDERESTIMATED EXPOSURES REPRESENT
RIPE BIZ OPPS FOR INDIE AGENTS
As many Americans accrue wealth, they
don’t think about moving their insurance
program—and often end up remaining with
the same insurer for years. Direct writers
and captive agents still hold the lion’s share
of this market, and often do not provide
sufficient coverage for their clients’ risk.
between $100,000 and $1 million, is still
working to educate these clients and convince
them to work with independent agents.
“The independent agent is important
because they understand these customers’
needs and what they need to purchase,”
says Tom Ealy, president of Encompass.
Well-to-do potential buyers, he adds, have
a “need for the independent agent as there
has never been before.”
Lee Roth, president of Chartis’
private-client group division of North
“The greatest challenge is directing
potential customers to independent
agents,” says Roth. “When these
clients are handled by direct writers, [the
necessary] services are not offered—and
a lot of [clients] don’t know what they
don’t know.”
“A lot of these clients buy on a
transactional basis,” adds Condon. “They
never understand that they have a real
hodgepodge of coverage. That is one of the
best reasons to take all the separate policies
and put them a single plan. Most have
never done that before.” NU
Servicing the Unique Needs of Affluent Clients
America, which writes HNW individuals
of over $1 million in assets or
premium payments of over $10,000,
agrees. Roth says the key to his
group’s success is partnering with
independent agents able to explain
the advantages of being in a specially
tailored insurance program.
THE WEALTH that high-net-worth (HNW) individuals accumulate allows them to indulge in interests that most
people can only dream about. The high-profile purchases, highlighted in celebrity
interviews, of pieces of art, car collections
grand homes and private aircraft are just
a few of the indulgences the public gets a
glimpse of in magazines or on television.
Yet there are some indulgences for
which even the wildest imagination of the
average person might not consider a need
for insurance.
Among some of the less run-of-the-mill types of coverage HNW clients may
ask for is mortality coverage for exotic
animals in a private zoo, says Ray Condon,
president of Aon Risk Solution’s private
risk-management practice.
One uninsurable request: Protection of a
view from a high-rise co-op apartment that
might be obscured by another building
built years after the client has moved into
the home. A carrier won’t provide coverage
for something that has no measurable
value and is difficult to quantify as a risk,
Condon explains.
PropertyCasualty360.com
February 20, 2012 | National Underwriter Property & Casualty | 21
