Dec 2007 New Lodgings for TEn >>
Sep 2007 Seven Up >>
Jul 2007 A Starter 4 Ten >>
Mar 2007 ... and another four! >>
Dec 2006 End of Year Round-Up >>
Nov 2006 TEn in the City >>
Aug 2006 Plus Four (again) >>
Dec 2005 End of Term Report >>
Nov 2005 TEn Reaches 10 >>
Oct 2005 Seven... Eight... and Counting to TEn >>
Aug 2005 TEn Gains Female Sixth Sense >>
Aug 2005 TEn Appoints Non Exec Chairman >>
Jul 2005 High Fives at TEn >>
Jul 2005 TEn Chooses CDL Technology >>
Jun 2005 TEn ‘Broker Network’ Goes North >>
TEn broking services, the broker network for Commercial Insurance Appointed Representatives (ARs), is pleased to announce that it has moved into new premises in Aylesbury.
TEn started life in 2004 with three people sharing in a two-man ‘flexible office’ in the same town, gradually upgrading and expanding its space until there were no larger office left to occupy. It has now moved 350 yards along the road to the Grade II listed Walton Lodge, which will provide space for up to 25 staff initially and further room for expansion in 2009.
Comments TEn director James Sharp, “We had reached the point whereby people had to climb over my chair to get to the scanner and our operational efficiency was becoming compromised. Our new home will not only cure these issues, but provide us with much needed meeting and training room facilities.
The fact that we have moved 350 yards closer to our favourite pub is purely coincidental.”
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TEn broking services, the broker network for Commercial Insurance Appointed Representatives (ARs), is pleased to announce the addition of seven new network members during the second and third quarters of 2007. The seven new ARs are located in Scotland (1), Lancashire (1), Leicestershire (1), South Wales (1), Sussex (1) and Buckinghamshire (2).
Comments TEn director James Sharp, “We are very pleased with the recruitment of new members throughout the summer, although as in previous years, there is a definite trend that results in a whole tranche of applications arriving during the summer holidays. We see a similar manifestation of this phenomenon after Christmas, Easter and even the odd bank holiday.
We believe it is at these times when individuals consider their situation and make live changing decisions; more than at other times of the year. Whatever the reason, the TEn concept is now represented in an ever increasing proportion of the UK.”
Due to the surge in demand for admission to the TEn network, the company has announced plans to move into larger premises in Aylesbury before the end of 2007 and to open a northern office during the course of 2008.
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TEn broking services, the broker network for Commercial Insurance Appointed Representatives (ARs), is pleased to announce a new initiative to assist start-up brokers in their first year of trading.
To date about 50% of the TEn membership has come as a result of consolidation, with senior account executives, managers and even junior directors of the firm that has been consolidated deciding to vote with their feet in reaction to the new regimes imposed upon them. Typically these people are ACII, have at least 10 years industry experience, are aged 32-48 and have employment contracts incorporating restrictive covenants of varying degrees of enforceability lasting up to a year.
A Starter 4 TEn is aimed at just this group of people, who at the end of their 12 months’ restriction are able to access their former commercial clients and build upon the new business that they were free to pursue in their first year.
Comments TEn director James Sharp, “Over the past two years we have had perhaps eight times as many enquiries from this target group of people as we have seen sign up, whilst in other segments the conversion ratio has been much more like one-in-three. The problem is that first year can be daunting for people who lack, either, substantial savings, an off-set mortgage with £20k sitting in the off-set and/or a second strong earner in the family.
Consequently, we came up with idea of A Starter 4 TEn based upon much the same principles as a Student Loan. Whilst it is probably quite good for the soul to endure a little bit of hardship in your first year as a new business, if you can’t pay the mortgage then you ain’t going to do it. Starter 4 TEn is designed to help people in that position.”
The membership of TEn is now approaching 30 ARs and the company expects to conclude its first Starter 4 TEn arrangement within the next couple of weeks.
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TEn broking services, the broker network for Commercial Insurance Appointed Representatives (ARs), is pleased to announce the addition of four new network members during the first quarter of 2007. The four new ARs are located in Hertfordshire (1), Lancashire (1) and Buckinghamshire (2).
Comments TEn director James Sharp, “We welcome the four new members this quarter; exactly the right number as per our targets and aspirations. Interestingly, they have all popped up within a few miles of one or more existing ARs, which clearly assists the economics of our account management and oversight role.
That said, one of our secondary targets for the year is to begin to fill in some of the gaps around the country where we have no representation at the moment. Consequently, we would be particularly interested to hear from applicants in South Wales, East Anglia and the West Midlands, although continued clustering has its advantages too. We do not perceive a problem of inter AR competition arising for some years yet; if ever.
TEn operates a centralised IT platform from CDL, which restricts AR access only to their own clients but gives TEn staff a full view and control of everything. The system identifies and highlights a second AR’s attempt to create a prospective client that already exists in the client database as a whole. To date, this has never happened.”
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TEn broking services, the broker network for Appointed Representatives (ARs), is pleased to announce the addition of two new members in the closing weeks of 2006. Both are start-up operations and they are based near Huntingdon and in Edinburgh respectively.
The year has seen a net increase in ARs from 11 to 25 and Gross Written Premiums rise by 900% as compared to the previous annual tally; although, admittedly, the income stream in 2005 did not really get going until half way through, this being the company’s first year of trading. That said, TEn achieved profitability (not counting inward investment) during and for the whole of the last quarter of 2006, after barely 18 months since operations began.
Comments TEn director James Sharp, “We’re really very content with how the business has developed over the last two years. Certainly our growth rate, which is organic and entirely devoid of acquisitions in the traditional sense, is completely without precedent in the market; and, I would suggest, doubly so in a soft market.
Whilst we are unlikely to achieve a 900% GWP growth rate within a 12 month period ever again, nevertheless our expectations for 2007 are for another 15 ARs and approaching a 300% increase in GWP. We would regard this as a relatively modest aspiration for the business model.”
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TEn broking services, the broker network for Appointed Representatives (ARs), has held its inaugural Annual Broker Conference in the City of London over the weekend of the 3rd – 5th November; with 20 of its members and several other TEn business partners in attendance.
The weekend’s events kicked off on the Friday afternoon with a tour of the Lloyds building, followed by an evening reception in Steam Wine Bar; a favourite haunt of the insurance community of EC3.
The conference itself was held in Allianz Cornhill’s offices in Leadenhall Street on the Saturday morning, including presentations by TEn, Allianz, NU, aascent, Sterling and CDL.
Although not all of TEn’s members were able to attend, the group included two previously unannounced new members from Leicestershire and Hampshire respectively; both of whom are new start-ups.
The highlight of the weekend was certainly the Saturday evening, when the whole TEn family, including partners and guests, were treated to some fine dining for 57 people at Antony Worrall Thompson’s Notting Grill, courtesy of Sterling Insurance.
Comments TEn director James Sharp, “This conference was a significant milestone just half-way through our second year of trading and we are very grateful to all of our event sponsors, Allianz, NU, aascent and, in particular, to Sterling.
Now we have a real sense of community looking forward into the future. Certainly, the members’ reaction has been extremely positive and the whole event has reinforced their decision to ‘go it alone’ and the choice of TEn as a vehicle.”
In his summing up, Managing Director, Kedric Rhodes, stated that the entrepreneurial spirit and professionalism shown by our ARs gave him great confidence and excitement in the future of the network in 2007 and beyond.
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TEn broking services, the broker network for ARs, has announced news of four more Appointed Representatives signed-up between May and July, bringing its tally up to 12 new members – so far – during 2006.
Spread geographically between the Home Counties, North London, North Wales and The North East, all of the new firms are just that; new start-ups. Over 80% of all TEn ARs have been start-ups, thereby confirming the original premise of the network; that plenty of people would want to break away and set up on their own, given half a chance.
Comments TEn director James Sharp; “coincidentally, all of our enquiries and applications went a bit quiet during the World Cup and we can probably count ourselves lucky that England managed to get no further than they did. Nonetheless, both May and June saw one new application per month and July bounced back to this year’s more normal count of two. We welcome them all.
The demographics of the enquiries are rapidly changing. Increasingly we are seeing more senior and seemingly secure individuals from within larger and larger brokers. There is a lot of disillusion with the process of industry consolidation and we anticipate the increasing numbers of experienced and professional people who will be voting with their feet.”
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End of Term Report
TEn broking services, the Commercial Lines AR network launched in February 2005 has announced another new member recruited during December, bringing the membership total in its first year of operations up to 11. The latest Appointed Representative is located in Wiltshire.
Comments TEn director James Sharp, “in fact, the number of 2005 ARs anticipated in our original business plan - prior to launch - was exactly 11. It is nice to be proved so precisely correct and visionary about it all, without the need for any manipulation of the figures whatsoever!
During 2006 we expect to add members at a rate of about four per quarter, so as to end the year with a tally above 25. Whilst our ambitions for 2005 were proof of concept and the establishment of our procedures, as we enter our second year, we are looking forward to steady growth in numbers and qualitative improvements in the processing of business; as the ARs and systems become bedded-in.”
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TEn Reaches 10
TEn broking services, the Commercial AR network launched in February has announced two further members recruited during November. This is the first month since March when more than one application has been confirmed by company.
The two new operations are located, respectively, one in South London – this being the third in the capital – and one in Surrey. Both are focused ‘Community Brokers’, writing predominantly SME business. TEn looks forward to working closely with these, as with all of its members, in 2006.
Comments TEn director James Sharp, “the limit of our ambition this year was to reach 10, or perhaps a 12 customers for our unique network proposition. We have achieved the lower end of our target range with six weeks to spare and expect to add at least one more by Christmas.
We are very pleased to have welcomed, on average, one new broker per month into the fold and are more than content that this run-rate is showing signs of increasing toward the end of our first trading year. In 2006, we expect to accelerate the acquisition rate up to 15; ending the year with 25+ operations running ‘live’ and a few more in the pipeline.”
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Seven... Eight... and Counting to TEn
TEn broking services, the Appointed Representative (AR) ‘network’ launched in February, announces the application and acceptance of its 7th and 8th new members; continuing the average rate of recruitment at one per month since March.
The two operations are located in South London and Buckinghamshire respectively. The former could best be described as broad based business consultancy practice, which has, coincidentally, Insurance qualified staff, some Commercial Insurance business already and the opportunity to do much more. The latter is a small established Commercial Broker with a healthy book of medium-sized risks.
Comments TEn director James Sharp, “both of these, our newest recruits, have exceptionally strong prospects for the future, but have been stuck on the horns of what we have found to be a very common dilemma. As entrepreneurs they are well able to win new customers and grow, but the present size of their account limits their markets, forces them down the path of wholesalers and, thereby, curtails their commission income.
Yet they are left with, quite disproportionably, PI costs, compliance charges and all the other overheads of a business. Employing staff, which would free up client-facing time of the Principals, is quite impossible from this starting point. Therefore, we are very pleased indeed – and feeling not a little vindicated - that the TEn model works so well for them.”
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TEn Gains Female Sixth Sense
TEn broking services, the Appointed Representative network, announce the sixth new member to see the sense of its proposition and services.
Comments TEn Director James Sharp, “We are particularly pleased with this one for a variety of reasons. In one sense it is just another small established broker and, therefore, not ground-breaking for us; but this is first to be based in London and the first with a female principal. And that is new.”
TEn anticipates continued steady growth in membership towards the end of the year and is expecting to maintain a rate of accession of roughly one new Appointed Representative every month.
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TEn Appoints Non Exec Chairman
TEn insurance services, the ‘broker network’ established in February 2005, is pleased to announce the appointment of David Pearce as Non Executive Chairman.
David’s career within the Insurance industry began over 40 years ago, at the age of 17, in a clerical role working for General Accident. He then moved to Shipton Insurance where he progressed to become, firstly, a Branch Manager and, finally, a Regional Manager.
Following the acquisition of Shipton by RAC Insurance Brokers in 1985, David became a Director and General Manager of Shipton within RAC and, hence to Colonnade, as Director of Sales & Marketing. Subsequently, David has held positions as Managing Director of Premium Search, Sales Director of Hill House Hammond and CEO of Peoples Choice from 1999-2003.
Comments Kedric Rhodes, Managing Director of TEn; “We are delighted that David has chosen to join us as Chairman. He brings with him a wealth of experience in areas that we needed to strengthen, plus a significant network of relationships across the industry”.
According to David Pearce; “My recent working life has certainly not been about the creation and promotion of smaller brokers; in fact, almost the reverse is true. Yet... TEn aspires to become an intriguing mixture of back-office process efficiency to handle volume – which I’m used to – whilst championing small independent broking businesses and enabling large insurers to be able to deal with them; which is a new and important challenge. It’s the first really new idea in commercial insurance distribution for quite a while”.
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High Fives at TEn
TEn broking services, the ‘broker network’ established in February 2005, is happy to announce the application and acceptance in July of its fifth Appointed Representative; thus maintaining the momentum of one new member per month since March.
TEn offers an Appointed Representative Network to the smaller established broker and proposed start-ups, covering predominantly Commercial classes of business and including within the package a wide range of ‘A’ rated markets, FSA compliance, back-office administration and centralised IT. This latest signing is the second established broker to join the network.
Comments TEn Director James Sharp, “Five is a psychologically important number to reach; as we had always anticipated that the first five acceptances of a new concept would be our highest hurdle and, the next five, will be encouraged that others are blazing the trail. Despite the fact that this is the second in Kent, nevertheless our enquiries range from across mainland UK and are as diverse in nature as they are in origin.”
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TEn Chooses CDL Technology
TEn broking services, the AR network for Commercial Lines, has announced CDL as its technology partner. TEn has been implementing the software house’s new Windows based Strata product over recent weeks, following a review of available systems last autumn.
The latest generation CDL system has been adopted by TEn broking as a way of offering a function-rich software platform to its members over the internet, thereby allowing smaller brokers to outsource their back-office functions, as well as their IT. TEn believes that this is nothing less than a re-inventive idea that will give rise to the founding of many new broking operations into the future.
Strata works on the application service provider (ASP) model, meaning that a broadband connection is all brokers need to be able to access the system. Crucially for TEn, the system allows the ‘network’ to operate a single Oracle database, while at the same time offering differentiated and configurable user access.
TEn is using Strata to support its unique business model, which sees it operate effectively as a national broker from a back-office point of view, thereby offering central and regional support to members across the country. Individual Appointed Representatives will know who else is in the system, but may not access any data that is not their own; whereas TEn is able to work with all information needed to assist with the broking process and in other areas, such as the reconciliation of accounts.
TEn director Malcolm Lee, explains: “Strata enables us to assist small brokers by harnessing technologies previously considered to pose a threat to this sector; namely the internet for cost effective connectivity and a new broking application with a heritage clearly derived from CDL’s call centre experience; it’s quite ironic really.”
CDL general manager, Rick Slater, added: “TEn offers an original business proposition in the broking market and is an exciting initiative for all involved. We are delighted that CDL Strata has been chosen as the platform to deliver this service and look forward to seeing TEn fulfil its enormous potential.”
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TEn ‘Broker Network’ Goes North
TEn insurance, the ‘broker network’ launched in February 2005, is pleased to announce its first new member outside of southern England. This brings the total membership up to four organisations, of which three are new brokers, for whom the launch of TEn has realised their aspiration of existence.
Comments TEn Director James Sharp, “Again, we are delighted and encouraged that this month sees another business deciding to join us. We are particularly satisfied that this is one more start-up, albeit with an existing book of business; and we are delighted that we have so quickly ‘broken our duck’ in the North.”
The new operation is based in the North West and will commence trading with TEn in September.
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