RISK
Welcome
review
to Towergate
and a new experience
Special Issue
• Welcome to Towergate
and a new experience
• Clients benefit from
Towergate’s focus
Photograph shows from left to right: Peter Cullum Towergate Group Chairman,
Paul Whittaker CMIB MD, Andy Homer Towergate Group CEO and
David Wrathall Towergate Regional MD.
Country Mutual Insurance Brokers is now Towergate Risk Solutions, part of the
largest independent insurance intermediary in Europe.
On a recent visit to the former CMIB head
office, Group Chairman, Peter Cullum,
said; “I would like to welcome all CMIB
clients to Towergate and give them our
commitment to ensure their insurance
needs are being met and looked after by
an organisation that is all about fulfilling
expectations in regard to client service,
value for money and integrity.
The Towergate experience
“Giving clients the products and service
they need is only part of the equation.
We want people to enjoy placing their
insurance with Towergate and to stay
with us year after year. We never forget
that people like to do business with
people they like.”
He added: “Clients will have access to
a wider range of both specialist and
traditional insurance products available
in the market today. These are backed
by dedicated professional staff in all our
80 or so branches as well as specialist
underwriting teams who are focused
on specific areas of insurance and risk
management, and developing new ways
of meeting client requirements.”
Peter Cullum developed an outstanding
reputation for marketing and innovation
( see page 3 ) and it is the marketingled philosophy which differentiates
Towergate from other insurance groups,
with customer focus and distribution
key to everything it does.
• What does Towergate
offer ?
• Why buying on price
can increase your risk
• Towergate’s Chairman:
Current Entrepreneur
of the Year
• Top team at Towergate
• Hospices the chosen
charity
• New Corporate
Manslaughter Bill
www.towergate.co.uk
Clients benefit from
Towergate’s focus
By Paul Whittaker,
Managing Director, CMIB
When names change and companies are taken over the questions clients will ask
are: “What’s in it for me ? Does size matter ? Will personal service disappear in a
bigger organisation ?”
What distinguishes Towergate is the
range of specialist products it offers. Go
to the website www.towergate.co.uk
and see what is available. It’s not simply
the diversity of products we provide but
also the support that goes with them.
Continually innovating
Important difference
• exceptional underwriting expertise
One other very important difference
between us and other major broking
firms is that we maintain a widespread
network of local branches which provide
face-to-face contact with clients.
Although we have a growing e-commerce
division, in each region there are local
staff to tailor each client’s risk management and insurance needs.
• quality service for customers and
Focused on continually innovating and
developing new models within the
insurance market, Towergate combines:
successfully in partnership with insurers,
intermediaries and clients to deliver
precisely the right service or products,
professionally and cost-effectively.
Since its launch in 1997, Towergate has
grown rapidly through acquisition and
organic growth based on offering quality
customer service.
Quality insurance
We have a simple mantra and spirit
within the Group - work hard, have fun
and do good. We aim to do this by
delivering quality insurance products and
service to our customers.
broker partners
• insurance capacity from first class
insurers that provides enhanced
security for you and your business.
We operate as both a retail insurance
intermediary and a virtual insurer, working
Country Mutual clients will now get the
best of both worlds - the same high levels
of personal and professional service, plus
a wider range of specialist products.
What does Towergate offer ?
In addition to the full range of commercial risk management insurance services and products, Towergate also specialises in
the following:
Aircraft and aviation:
Marine trades:
• Aircraft hulls and liabilities
• Airfields
• Aviation related businesses
• Flying clubs and maintenance facilities
• Boat builders, yachting and boating clubs
• Boat yards, boat traders and repairers
• Supporting marine trades
Agricultural and rural:
Medical professions :
• Farm combined
• Crop insurance
• Agricultural contractors
• Equine
• Garden centres
• GP, dental and veterinary surgeries
• Hospices and medical charities
• Complementary medicine
• Counselling, osteopaths, chiropractors
Leisure, hospitality and licensed trades:
Professional indemnity :
• Hotels, pubs, clubs
• Restaurants, guest houses, wine bars
• Golf clubs, fitness clubs,
• Travelling showmen, zoos, safari parks
• Caravan parks, holiday homes
• Legal firms, architects, engineers
• Medical malpractice, accountants
• Surveyors and other professionals
This is only a small sample of the specialist products and services now available through Towergate.
For a fuller description please go to our website www.towergate.co.uk
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www.towergate.co.uk
Why buying on price
can increase your risk
The insurance market is intensely competitive and insurance brokers come in
many shapes and sizes. Some exist by competing solely on price, their depth of
services may often be very shallow and the quality of their advice and level of
understanding limited.
If you find buying insurance time consuming and tend to buy on price you
could be putting your business at risk in
the event of a catastrophic incident.
The annual insurance renewal process is
critical and it is absolutely essential that
you get it right - otherwise you might
over-pay at best or - at worst - ruin the
business when a major loss turns out to
be underinsured or even uninsured.
Peter Cullum started his insurance
career in 1969 with the Royal Insurance
Group. His early roles encompassed
sales and marketing positions with
Commercial Union, and then ITT London
and Edinburgh, culminating in his
appointment as marketing director in
1988. At the age of 21, he was the
youngest person ever to become a Fellow
of the Chartered Insurance Institute.
Switching to an untried broker or insurer
for a small saving may bring problems
if, for example, the insurer pulls out of
your industry at a later date. Always
select your broker as a business partner,
and work with them to secure real long
term savings through risk reduction.
• Understand the risks they face
• Decide how to manage or insure
advance of renewal with the selection
of an insurance broker based on their
ability to represent your needs in the
insurance market. Specialist knowledge
of the industry sector can often be a
key issue.
against those risks
• Arrange and manage insurance cover
where appropriate.
Our aim is to assist you in reducing the
cost of risk while increasing the level
of protection in order to improve the
profitability and stability of your organisation. This is an ongoing process year
in year out.
Change your buying patterns
There are now far fewer insurers to
select from at renewal. The days of seeking tenders from half-a-dozen brokers
at renewal are over - there are too few
insurers for brokers to play the field.
Shrewd buyers are increasingly taking a
more professional two-stage approach.
Stage one happens four to six months in
Current Entrepreneur
of the Year
Peter Cullum is Group Chairman of
Towergate and currently the ‘Ernst &
Young’s UK Entrepreneur of the Year’.
He won this prestigious accolade in the
annual awards, fending off 37 leading
UK business leaders including the
cream of the manufacturing and
telecommunications industries.
When choosing your adviser it is vital to
consider stability and security. Look for
a broker with wide experience, a
comprehensive range of services and
a reputation for looking after its
clients - whatever their size or premium.
Essentially we work with clients to
help them to:
Towergate’s
Chairman:
Stage two is negotiation with the insurance market. Insurers want to know
they are dealing with a serious enquiry
from a broker who will be party to the
buying decisions, and not just in a
blind tender.
If you have a claims record, an early
start on the renewal process allows us
to suggest remedial action and changes
in working practices which will convince an insurer that you are taking risk
management seriously.
This approach can make a fundamental
difference to the quality of cover you
achieve and its cost effectiveness.
Insurance should not be treated as a
price-sensitive commodity - it provides
the underlying protection for your
business and merits a strategic approach.
For more information about how we can help you
please return the enclosed pre-paid reply card.
3
During his time at London & Edinburgh,
the company became one of the leading marketing exponents in the UK
insurance industry.
Established reputation
He went on to establish a reputation
for innovation and success, including
turning round Economic Insurance
where he masterminded a major review
and re-focused the company, resulting
in a return to profitability in 1993. He
subsequently led the management buyout of Economic, which was eventually
sold in 1995 to Hiscox plc where he
became group marketing director, a role
he held until he left in 1997 to create
Towergate Underwriting Group.
Peter also led the formation of Folgate
Partnership at the end of 2001 and in
2005 merged Folgate Partnership and
Towergate Underwriting Group to
form the Towergate Partnership.
The Group’s overall success has been
recognised by being listed in the
“Sunday Times Profit Track” two years
in succession in 2004 and 2005.
www.towergate.co.uk
Top team at Towergate
Apart from Chairman Peter Cullum, the top team at Towergate includes many leading movers and shakers from the
insurance industry.
Andy Homer,
Chief Executive Officer
Tony Proverbs,
Marketing and Sales Director
Andy has worked in the insurance business since
1971, including time as General Manager of
Commercial Union and CEO of AXA Insurance UK.
Tony was one of the founders of the Towergate
Underwriting Group. He joined Guardian
Royal Exchange in 1978 and held various
positions before moving to Economic Insurance
in 1985 where he specialised in scheme development and the identifying and winning of
profitable accounts. He retained his position
following the takeover by Hiscox, before leaving
to join Towergate.
He became CEO of Folgate Partnership in
March 2002.
Amanda Blanc,
Chief Executive Officer,
Retail Broking
Ian Patrick,
Group Finance Director
Amanda joined Commercial Union as a graduate
trainee in 1989, becoming Leicester Branch
Manager in 1995. She joined AXA as Regional
Director in 1999 after a brief spell as a management consultant with Ernst & Young.
Ian joined Towergate as Group Finance Director
in July 2006. Previously he was Group Finance
and Operations Director of Highway Insurance
Holdings Plc and was subsequently promoted
to the board in 2002. He commenced his career
with BDO Binder Hamlyn before spending six
years in the oil industry.
In 2003 she joined Groupama as Distribution
and Customer Services Director, leaving to join
Towergate in March 2006.
Clive Nathan,
Chief Executive Officer,
Underwriting.
Tim Philip,
Finance Director
Tim qualified as a chartered accountant with
Coopers and Lybrand in Australia in 1987. He
moved to the UK with Coopers in 1991 and
spent time in audit, corporate finance and
consulting, working on a range of assignments
in the insurance industry.
Clive began his career as a graduate trainee
with Commercial Union in 1987 and worked in
branches and marketing, becoming National
Broker Manager in 1999. He joined AXA in
1999 and became Regional Director, playing a
major role in the development of AXA’s Premier
Partner strategy. Clive joined Towergate in
2003 as Regional Managing Director.
He left Coopers in 1999 and after spells with
Health Group and Benfield he joined Folgate
Partnership in March 2002.
Kenneth MacIver,
Acquisitions Director
Max Carruthers,
Group Operations Director
Kenneth joined Towergate in May 2000 and in
2001 he worked alongside Peter Cullum in
developing the business plan and raising the
finance to create Folgate Partnership. Prior to
joining Towergate, he held various positions
with Continental Insurance where he was
involved in the MBO, flotation and sale of
Lombard General where he became
Managing Director.
As a computer science graduate, Max has
worked extensively in the insurance industry. His
career includes periods as a director of Lloyd’s
broker, Alfred Blackmore and Co, Deputy
Managing Director of Economic Insurance,
Operations Director of Hiscox, Managing
Director of Eastgate’s insurance subsidiaries
and Joint Chief Executive Officer of Rubican.
He joined Towergate in April 2005.
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www.towergate.co.uk
Hospices the chosen charity
Towergate has raised more than £500,000 to support charities,
particularly Help the Hospices, and is currently focused on
raising funds to build a new hospice in Norfolk.
Apart from encouraging staff to undertake a wide range of
activity, from running marathons to more bizarre events, its
specialist underwriting organisation, Towergate Camerasure,
recently sponsored Living Exposure, a charity photography
auction and draw established to raise funds for Help the
Hospices.
Donations from leading UK photographers
This year’s event was held at London’s prestigious auction
house, Bonhams of Bond Street. More than 200 photographs,
all donated by leading UK photographers, were on sale, and a
staggering £65,000 was raised. Contributors included Barry
Lategan who was the first to photograph Twiggy at the age of
sixteen, and Tom Murray who has been commissioned by the
Royal Family and is famous for his photographs of the Beatles.
Maxine Blunden, corporate fundraising manager for Help the
Hospices, paid tribute to the event: “We are truly grateful to
Towergate Camerasure for all their efforts in staging Living
Exposure for the second year, and to all the photographers
who donated images. The funds raised will go a long way to
supporting the charity’s initiatives.”
Photograph of Twiggy goes under the hammer
at Towergate sponsored auction.
New Corporate Manslaughter Bill
By Andrew Ward,
Risk Consultant
managers to ensure safe working practices
for their employees and maintain the
safety of their premises.
In 2004 / 5, 220 people died at work and
117 members of the public were fatally
injured in work-related incidents.
If a company is found guilty of corporate
manslaughter the penalty will be an
unlimited fine.
New legislation to make it easier to prosecute organisations, where an employee or a
member of the public is accidentally killed, is proposed under the Corporate
Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Bill which was put before Parliament in July.
Home Office Minister Gerry Sutcliffe
said: “For too long the law has made it
extremely difficult to bring to justice
large companies whose management
failure has resulted in death.”
An organisation can only be convicted
of corporate manslaughter under
current law if there is enough evidence
to find a single senior person guilty. The
new draft Bill would allow the courts to
look at the overall picture of how an
organisation's activities were managed
by its senior managers, rather than
focusing on the actions of one individual.
New offence
An organisation will be guilty of the
new offence if someone has been killed
as a result of the gross failure of senior
The Bill also gives the courts power to
impose a remedial order, which can
already be imposed for health and safety offences, and require the company to
address the cause of the fatality.
In contrast to the difficulties prosecutors have with large and complex
organisations, directors of smaller
organisations with simpler management structures have been more
open to attack. This is often because
it is easier to pinpoint one person
who has been responsible for the
negligent act.
For assistance on health and safety issues please return the enclosed pre-paid reply card.
5
www.towergate.co.uk
Towergate Risk Solutions
Towergate Risk Solutions believes in putting clients first. With more than 80 locations in the UK we’re able to provide our clients
with a personal local service that is hard to beat. Our primary aim is to look after our clients with professionalism and integrity,
delivering significant benefits through our dedicated teams of highly experienced insurance brokers with specialist in-depth
product knowledge based throughout our local branches.
Towergate Risk Solutions is part of Europe’s largest independent insurance intermediary with a turnover of more than £1.25bn.
Working in partnership with some of the UK’s largest insurers means we’re able to provide you with market leading products and services.
Our market position ensures that we provide risk management and insurance solutions to meet clients’ needs. Our range of products
and services include:
Insurance Solutions for Your Business
• Businesses
• Caravans and Park Homes
• Commercial Combined including Wholesaling/Manufacturing
• Commercial Vehicle
• Credit Insurance
• Directors’ and Officers’ Liability
• Disaster Recovery, planning for business continuity
• Engineering/Computer
• Entertainment Industry
• Freight Forwarders and Haulage
• Goods in Transit
• Healthcare
• Holiday Homes
• Hotels and Restaurants
• Let Property
• Liability
• Marine Cargo
• Motor Fleets
For further details on any of our products and services contact:
Towergate Risk Solutions
Blenheim House
Newmarket Road
Bury St. Edmunds
Suffolk IP33 3SB
Tel: 01284 756565
Fax: 01284 750525
email: burystedmunds@towergate.co.uk
website: www.towergate.co.uk / burystedmunds
Further information about all our services can be found
on our website.
Towergate Risk Solutions is a trading name of
Towergate Underwriting Group Limited.
Registered in England No. 4043759.
Registered Address: Towergate House, 2 County Gate,
Staceys Street, Maidstone, Kent, ME14 1ST.
Authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority.
( Ref. No: RR2006VSI )
• Motor Trade
• Nightclubs and late licensed venues
• Offices, Shops and Surgeries
• Personal Accident, sickness
• Pleasure Craft and Marine Trade
• Product Liability
• Professional Indemnity
• Property Owners
• Risk Management including Health and Safety
• Sports Clubs
• Vans and Lorries
Insurance Solutions for You
• Household - buildings and contents
• Motor - individual and family
• Personal Accident
• Travel