All Eyes on the GI Breakfast Debate as Sponsors weigh in

Excitement is building for ANZIIF’s General Insurance Breakfast, and with not many sleeps to go, we asked two valued event sponsors, Finity and Duck Creek to pick their champion for the debate.

And the big question? Who truly holds the power — and who’s driving meaningful change in today’s evolving market? Brokers. Insurers. Agencies.

Brokers as customer whisperers

While acknowledging the complexity of the current market, Finity’s Raj Kanhai and Stephen Lee say brokers are in the driver’s seat, thanks to their deep customer relationships and ability to push for innovation.

“All play a vital role in the ecosystem, and there is no right answer,” Kanhai and Lee say.

“But brokers are arguably best positioned, not because they control the capital or the product (like insurers), or the distribution network (like agencies), but because they are closest to the customer, and currently wield the strongest influence in shaping market expectations and pushing insurers and agencies to evolve.”

They note that this is particularly true in commercial lines, where brokers have carved out a unique role as trusted advocates. This relationship gives them a strong edge when they approach insurers wanting something new, whether that’s cyber coverage, parametric products, or just better digital experiences.

Still, brokers face their own pressures. Commission structures are under scrutiny, and transparency requirements are increasing.

In SME and personal lines, they're dealing with commoditisation pressures that squeeze margins. Finding and retaining skilled advisers remains difficult, while clients expect more efficient quote delivery and advice. There's also the complexity of placing emerging risks where underwriting appetite varies widely.

Insurers as the power players

Insurers have something brokers and agencies don't: the capital to make substantial investments, and the product development capabilities to turn a concept into a market-ready product.

Duck Creek Technology managing director, APAC, Christian Erickson leans towards the side of insurers, and says that he “sees first-hand the innovative coverages, experiences and initiatives they’re designing and building to deliver the best outcomes possible for their policyholders.”

“From our experience, insurers are driving exciting change, inspired by their policyholder’s needs,” Erickson says.

The numbers back up some of these claims. Suncorp Group is replacing multiple legacy systems with Duck Creek's platform as part of a broader digital overhaul. Argyle Insurance has cut new rate introduction times to 15 days and expanded coverage across Australia using more granular data than competitors, who still rely on broad regional pricing.

However, Erickson says that the real advantage of insurers lies in their vast data access.

"There's an abundance of intelligence available, from novel third-party sources to new and unimagined insights from existing data,” he explains.

“Accessing and harnessing more of it could empower more accurate ratings or increasingly segmented and reflective rates; or it could be used for more personalised and effective risk mitigation and management.”

"There's the opportunity to incorporate more automation throughout delivery processes to increase consistency and reduce costly errors or reduce the need for costly manual inputs into repetitive and low-value tasks,” he adds.

However, being power players does not always work in insurers’ favour. Large companies are inevitably less agile than smaller brokerages or agencies, and legacy systems are expensive to maintain and difficult to replace. They must also balance risk appetite with market demand while managing regulatory requirements around data, conduct and pricing.

Agencies as the nimble innovators

Arguably, underwriting agencies and managing general agents (MGAs) combine the best of small brokerages and major insurers – small in scale, but potent in their ability to disrupt.

Finity notes that agencies have a strong appetite for innovation, while their lean structure allows them to push out new and niche products faster. There is also increased appetite from insurers for outsourced underwriting expertise, and agencies can often bring new capacity from non-traditional and overseas sources.

However, agencies are still heavily reliant on insurer capacity and reinsurance arrangements. This means they have to maintain strict discipline around underwriting and governance, and agencies are seeing their own regulatory constraints emerging – most notably in tightening AFSL obligations.

In some ways, underwriting agencies and MGAs act as the experimental labs of the industry. They are able to test and iterate faster than their more traditional counterparts, but their influence is often constrained by dependence on insurer backing.

Who will win the debate?

The brokers may be the pulse-checkers of the industry, close to customers and quick to signal emerging trends. Insurers, for their part, bring the muscle of transformation, backed by technology, scale, and capital. Agencies, agile and focused, remain sharp innovators on the fringes.

But it may not be about who drives change in isolation – it’s about who best responds to the shifting expectations of the policyholder.

Duck Creek’s Christian Erickson says this is where the real challenge lies for every player in the value chain.

“It’s about how to give the policyholder the value, protection and experiences they need and deserve whilst still maintaining strong businesses,” Erickson says. “But that’s also where the biggest opportunities are.

The traditional way of designing, administering and pricing insurance may no longer be the best way, so whichever stakeholder can adapt best to the new environment can take advantage of the opportunity.”

And the environment is shifting fast. The industry is grappling with large-scale claims events, mounting customer expectations, and increased regulatory scrutiny – all of which raise the stakes for everyone.

ANZIIF’s General Insurance Breakfast promises to be one of the most spirited discussions on the insurance calendar.

Moderated by CHU CEO Kim Jonsson, the panel will feature Richard Klipin (NIBA), Jenny Bax (UAC), and Matthew O’Sullivan (Zurich). 

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