Statement of personal achievement

Example 6 – Thomas Todd, Pin: 1188888A

Overview

Upon completing my ACII I was offered a position as Operations Manager of a relatively new broker in the Bahamas, JJK Ltd. JJK Ltd was formed primarily to take care of the insurance needs of it’s parent, AAB Limited, initially we had a small nucleus of commercial business buoyed by the personal line business acquired as a result of the “tied” business of directors and employees of our parent companies and its subsidiaries.

After my commencement, due to the reasons explained in the paragraphs below, I realised I needed to hone my management skills and therefore embarked upon a distant learning MBA with Heriot Watt University.

Shortly thereafter I realised that progression to Fellowship was the natural “next step” to take both personally and professionally.

Fellowship plan

My good fortune at landing a key position in this new and growing company was not without its challenges. My strengths were my qualifications; a BA in Risk Management and the ACII. My main weakness was in the managerial and people skills that were needed for such a position; my previous employment had not offered much experience in these areas. Opportunities were many, JJK Ltd had many diverse interests and all avenues of growth had not been explored. Indeed to this day there are many opportunities that await my attention. Threats included a well established local broker market with significant market share, and limited local market capacity for catastrophe cover. The Bahamas is in an area prone to hurricanes and catastrophe cover plays a pivotal role in the business and personal lives of Bahamians. The limited local capacity for catastrophe cover was exacerbated by the markets heavy reliance on reinsurance.

The business grew substantially and in the first 18 months of my employment gross revenue more than doubled. Growth more than brought new challenges; logistical, technical and managerial. I found that increasingly I was “putting out fires” instead of formulating strategies for continued growth. It was at this time I embraced the MBA course and in 1998 was awarded my Masters in Business Administration.

My masters taught me the importance of strategising. I initiated contact with a strategic management consultancy firm and sought its assistance helping to formulate an overall mission and vision for our new growing brokerage. It was at this time two key objectives were formulated:

• Our company must meet or exceed the expectations of our clients if we were to compete meaningfully with our competition.
• Our avenues into the local and worldwide marketplaces must be expanded, to minimise the impact of capacity restrictions.

With regards to meeting or exceeding our client’s expectations, I encouraged our staff members to develop themselves professionally. A well qualified staff stands a better chance of responding adequately to clients needs. I developed tutorials to assist them in completing the local insurance examinations and held seminars to assist those embarking on the CIP. During this time I kept track of my CPD points which I knew I would need on my road to Fellowship. These activities went some way toward satisfying both professionally and personal development needs.

Exploring and expanding alternative markets led to three significant milestones in my own and my company’s development.

• The identification of the value of a strategic partnership with a broker of global significance.
• The identification of a local underwriter as target for purchase.
• Growth into niche markets.

The first point led to the identification of RST Ltd as a potential partner. This was not without its problems as at that time RST Ltd already had a correspondent firm in the Bahamas. Upon reviewing the firm’s financials I discovered that KLM Ltd held a significant portion of the firm’s shareholdings. As RST Ltd and KLM Ltd are such rivals in the global broking world I immediately sensed an opportunity. Several meeting (and months) later RST Ltd discontinued its relationship with our competitor and named JJK Ltd as the RST Ltd correspondent in the Bahamas. This was to lead to a whole new world of challenges and opportunities some of which are to be touched on in subsequent paragraphs.

The identification of a local underwriter as a target for purchase originated in a less deliberate way. One of the major underwriters in the Bahamas is PRR Ltd. The Bahamian insurance market is driven by intermediaries, JJK Ltd along with one other broker accounted for approximately 75-80% of the business written by PRR Ltd. For some time I had noted from the insurance press that PRR Ltd’s parent, had been experiencing financial difficulties and were selling a lot of their overseas business units. Casual initial enquiries to the local general manager of PRR Ltd yielded little information as to the parent’s intentions. However persistence paid off and ultimately resulted in JJK Ltd forming a partnership with the other local broker and another major player in the Caribbean insurance marketplace. This partnership purchased 100% of PRR Ltd in October 2002.

In 1999 JJK Ltd became a cover holder for Lloyds. Our binding authority allows us to underwrite risks in niche markets that local markets will not countenance. A major accomplishment in this field was the establishment of a profitable book of commercial vehicle insurance that focuses mainly on the local public transportation industry (a risk a lot of local underwriters deemed “uninsurable”). Our coverholder status led to a significant change in the way I operate JJK Ltd. I will detail the most important points under “Key skills and knowledge acquired” below.

Changes to Fellowship plan

I formulated my Fellowship plan after I had completed most of the steps necessary to complete the Fellowship. The only significant change to my plan was the time taken to complete the remaining requirements (the Business Ethics Programme and this Statement of Personal Achievement). The delay in completion was as a result of the time spent investigating the viability of the PRR LTD purchase and in satisfying the due diligence required in finalising the RST Ltd relationship. The birth of my first child did not assist me developing professionally but did have an immense impact on my personal development.

Key learning points

The initial problems I had at the outset of my career with JJK Ltd were diminished significantly by the acquisition of management skills via experience and my MBA. JJK Ltd excellent growth continues to pose challenges to my managerial skills. The “moving goalposts” encountered during our growth has helped build my time management, delegation and team building skills.

The Bahamian insurance market has its roots in the United Kingdom. The development of the RST Ltd relationship has led to ever increasing involvement with insurance professionals worldwide in particular the United States. This has led to a steep learning curve in the terminology and standard contract provisions used abroad.

Key skills and knowledge acquired

The skills acquired during my MBA, particularly in the field of accounting, led to the development of my sense of potential profitable growth areas. I also developed a sense of the importance of time management and strategic planning. This in turn led to the formation of a core mission for both myself and JJK Ltd. Subsequent involvement with RST Ltd, PRR Ltd and Lloyd’s has taught me a lot about managing change in general and the insurance industry in particular. For example:

• The annual underwriting audit performed by Lloyd’s has been most helpful in the development of my office administration skills. Our first Lloyd’s audit in August 2000 highlighted my deficiencies in these skills. That audit helped me develop a standard for office procedures that I subsequently successfully applied to the rest of JJK Lids business lines resulting in improved efficiencies and standard of service.
• The difference in “standard” contract wordings particularly between UK and US policies helped me appreciate how contracts can be modified to suit a particular client’s needs.
• The purchase of PRR Ltd by JJK Ltd and its partners enhanced my understanding of the accounts of insurance companies. In particular how they can be interpreted and how information can be gleaned by studying the accounts of a particular company over a period of years.
• Our growth in niche areas has buttressed my belief in accomplishing seemingly impossible tasks. For example, insuring the ”uninsurable” and making a profit doing so.

Intentions for future

I believe that the area that offers the largest growth opportunities for both me and JJK Ltd is the relationship we have with RST Ltd. As result of this relationship we now are regularly called upon to assist with the servicing of the local operations of large multi-national organisations that have diverse risk management and insurance needs. This has posed significant challenges, both to my time and my technical skills. Most of this business originates from RST Ltd offices in the United States and it is therefore my intention to embark upon the Chartered Property Casualty Underwriters (CPCU) programme out of the United States. This should help me develop the skills necessary to communicate with the US based brokers and service their client’s needs. In this manner I hope to at least meet if not exceed the expectations of JJK Ltd’s clients and also benefit my own long term career objectives.