According to Insurance Business Canada, MGAs are instrumental in giving retail brokers the specialized skills and access they need to service their clients well. Which is why the organization has taken to conducting an annual broker survey to determine which MGAs stand out from the rest. This will be the second time that South Western Insurance Group Limited has earned a 5-Star rating in IBC’s survey. One of only 27 MGAs to do so this year, the company scored an impressive eight out of ten or higher across nine of the ten survey categories. The most important of these, according to almost 89% of respondents, is “underwriting responsiveness and turnaround time”. And that is where John Barclay, President and CEO of South Western Insurance Group Limited, says his company tries their hardest to shine. “We did really well across almost the entire range of categories, but we are most proud of our achievement where customer responsiveness is concerned. Our brokers are busy people, and we definitely make efforts to respond to them immediately – even if it is only to ask for more information.” In fact, when it comes to hosting a quality communications program around company products, Barclay believes his company does very well. “I think we have done a much better job this year of communicating – both digitally and in person – with our broker channel. And that combination of better, more visible communication, with specialty products that are really helpful, has driven an improved overall awareness of who we are and what we can specifically do to help our brokers.”
