Signals | Spring 2023

MESSAGE FROM BILL HUGHES

There’s No Substitute for Communication

Dear Valued Partner,

As many of you have told us, rising rates can be a difficult message to communicate to clients. Arbella has been laser-focused on assisting you and your clients during this challenging time. We have always believed that a personalized, proactive approach to service leads to high levels of satisfaction and retention. This includes getting feedback from you early and often—critical for success today. You’ll find more about our industry’s challenges and Arbella’s response on Page 5.

I am pleased to report that Arbella’s commercial customer retention is at an all-time high, and our new business is the strongest we’ve seen in years. I attribute this continued growth trajectory to your strong understanding of our underwriting appetite, your expertise in helping insureds manage their risks, and the open, honest communication that characterizes our partnership. Thank you.

Throughout this issue, you will find additional information about Arbella’s most competitive products, risk management services, and just a few of the many agent success stories that we have heard.

As we delve into 2023, we will continue our focus on growth. Market conditions are expected to remain unsettled and we will continue to adapt and respond. For example, we are currently exploring new tools and resources to help your clients be more proactive in managing risk. Stay tuned!

As always, we are here for you. If you have any questions, concerns, or suggestions, please contact me, your underwriter, or your territory manager.

Sincerely,

William S. Hughes, CPCU Vice President, Commercial Lines

Arbella Insurance Group

(617) 328-2505

William Hughes, CPCU

We’ve Got You Covered!

Our Diverse Appetite!

Our top markets include: Construction: 27.5%, Restaurants: 21.1% (of our commercial business book) and Services: 8.3%. Don’t see what you’re looking for? Contact your underwriter for a quick and expert response. And check out our quarterly Recent Successes updates for a look at what we have written and would like to write more of.

Hole-in-One Golf Course Coverage: Pin High

Since launching our new golf course coverage, we’ve written almost $670,000 in new coverage! To find out why it’s been so popular, check out our Pin High webinar recording on Arbella Connect/Agent Learning Center.

Give Your Clients an Edge

Whether it’s restaurants, contractors, golf courses, auto repair shops, or something else, we can provide you with highly competitive coverage and easy-to-use forms.

Featured Product: EDGE for Auto Repair Shops

Auto repair shops have plenty of challenges these days—but with Arbella’s EDGE for Auto Repair program, insurance won’t be one of them.

n Spotlight Auto Repair: Provides your clients with commercial property options that meet their insurance needs.

n Arbella EDGE for Auto Repair Shops: Includes all of the coverages in Spotlight, plus additional specialized coverages such as Mechanic’s Errors & Omissions for $25,000 per occurrence and $50,000 aggregate; Key Employee Replacement Expense for $10,000; and more!

n Arbella EDGE Plus for Auto Repair Shops: Builds on the coverages provided in Spotlight Auto Repair and Arbella EDGE for Auto Repair Shops, including Garagekeepers Liability. Ask your underwriter for more information!

Driving Down Risk

Now more than ever, it’s critical to place your clients with a carrier that offers risk management resources. Risky driving behaviors, coupled with heavier traffic volume, are driving accidents up. Smart business owners know that hiring and training safe drivers prevents losses and keeps their company and reputation strong. Our Loss Control team will work with you and your insureds, sharing our own experiences and best practices on how to hire the right drivers and build a fleet management program that minimizes losses.

The Impact of Responsive Partnership

We asked a handful of our partners, “What does partnership mean to you?”

“Arbella understands that every New England business is unique. Even during this time of great pricing pressures, Arbella’s commercial underwriters have never taken a cookie-cutter approach to pricing proposals. They respond promptly and work with us as true partners to find solutions that meet the needs of our clients.”

- Kevin Giovanucci President, Acrisure Insurance

“A great partnership is based on communication and collaboration. Asking meaningful questions and listening to bring forth positive change makes a big difference. It helps us stay abreast of market changes and coverage options, offer competitive products and provide timely quotes, and refer our clients to local claim services for quick and efficient claims experiences. This communication and collaboration has a positive impact on all our partnerships—with our clients, our carriers, and others.”

- Tracy McConnell Senior Vice President, Commercial Lines, FBinsure

“Over many decades, we’ve [Arbella and Gilbert Insurance] developed a mutual trust and respect for one another. We rely on Arbella, and they rely on us. We have open communication—that’s what makes it work. We work together on many personal and commercial accounts to create our shared success.”

- Mark Gilbert Owner and President, Gilbert Insurance Agency

“We have an open door policy with our employees, the companies we work with, and our customers. We talk a lot here in our office. We frequently get the sales team together and share industry and agency updates. When we communicate with our employees, they know we’re looking out for them. They understand our goals. That leads to referrals from people they know, and referrals from our customers. Our customers know we are here for them, too. We open early, and communicate often.”

- Larry Hall Principal and Owner, Segreve and Hall Insurance Associates

“We’ve seen double-digit growth for some time now. We didn’t anticipate that with the pandemic, but we attribute much of it to responsiveness. In 2019, we trained our entire team on how critical it is to be responsive, and we all took it to heart. Because of that, we’re binding more than 55% of all busines that we quote.”

- David Zawilinski Director, Commercial Lines Underwriting, Arbella Insurance Group

Want to share what a responsive partnership means to you? We’d love to hear from you! Please reach out to any of your underwriters, territory managers, or other Arbella representatives with feedback and suggestions, anytime.

The Perfect Storm | Property Market Challenges, Our Response

The commercial property market is facing dynamic pressures felt by customers, agents, and carriers. Building replacement costs are rising to keep pace with inflation, and coupled with escalating reinsurance rates, every carrier is experiencing tremendous premium pressures.

Explaining the impact of this hardening market to customers can be challenging for anyone.

We recently talked with Bill Hughes, Arbella’s Vice President of Commercial Lines about why property rates are rising and steps we can all take to respond to the situation.

Why Are Rates Rising?

A combination of factors are aligning into a challenging cycle, mostly around reinsurance and inflation.

Reinsurance—the insurance that carriers purchase to protect their claim reserves—is acquired through global reinsurance companies. Global weather events such as wildfires, freeze events in areas not typically exposed to such temperatures, hurricanes, tornadoes, flood, etc. have increased in frequency and severity, leading reinsurers to raise their rates significantly on certain business lines, particularly property. This has a local impact as traditional, primary carriers absorb these reinsurance costs and need to include in their rates.

Additionally, inflation continues to drive up the cost of building materials, and labor. Further, the materials are often not readily available due to supply chain pressures. As a result, claims may take longer and can be more costly. For example, a building that had a replacement cost of $1 million last year, should be reviewed by the agent and customer and may require a higher replacement cost. In this example, perhaps the building value needs to be increased to $1.1M in order to properly insure and protect this customer.

What is Arbella Doing About it?

As always, Arbella is here for our agents and customers. We are prioritizing frequent communication with you and our customers, and are sharing information in webinars, breakfast meetings, daily conversations, and more.

We’re also committed to handling each policy on a case by case basis. Some buildings may not need as much of an inflationary increase, while others may be more impacted by the changes. Every customer is unique, and each may experience a different increase or sometimes none at all. We are ready to talk through each building’s specific conditions and circumstances.

Over the years, we have built a profitable book of business together and as a result we do not need to adjust our CL appetite. We are happy with our commercial lines book of business, and with the business you continue to send us. Thank you.

What Can Agents Do?

We are navigating this environment together. We have been thrilled and impressed by your response to these challenges. You have handled difficult conversations with understanding and expertise. Please continue to communicate with us as often as you need to.

Keep the changing landscape in mind when reviewing your customers’ needs. Evaluating and, when necessary, increasing property values to match inflation helps ensure customers have the proper coverage limits in place should a loss occur. We recognize what’s happening in the marketplace, and we want to work with you to protect our customers.

Thank you for your steady partnership. If you have any questions, my team and I are just a phone call away.

Why We Chose Arbella

“Arbella’s inclusive culture and commitment to local charitable organizations make me proud to come to work every day. I have always felt supported and inspired by the teams I have been a part of; the people here are what truly make Arbella a great place to work.”

- Katherine Berna, Associate Underwriter, CL Underwriting

“I couldn’t pass on the feel and the fit of Arbella. It was the right company with the right character and the right principles. It was the right role with the right people. Arbella checked all of those boxes.”

“The decision to join Arbella was an easy one. Their strong reputation throughout the industry and their company values were huge draws for me. They also take pride in finding creative solutions for their agency partners and are committed to giving back to local communities. This truly is a great place to work.”

- Matthew Dunn, Senior CL Underwriter

“I am proud to be part of an organization that focuses on the satisfaction of its employees while demonstrating a steadfast commitment to earning the trust of both our agents and customers. Moreover, I am gratified to see that the same integrity benefits the wider community through active citizenship and continuous charitable initiatives.”

“My favorite thing about working at Arbella is the people. When I started working here last year, I was amazed at how welcoming and helpful my coworkers and bosses were. At Arbella, we all want to see each other succeed and will teach, assist, and learn from each other to make that happen. I am grateful for all of the friendly, considerate, and supportive people I have met, and continue to meet, here at Arbella.”

“Arbella is truly a great place to work. They want to see us succeed and grow and they help us reach our goals. We are not treated like employees—we are treated like family.”

- Erica Torres, CL Operations Specialist

Cassandra Koegel

- Anne L. Rykowski, CPCU, Team Manager, CL Underwriting

- Brian Clark, Loss Control Manager

- Paul DeAngelis, CL Underwriting Technician

Congratulations to the recent graduates of Arbella’s Commercial Lines Underwriting Trainee Program!

L-R: Ben Smith, Pat Medeiros, Josh Wood, Krista Kelly, Greg Oxford (instructor), Steve Bono. Not pictured: Michelle Peterson, Dana Iannillo, Marie Glaude.

L-R: Brian Clark, Paul DeAngelis, Erica Torres, Katherine Berna, Matthew Dunn, Anne L. Rykowski

Companies support their communities for a multitude of reasons. For Henry Risman, president of Risman Insurance Agencies, giving back is about getting to know and help people. It’s about being a part of something bigger— and something fun.

“I got to know my community starting at a young age,” said Henry, the third generation in his family to lead the agency. His parents and grandparents were heavily involved in their Medford, MA community, home of the Risman Insurance Agencies’ flagship location. They jumped in to help whenever and wherever there was a need—usually getting directly involved, as well as helping financially.

Leading by Example

“One of our core values is to support the communities that support us,” Henry said. “We’re a community-based agency. If our communities succeed, we all succeed.”

Now, after a few years of rapid organic and acquisition-related growth, the Risman Insurance Agencies has eight different communities to serve.

Taking an active role in the community requires a sense of commitment and a drive to help.

“You bring more value to an organization when you have passion for it,” he said. “It’s more fun when you know the people, and you learn more.” One of Henry’s passions is serving on the board of the Visiting Nurse & Community Health, Inc., where he helps ensure that people in his community get the medical care they need.

Henry works hand in hand with the Arbella Insurance Foundation to increase his agency’s impact on the community. “The Agent Matching Gift Program and the ‘Let’s Drive Out Hunger’ programs have really helped us expand our community impact,” he said.

Henry grew up building social connections that he enjoys and sustains to this day while gaining a foundational understanding of his community. He seamlessly blends charitable involvement, business, and friendship, and his business gives him great opportunities to keep in touch with his network.

Today, Risman Insurance Agencies fully leverages that network to give back to many local organizations, including food banks, sports organizations, the Jimmy Fund, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, the National Junior Tennis League, the Brian Silver Memorial Fund for spinal tumor research, and more. Sometimes Henry’s employees bring these causes to his attention, while other times it’s their clients. Either way, the agency is happy to help.

“We value and appreciate Arbella and the Arbella Insurance Foundation. Their programs make it easy for us to be a good corporate citizen,” he said.

Passing It On

Now that Henry’s son—the fourth generation of Rismans to join the family business—is working with him, community involvement, he said, is even more satisfying. “[When your child joins the business,] you do more long-term thinking and make more community-based decisions,” he said. Henry’s community involvement helps him run a strong business in an even stronger community—each of which leans on the other for resiliency and prosperity.

“We’re a local organization. Collectively, we are better than we are individually.”

Henry Risman