London, 18 January 2018 – Volante Global Limited (Volante), a new multi-class and multi-territory international managing general agent (MGA) platform, has announced the launch of Edison Motor and the appointment of Steven Dickie and Doug Ockwell as joint Managing Directors of the new operation.
Edison Motor is a London Market-based MGA that provides comprehensive commercial motor insurance products to niche markets in the UK. Key lines of business include: public sector, including police forces, fire and rescue services, and ambulance fleets; hazardous goods; and haulage.
The company will offer both conventional and non-conventional insurance products developed based on robust pricing models, and will provide ‘AA+’ rated capacity which has been secured on a 5-year binder agreement. The agreement was secured by a team from Aon Benfield, the intermediary for the Volante Group, which was led by Vijay Mavani, Mark Flower and Rob Sharp.
Edison Motor’s insurance offering will also be supported by extensive claims and risk management services.
Steven Dickie has worked in the motor insurance sector for 40 years, in both underwriting and broking roles, most recently as a Portfolio Manager for QBE Europe’s Motor account. For 10 years, he was head of motor fleet for a motor book in the Lloyd’s and Composite market; and spent a further 10 years as an associate director at one of the London Market’s leading wholesale brokers.
Doug Ockwell has 25 years industry experience in motor and non-motor classes, spanning both motor underwriting (8 years) and broking and account servicing for large corporate clients (17 years). He has specialised in the placement and underwriting of non-conventional motor business for 20 years. Prior to joining Edison Motor, Mr. Ockwell was an Underwriting Manager for QBE Europe’s Motor account.
Mr. Dickie said: “At Edison Motor, our aim is to focus on delivering and maintaining the highest standard of service across all aspects of our client solutions. That means ensuring we achieve a rapid turnaround on quotes, produce bespoke policies, provide a best-in-class claims service, and offer outstanding risk management support.”
Mr. Ockwell added: “Operating from the Volante platform means we can maximise our underwriting time and hit the ground running. It provides an end-to-end system spanning everything from initial quotes and binding through to issuing documents and supporting claims management. That means we can concentrate on meeting the unique and increasingly complex challenges faced by the UK commercial motor market and building close working relationships with our brokers and clients.”
Talbir Bains, Founder and CEO of Volante, commented: “We are delighted that the first MGA has launched from the Volante platform. Edison Motor is exemplary in defining the underwriting fraternity that we are looking to create – a team which is led by exceptional underwriting talent and fully supported by Volante’s technological, actuarial and operational infrastructure, and most importantly puts a risk assessment ethos at the origin of its underwriting approach. From these firm foundations, Edison Motor has been optimised to focus on our primary goals of delivering underwriting profit to our supporting capacity provider and make huge inroads into key market sectors which we believe are currently underserved. This will then truly deliver on a vision that is, in essence, commercial motor underwriting reimagined.”
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