8 minute read
Ian Carr: An Industry Visionary on the Past, Present and Future of Broking
Pictured above: Insurance Advisernet founding partners Ian Carr and Sherryn Fletcher
By Amy Cai
Ian Carr, Founder and Chairman of Insurance Advisernet and the newly crowned winner of the 2022 Lex McKeown Trophy, is often referred to as a visionary in the insurance industry – a man who pioneered the Authorised Representative model in Australia and set the course for brokers to start their own businesses.
He shares his story on how he came to found Australia’s first Authorised Representative network, the impact it made on the industry, and where he sees the future in broking.
A view of the past: the birth of Insurance Advisernet
In 1996, as the General Manager of AIBA Group, Ian was facing redundancy when the company entered into a merger. Facing an uncertain future ahead, Ian found the impetus to start his own business.
“Looking down the barrel of being made redundant, I decided that now was the time to work for myself,” he says.
“At the time, the market was dominated by international brokers, who were using the size of their premium volumes to obtain a premium price advantage over others in the markets. A lot of regional suburban brokers struggled to compete against them – but there was one thing they didn’t have, and that was the local relationship.
“I have long believed that business is a personal thing, and personal relationships are the starting point of trust – not price. Those relationships exist from knowing people in the community – it’s playing the same sports, sharing the same interests, or having your kids go to the same school or play on the same sports team. When you have similar interests, you network in that area and that is the basis of the people relationship.”
So, with a fervent belief in the power of relationships and the backing of his wife, Ian launched the Authorised Representative model in Australia, founding Insurance Advisernet together with business partner Sherryn Fletcher on 15 February 1996.
“In the start-up phase, we received great guidance, encouragement and support from Frank O’Halloran, the then CEO of QBE,” says Ian.
“We came up with a business concept to support insurance brokers – they would set up their own business and we would provide the central infrastructure for that to happen, including the systems, the training and the access to insurers.”
Modelled on the financial planning industry, where a dealer group was the licensee, and distribution and sales were made through Authorised Representatives who owned their clients, Insurance Advisernet pioneered the first model of this kind in the general insurance broking industry. The business launched with a team of 12 Authorised Representatives who took the gamble to start their own business under this model.
“From day one, each person on our internal team was doing four or five different jobs. As we started to scale, we recruited people who specialised in various fields. They built up the services we provided to our Authorised Representatives, which in turn also helped them to grow their businesses.”
26 years later, Insurance Advisernet is widely regarded as the leading Authorised Representatives network in Australia, with over 260 practices and $1.2 billion in premiums, supported by a team of 40.
“We focused on getting good, solid people who did the insurance for their network of friends and associates. The strong bond these brokers have with their clients beats price every time. It’s often said to us that we have a very high client retention rate, and that’s a clear reflection of the value we’ve placed in those relationships.”
Fast-forward to the present: a path paved for brokers
As the man who built Insurance Advisernet from scratch, Ian shares the same beginnings as many others in their network, who all took a chance to run their own business. These roots have enabled him to deeply appreciate the path his model has paved for Authorised Representatives today.
“Today, it’s so much easier for the good brokers to start out on their own. When Insurance Advisernet first launched, it was less like the well-oiled machine it is today. Our Managing Director Shaun Standfield and his team have established the very best services for our Authorised Representatives, which we didn’t have initially.
“There’s a much higher calibre of Authorised Representatives coming through now – we’re seeing high quality brokers coming from the internationals who want to run their own business. We also have a very young average age for principals at just 41 years old. Among the young talent coming through, we’re very proud to see William Thompson from Thompson Insurance, an Authorised Representative in Insurance Advisernet’s network, win this year’s Warren Tickle Young Broker of the Year award. These brokers are showing that the Authorised Representative model works – that with the right person and right attitude, if you’re hardworking and know your stuff, you can use your network to run your own business.”
When reflecting on the impact he has made, Ian is proudest to see that the Authorised Representatives model has enabled brokers to take control over their own destiny.
“By outsourcing the AFSL management and compliance to us, we’ve given brokers more time to grow their business and focus on delivering the best client risk advice and service. There are brokers who have found enormous success in balancing their lifestyle with their career and family. Working for their own business has enabled people to work from home, in hours that fit around their family life. So many of these brokers are very, very successful. With the support of networks like Insurance Advisernet, people from all backgrounds can work on their own terms.
“And because the insurance business is so personal and it involves knowing everything about a person, if you can help your client get a claim and ensure they’re well looked after, they’re not going anywhere. This is how our profession works – it empowers the good people with good skills to be very successful, and I say good luck to them, it’s awesome.
“The absolute highlight of my career is being able to support someone with starting their own dream, just as I was supported, and watch their journey to become successful in business, family and life in general. As of this interview, the Insurance Advisernet Conference is coming up shortly, and I’m looking forward to connecting with brokers who started up with us years ago. These are people who started their business from scratch and relied on us to take a punt and back them. It’s so rewarding to see them come up to us many years later, now so successful.”
Preparing for the future: the changing role of broking
When it comes to what lies ahead for insurance broking, Ian is emphatic about the need for brokers to re-think advice.
“The 2022 NIBA Insurance Brokers Code of Practice and various regulatory authorities have stressed that brokers must give their clients advice in writing,” he says. “The next step is to think about what that advice should look like.
“I believe that the future of this industry is not about insurance – it is about risk. We’re living in an information age, where we now have so much data available to help us inform clients and assist them in managing their risks. We are in a better position than ever before to help our clients properly protect their assets and liabilities.
“Just looking at the increasing natural disasters we’re now experiencing – brokers can access flood maps and start telling their clients well in advance if their home and/or business is in a flood-risk zone. That’s giving the client good advice. This is so much more important than entering client information into a computer and emailing across quotes to them.
“There are tools and technologies out there now for brokers to find out where the flood zones are, and to get accurate valuations on replacement value. It’s important for brokers to embed these into the advice they give, because that’s how they can demonstrate their value as trusted advisers.
“The role of brokers will fundamentally shift in the coming years, and those who spend their time in front of laptops emailing the cheapest quotes to their clients, without ever talking to them about their risks, will soon find themselves stuck in the old world.”
