Michael Yabantu on the value of regional relationships

Mark Colegate: Michael Yabantu is Managing Director of Aviva Mid-Market. He joins me now. Michael, I know you've been out and about on the Unstoppable Together broker roadshows. What have you learned from them so far?

Michael Yabantu: We certainly have, Mark. We've been touring the UK in various locations, seeing hundreds of brokers. And we know that's super important because if you look at the research from our broker barometer survey, 88% of brokers are saying they want to work with insurers with a strong regional presence. And that's really important because it's about local customers, local brokers, local communities, and understanding the risks and challenges in those various geographies.

So it's been a great opportunity to get out, talking to our brokers, understanding what more we can do to work with them, to support them and their customers in this challenging environment. The feedback I would say has been overwhelmingly positive in terms of our brand, how we're showing up, the things that we are developing. And at the same time, we've taken away some great feedback that we can use to refine and enhance our propositions and inform what we do next and where we go.

Mark Colegate: There's a difficult macroeconomic and political backdrop at the moment. What sort of problems is that causing for mid-market brokers? How can Aviva help?

Michael Yabantu:  Yeah, it's incredibly difficult and challenging. We see that through the rising costs of inflation, through supply chain, through the evolving regulatory environment, and of course, the boom in AI and technology. So lots of things for businesses and customers to contend with.

I think from an Aviva perspective, we're incredibly well-positioned. I think we're focused on the breadth of our appetite to support some of that diversification. To help with some of that, we've recently launched an auto-fac facility, so that allows us to maintain good levels of capacity, it also allows us to make sure we can support customers with some of that complexity, and all of that is available at the underwriters so it doesn't interfere with our speed of response.

We know sustainable pricing is really important in the current market conditions, and our pricing from a strategy perspective has been incredibly consistent. To support the proposition, our client relationship manager team that are there really to help with those larger, more complex customers, are delivering some fantastic outcomes in bringing together the breadth of our proposition in that space.

And then from a claims perspective as well, we've now got the largest own repair network in the UK. And outside of the service that we can drive there, we can also get some great insight and help mitigate against some of the impacts of inflation. So, I think we're incredibly well-positioned to support customers during a challenging environment.

Mark Colegate:  But given that challenging backdrop, does Aviva really have the appetite to expand its risk offering?

Michael Yabantu:  We certainly do, Mark. And if you look at some of the things we've very recently launched, we've already developed and delivered to market a revised proposition both in our motor trade and property owners products. So 19 enhancements have gone into both of those products, covering a wide range of increased limits, new and additional covers, and also trying to address underinsurance within some of those enhancements as well.

We've expanded our public sector offering, particularly for housing associations, and we will continue to respond to brokers and listen to what they need from us next, whether that's in our propositions, in our products, or in our broader offering.

Mark Colegate:  You've talked about roadshows and meeting brokers face-to-face, but what are your thoughts around the latest developments in technology, AI, and data?

Michael Yabantu:  It's incredibly important, and we continue to invest right the way across the spectrum, in all of those aspects - data, AI and technology. Data really to provide more insight; we're trying to use data to address underinsurance and help identify gaps in cover, and we're doing that at the point of sale or midterm, and really working with our broker partners there.

From an AI perspective, that's really around process. We've introduced that more recently in our new business journeys, so from a new business inquiry arriving with us, we can ingest it into our platforms, we can enrich it, we can indicatively price it, and provide that back to the underwriter within minutes. That, all of a sudden, starts to transform the service that we provide and our responsiveness, and ultimately the quality of that first conversation with the broker, which is all then focused on how we build the proposition and the things that we need to do to win that business with the broker.

And then finally from a technology perspective, again, continued investment to make sure we provide more self-serve opportunities for brokers, whether that's in collecting documents, binding new business inquiries with us, or tracking the journey and lifecycle of a new business quotation with us, from it coming into our business through to the stage it's at, and obviously then the ability to collect and bind it, when it's ready.

So lot's of investments across the spectrum. It's absolutely about insight, it's about process, and it's about efficiency, blended with our people, to make sure that the human interactions then focus on the things that really matter and where our brokers and customers need us.

Mark Colegate:  And finally, Michael, what's your main ask of any broker watching you right now?

Michael Yabantu:  We've got the BIBA conference coming up, so we would love to hear from you. Come and talk to us about what more we can do to support you and your customers during this challenging environment.

Mark Colegate:  Michael Yabantu, thank you.

Michael Yabantu: Thank you.