Issues & Answers Special Advertising Section
September 2020
Tricia Loney
Senior Director, P&C Programs
Nationwide E&S/Specialty
“With the property market hardening, we are seeing more property opportunities than we might have in the past.”
How do you define mutual success between a program manager and a carrier?
Mutual success between a program manager and carrier is one of the components of a true partnership. You want that success for your program manager as much as they want it for you. That is the goal with all of our program manager relationships. It’s about hitting your objective goals, but it reaches well beyond that. It’s about each party bringing their own expertise to create value and delivering an outcome that neither one could probably deliver on their own.
What trends have you seen regarding new program opportunities?
We’re noticing the emergence of unique coverages and structures along with more risk-sharing. All of this is a positive trend for us since we are always looking for opportunities that are unique and different. For example, we just launched a program for rent default coverage, and our professional programs area just launched a program for collateral protection insurance. While these aren’t never-before-seen products in the industry, they are certainly unique compared to your traditional P&C and Management Liability products.
Nationwide writes over $1.3 billion in programs business. What makes Nationwide such an appealing market for programs?
We understand the program manager model, the challenges they face, and how to complement what they do through all cycles of the program. Between our Management Liability and P&C lines, we have a very broad appetite that can fit almost any opportunity. We also are investing in new technology that will give our program managers better data to measure performance and add efficiency to their processes. We have an experienced group of people, which is recognized immediately by our program managers and brokers that are sending us new opportunities. Most importantly, Nationwide’s financial strength and A+ paper sets us apart from much of the competition and gives our program managers the stability of knowing they will have a long-term partnership with Nationwide.
As the programs market continues to grow, what’s Nationwide doing to capitalize on that growth?
It’s actually amazing how much the program market has grown. According to the Target Markets Program Administrators Association, program business produces over $40.5 billion in premium annually. Nationwide’s $1.3 billion seems like a large number, but if we think about it against total market share, really, it’s still quite a bit of room for growth, so it is very important to see what opportunities are on the horizon. No doubt with the pandemic, we will see an emergence of new programs or products. We want to make sure we explore that, and are ready and have the right internal and external partners to pursue that type of business if it makes sense.