Celebrating its tenth anniversary since writing its first policy in January 2006, Dewsall has built a business which now writes premiums of over £100m annually, insuring businesses across nine European countries, providing a range of products to SMEs across many sectors.
When asked what he thought he would achieve back in 2006, Dewsall explains: “Europe was going through many changes and I had worked successfully across a number of insurance markets. It was clear to me that with the right brand and capital backing, we could build a service offering that would be defined by quality and trust. We set about building Gable from a standing start, creating a product portfolio that was designed to meet what the customer required. It was about offering bespoke products through a selected distribution network of brokers around Europe who we could work with and build a trusted brand in the insurance sector.”
Clearly, customers liked what they saw, and Gable now provides a range of commercial insurance products through specialist brokers in the UK, France, Italy, Ireland, Denmark, Norway, Germany, Sweden and Spain.
Gable commenced underwriting in the UK market with its construction liability insurance products. Over subsequent years since then it has consistently expanded its product range and the number of European markets in which it operates, achieving uninterrupted growth in both premiums written and insurance profits.
“Since inception we have managed our growth carefully, balancing the requirements of our customers with the management of risk. Ultimately, we are there to support our customers with bespoke products that can allow them to do what they are good at. Over the last ten years we have seen many different situations where businesses that we insure have required swift action by us to help them get back on their feet after an event which threatens their business. At the same time, we have managed to qualify our overall risk by the purchase of reinsurance from world-wide A-rated reinsurers” he continues.
Dewsall and his team have certainly delivered on the promise to customers, with high upper quartile retention rates supporting year-on-year growth in the business, allied with a series of new products. Gable has also carefully built a network of trading relationships with a range of specialist brokers in each of the countries in which it has expanded into, providing bespoke products such as Deposit Guarantees, Commercial Bonds, Latent Defect and its core range of Commercial Combined products.
Gable produced another year of growth in 2015 with the underlying business producing a strong core underwriting performance, achieved against a backdrop of challenging markets. Commenting on Gable’s 2015 performance, Dewsall comments: “As always, we have remained focussed on delivering high service levels to our customers whilst managing underwriting profits, delivering a strong and growing cash position which has continued to increase by over 40% on 2014.”
Where does Gable go from here?
Dewsall reveals that his team will continue to focus on building Gable’s brand reputation in each of the markets in which it now operates and continue to listen carefully to what its customers are asking for.
“Clearly we have the key advantage derived from our efficient underwriting platform, affording us the ability to write profitable business across multiple sectors and differentiate through service, product specification, claims handling and settlement to our customers. This has allowed us to grow the business while still maintaining our pricing discipline. There are still a number of markets where we are being asked to provide new bespoke products, there is still much to play for, despite the changes to the regulatory regime across the EU which is a challenge to everyone in the insurance business.
We know that we can build significantly on what we have already achieved, so in essence, it will be more of the same for us” he explains.Gable’s distribution is focused on exclusive distribution relationships in different territories and markets, utilising its networks of brokers, building some commercial partnerships with some major broking networks along the way. Gable’s European business outside of the UK accounts for over 50% of gross written premiums, with an increasingly diversified book of business.
“Our continued strong growth is driven by our bespoke products provided through our expanding European wide distribution channels. Although the economic environment in general remains challenging, I believe we have excellent momentum and can foresee continued expansion supported by our European broker network. The fundamentals of our business are sound and underpin our optimism and growth ambitions for the future” he enthuses.
About William Dewsall
William Dewsall has over 30 years’ experience in the European insurance market having worked at Jardine Glanville (UK) and Alexander Stenhouse. In 2000 he established his own underwriting agency, writing insurance risks in the UK and worldwide on behalf of a number of insurers including Italian giant, Assicuriazoini Generali. He was instrumental in developing policy wordings for the Contractors and Liability insurance sector, credited in the foremost sector reference ‘Construction Insurance and UK Construction Contracts’. He is registered with the FCA as an approved person for insurance activities.
Company: Gable Holdings Inc
Name: William Dewsall, CEO
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.gableholdings.com
Telephone: +44 (0) 20 7337 7460
