Wholesale Trading Co-Op Launches to Serve Large Brokers
Edgewood Partners Insurance Center (EPIC) and one of its co-founders John Hahn and industry investor Jeff Cappel, announced the formation of Wholesale Trading Co-Op Insurance Services LLC (WTC), a boutique wholesale brokerage firm that will serve approximately 30 large, privately held retail insurance brokers in the United States. The firm will be owned jointly by its retail insurance broker members, WTC executives, its sponsors and select financial partners, including Islington Holdings LP, the investment firm managed by Cappel. WTC will begin placing business by the end of 2010 with five to seven founding retail insurance broker members.
WTC will work directly with its retail insurance broker members to develop a placement strategy to serve clients, increase transparency between the retailer broker and specialty insurance markets, reduce frictional costs, and develop exclusive programs and binding authority facilities for its owner members, the company said. Initially offices will be located in San Francisco, New York and Atlanta. Midwest and Texas locations will be added in 2011.
WTC is now licensed in all states and expects to begin transacting business by year-end 2010.