In a new light

Hiscox is preparing to change the way it helps brokers deal with emerging professions' PI risks

Professional Indemnity (PI) risk is an area that is always changing. Professionals such as accountants have long known exactly what cover is available to them and why they need it. Yet many people who work in emerging professions have exposures that they may not fully understand and, even if they do, may not know where to get cover.

There’s clearly a big opportunity here, and Hiscox is gearing up for a new campaign when it will offer brokers solutions to the problem of finding – and selling to – these potential clients.

Hiscox appointed Samantha Newman as Head of Emerging Professional Indemnity and Charities earlier this year and she has put together a team to work out how to make the most of the sector.

“Emerging PI is a major product for Hiscox,” Samantha says. “There’s a big opportunity for us to reach out to professionals who might not realise the risks they face and to help with tailored, appropriate cover. We’re trying to find new ways to communicate, working with trade associations and updating our marketing literature to see where we can highlight key elements, such as our cover for expert witnesses in court.”

Before March this year, expert witnesses in UK courts were immune from being sued over their participation in legal proceedings. Hiscox has received calls from brokers and policyholders asking if they were still covered under their PI policy.

It does indeed cover the change in the law, but this may not be the case for policies from other insurers, and brokers and policyholders should check their cover if it is required.

Hiscox aims to be at the forefront of offering PI cover to emerging professions and Samantha is focused on finding ways to do that. “We’ll do things such as working with trade associations to highlight the risks their members may face,” she says. “There are relatively low-cost ways to mitigate this. We could run articles in their magazines, for example, with case studies to highlight their risk and exposure.

“The market has huge potential and we know we can find new customers and generate new business for brokers as well as ourselves. In the next few months, we’ll be identifying the sectors to target and start to market to them.”

The team has also been consulting brokers on how Hiscox can better help them sell cover to emerging professions. “Many brokers aren’t sure how to reach out to these non-established sectors,” Samantha says. “It’s up to us at Hiscox to make life easy for them and find the sectors that have the potential to buy a lot of cover.”

Samantha’s background in sales and marketing led her to work for big names such as Procter & Gamble, Mars, PepsiCo and the BBC. “I’ve always been in product development, identifying customer needs and then offering solutions,” she says. “This is no different.” Hiring someone from outside the industry is an innovative move, demonstrating Hiscox’s commitment to finding the best solutions for its broker partners.

Look out for Hiscox’s emerging PI campaign towards the end of the year.