Polo Managing Agency Assumes Management of Coverys Syndicate 1975
Polo Managing Agency Ltd., an independent Lloyd’s turnkey managing agent, has assumed management of Coverys Syndicate 1975. The specialist medical professional lines syndicate will novate to Polo on Oct. 2, 2023.
In late 2021, Coverys Managing Agency Ltd. elected to conduct an orderly closure of its Lloyd’s operations including placing Syndicate 1975 into run-off in favor of a dedicated UK-regulated platform.
As part of this exit from Lloyd’s, Coverys’ London management team investigated options to manage the run-off of Syndicate 1975 and have selected Polo to undertake managing agent services to support the business.
Under the agreement, the Coverys team will continue to administer claims management and effect such policy endorsements as may be required for Syndicate 1975, with managing agency activities and oversight being undertaken by Polo.
Coverys’ day-to-day interactions with brokers and clients remain unchanged.
Coverys said it remains committed to the London market and is in the process of establishing a UK regulated platform to continue to service clients and brokers in the global medical community through the London market.
The transaction adds to Polo’s growing cohort of syndicates under management and demonstrates Polo’s capability to provide full life cycle management and solutions for Lloyd’s platforms entering and exiting Lloyd’s.
The deal allows the syndicate to benefit from both Polo’s syndicate management experience and economies of scale as Covery’s pursues its ongoing underwriting strategy outside of Lloyd’s.
“Polo is delighted to seal this deal,” said PoloWorks and Polo Managing Agency CEO Paul Andrews. “It clearly demonstrates that our full cycle syndicate management solutions are very much in demand by market participants that not only want to enter but also need an exit strategy.”
He said the deal also provides stability and reassurance for “a number of experienced Coverys syndicate staff,” while increasing Polo’s bench strength to support its turn-key offering.
“This transaction demonstrates our commitment to policyholders and brokers for the long-term to ensure our Lloyd’s platform continues to support in the most effective way as we establish our UK regulated platform,” commented Mike Sibthorpe, CEO of Coverys Managing Agency.
“Coverys has over 45 years protecting and defending the healthcare community, and this transaction cements our position in the London market today and for the future,” he added.
In a separate announcement in September, PoloWorks announced the launched of a digital market offering, Polo Digital, to support Lloyd’s Blueprint 2 (the Future at Lloyd’s modernization project) and the digitization of the London insurance market.
Polo said this new service will allow its clients to access a wide range of AI supported digital solutions that involve the creation, storage, transformation, and management of underwriting data sets, through Digitization as a Service (DaaS).
“Data integration services are crucial for businesses looking to gain holistic insights from their data,” said Andrews in a statement. “Our new offering will help organizations efficiently capture data, combing it from different sources to create a unified view, a vital step in enabling them to meet the challenging requirements of Blueprint 2 market modernisation.”
Polo Digital aims to create data services that will continue to evolve with market technological advancements, “enabling businesses and individuals to harness the power of data for innovation, efficiency, and decision-making in the digital age,” he continued.
Polo Digital was launched this week in order to bring artificial intelligence technology to Polo’s underwriting and broking clients to support and underpin the Blueprint 2 initiative, integrate the use of the Market Reform Contact version 3 and meet the needs of the broking and insurer community to support accurate data entry needed to reap the benefits of a core data record.
Polo Digital will become part of PoloWork’s services arm, Polo Commercial Insurance Services, and will be headed up by Richard Lawson, who is CEO.
About PoloWorks
Marco Capital-owned, PoloWorks is a leading Lloyd’s and London market insurance services provider, comprising two divisions: Polo Managing Agency (PMA) and Polo Commercial Insurance Services (PCIS). PMA is an independent turnkey managing agency at Lloyd’s which offers a full suite of services for all stages of a syndicate’s life cycle, ranging from governance and oversight through to processing, IT, and complete back-office support. Clients include new applicants for Lloyd’s, Lloyd’s syndicates, and insurtechs.
PCIS serves 42 mostly Lloyd’s-based clients and has commercial relations with approximately 40% of the market. The unit provides onshore UK outsourced services, ranging from underwriting support, management accounting, claims management, compliance and regulatory, and workflow management.
Source: PoloWorks