The client’s risk profile was poorly understood by the market, resulting in a combination of very high premiums and highly restrictive cover, including substantial policy excesses and low sub-limits. As renewal approached, a number of incumbent insurers indicated that they would not renew their participation in the programme. This left the client facing a shrinking pool of capacity and a heightened risk of an incomplete or compromised renewal.

The firm’s incumbent broker, was struggling to reverse this position or attract credible replacement capacity. As a result, the client not only faced escalating cost and deteriorating terms, but also uncertainty around whether a viable programme could be secured within the required timelines.

We were engaged to reassess how the client’s risk was being presented to the market and to stabilise the renewal process. Our starting point was a comprehensive deep-dive into the business, involving detailed engagement with approximately eight senior stakeholders across investment, risk, compliance and operations.

This work culminated in a bespoke, 5,000-word risk presentation that articulated the client’s activities, governance framework and risk controls in depth. The objective was not simply to provide more information, but to ensure insurers genuinely understood how risk was managed in practice and where previous assumptions had overstated the real exposure.

Using this analysis, we repositioned the client’s risk to the market and led active, hands-on broking discussions with underwriters. We focused on re-educating insurers, addressing points of concern directly and restoring confidence in the quality of the risk. This proactive engagement was designed to replace uncertainty with informed judgement and encourage meaningful insurer participation.

The revised positioning led to a complete reversal of the anticipated non-renewals. All eight incumbent insurers were invited to renew, with several offering increased capacity compared to the expiring programme. The strengthened insurer engagement allowed the programme to be simplified, reducing the number of participating insurers from eight to two.

We negotiated a premium reduction of approximately 65%, equating to a saving of around £400,000. Policy terms improved materially, with the excess reduced by over 80% and significant increases to the policy sub-limits.

Beyond the headline savings, the client avoided the risk of a disrupted or incomplete renewal, protected critical decision-making timelines and regained confidence that its business was being properly understood and fairly priced by the market. The outcome was a more resilient, comprehensible and sustainable insurance programme, built on informed insurer engagement rather than defensive underwriting.