Integration Q&A

We will not quote on business written by RSA. New business presentations which clearly state RSA as the holding insurer will be declined, and you will receive an email confirmation of this.

Whilst we anticipate the instances of this to be rare, we have established an internal process for those cases in the upper mid-market where we will manage follow-lines/cumulative capacity across RSA and NIG on single risks. Our underwriting teams will collaborate to find the best way forward for you and your customer.

Please continue to send the enquiries to either business or both as you would have always done. In a non-eTrade environment, we will triage inhouse and determine locally who and how we will respond. The process will improve as we move towards our future operating model of one system, one product, one value proposition to market.

We are working towards a single account plan and Account Manager for all our partners.

For SME/eTrade existing business held by NIG and FarmWeb the high-volume nature of this business means we will continue to quote on RSA business (and vice versa) until the integration is complete. For delegated business, it is less likely that we will both be quoting on individual MGAs/schemes, but customers have the right to choose the wording and terms that suit their needs.

FarmWeb remains a standalone division with its own brand and products operating on the Acturis system which is bespoke to the FarmWeb business. The underwriting will continue to be managed by FarmWeb underwriters, but as of September it will debit into the RSA background environment. You will see from September your policies will look and will feel the same, but the underwriting entity will change. Instead of it saying UKI limited, it will say “underwritten by RSA”.

Each arrangement will be considered on its own merit. In these situations, they will be considered by the RSA leadership team for a prompt decision.

We’re already working hard to bring everything together internally; we are coordinating our approach with regards to individual quotes on individual risks. Please continue to send your enquiries through the channels you have always used in the past as we will triage internally and respond accordingly.

Policy numbers will not change, and they will transfer across, however we will add a prefix to help us identify and ringfence existing and new business. If you need to speak with us, please make a note of the policy inception date and link it to our migration timeline to help you easily navigate the options in our phone system and our IVR process will route you to the correct team depending on the inception date.

This isn’t necessarily a typical straight-forward acquisition of a discrete business. Much of the work that we’ve had to tackle in the first year has been in relation to the segregation of the business from DLG. By early summer we will successfully migrate the business and customers, then work to migrate data and systems over to RSA. For claims, the process is slightly longer and will take us further into 2025 to achieve. We don’t want to be operating as two separate trading companies, and we are working hard on how we harmonise our combined product sets, our rating tools, and we want to be in a position to offer one best-in-class product under one price underpinned by one TOBA as soon as we possibly can. We will not compete on held business, if you submit a held risk to RSA, as a new business enquiry, we will not quote, and we’ll explain that to you as and when the situation arises.

The recent purchase of NIG positions RSA Commercial Lines as a lead insurer in the regional/mid-market space. RSA Speciality Lines UK and RSA Speciality Lines Europe will continue to operate under our Global Specialty Lines, where we pursue our strategic roadmap in line with Intact’s Global Speciality Lines plan. This gives brokers and customers who require a specialty solution, access to a far broader set of capabilities and expertise at RSA.

We find that one of our weaknesses in large corporate business in the regions is that sometimes the coordination isn’t what it should be from a broker experience point of view. Therefore, we’ve appointed Steve Salter as the Regional Trading Director for large corporate business, and he will pull together all the coordination aspects to create a seamless proposition service to brokers. We know that it currently doesn’t work how we want it to work, and we certainly know it doesn’t work if we want to outperform in that segment. The idea of that appointment is to improve service. We know it’s business we like, we have a strong position in that upper mid-market space, and we want to continue that. We want to grow it but equally we want to grow the small mid-market space as well. We’re looking to improve the service proposition of the manually underwritten smaller business and will be heavily investing in technology to support this. The first drop of migrating packages policies was in June, but you won’t notice a massive difference for a month or two as that settles. In Q3, you should see an improvement in the trading performance in the packages area, and then we’ll build on further product sets, but certainly by the end of the year that’s an area of strength that we expect to emerge.

We’re trying to move away from the minimum entry thresholds to mid-market new business of £10,000. We do have a small mid-market proposition offering that we are expanding in line with our wider distribution strategy.  If you have a TOBA with no corresponding RSA access, you should have received an email inviting you to start the process to sign an RSA TOBA, giving you access to our full suite of propositions and products. Please contact your usual sales representative if you haven’t heard from us or have any questions.

We will ensure our sales teams are armed with all the information to help support you through these changes, we have multiple routes for escalation and will equip each regional trading site with a clear list of contacts to share with you.

The priority right now is on separating the asset from the DLG family and getting it smoothly across into the RSA world with minimum disruption as soon as possible. We are looking hard at every single decision and the processes and the systems that we are employing to do exactly that, but we’re in a cyclical business and what happens with the combination of these two coming together is we’ve got a much richer product and data set. There will be a continual focus on the performance of our portfolios, both good and bad, to look at emerging trends and this will evolve as part of our BAU in the months to come.

RSA doesn’t currently have a Motor Trade product, so it is very much focused on what we offer currently in the space. As Motor Trade covers everything from a small motor trade repairer or car sales outlet all the way up to some of the largest dealership propositions we’ve got in the UK. We continually look at Policy Wordings and scan the market for the best ones, then work out where we should be positioning ourselves. But we have no plans to change what we’re doing in Motor Trade at the moment. We offer a wide gamut in terms of what we do in Motor Trade.

We offer Broker Partnership Agreements right across the agency base that we have. They take different forms, each one is bespoke to the individual broker and there are no plans to change our offering around Broker Partnership Agreements.

Both brands will continue to operate alongside each other, providing existing products and services for the foreseeable future. Whilst the brands remains the same, as policies start to migrate over to be underwritten on RSA paper at renewal, brokers and customers can expect to see RSA branding and legalities on NIG and FarmWeb documentation going forward.

The sale of RSA’s Personal Lines direct business (More Than) involves the transfer of renewal rights for direct home and pet insurance, together with around 300 colleagues and relevant assets including brands and data to Admiral. This is unrelated to, and has no impact on, our appetite to write specialist PL products within our delegated business as this remains a core part of our Commercial Lines strategy.

We have identified brokers who do not have a reciprocal RSA agency. You will receive an email inviting you to start the process to sign an RSA TOBA, giving you access to our full suite of propositions and products. Please contact your usual sales representative if you haven’t heard from us soon or have any questions.

Brokers will remain on their existing commission arrangements and credit terms for 2024. In the medium-term, as we look to create one offer (product and pricing), this will also include harmonisation of commission arrangements. We will communicate more information on this in Q3/Q4 2024.

As renewals and new business start to be written on RSA paper, you will receive one statement from RSA which will include all transactions. In addition, you will make just one payment to cover all items on your RSA statements using the existing RSA bank account details. If you don’t already have a relationship with RSA, you will be contacted directly to ensure you are made familiar with the RSA process.

For NIG run off business you will continue to receive a statement via DLG until all outstanding items are settled and you should continue making payments via the existing DLG bank account for these transactions.

RSA will continue to operate discretely for the time being, and any remuneration agreements will run to the agreed contractual period and terms and conditions.

Maintaining our trading momentum and providing good service is a priority throughout integration. We will review any expiring remuneration agreements on a case-by-case basis and will work with you to agree the best way forward in the interim to help you meet your customer’s needs.

We are very keen to listen to your views and requests. Please speak to and raise any questions via your usual RSA, NIG or FarmWeb account representative.

Your regular NIG contact details will remain the same regardless of whether the policy has migrated to RSA or not, meaning that knowing how to contact us will not change. Claims already notified to the team prior to migration of a policy will also retain their current claim handlers and their contact details, provided to you at first notification of loss.

For policies that have migrated to RSA you will see a change in the policy number format, with a change from the current number format to one that is prefixed by the letters NM. For new business written on RSA paper for the NIG and FarmWeb brands there will also be a prefix, with the letters NG. We have used the policy number prefix approach so that it is easy for everyone to identify a policy that is now written on RSA paper.

If you need to notify us of a new claim on a policy that has either prefix you will continue to use the existing ‘front door’ contact details. When notifying us of a new claim by telephone, you will be asked to tell us using the IVR if the policy number has either of these prefix formats, so that your call can be routed to the right claim handling team.

You will also have the option of notifying us of a claim online, following the same NIG link as before.

If you currently notify us of a new claim via email, you can continue to do so on migrated policies using the mailbox, [email protected].

Once the claim has been registered, you will be given the claim handler contact details just as you would have been provided with them before including the telephone contact number for follow up enquiries, and updated RSA contact email addresses. We have implemented internal transfer mechanisms to enable us to redirect to the right team any queries that you have of us.

We will continue to publish the claims contact details in the same way we do today on the claims pages on NIG.com. It provides you lists of Claims Handlers and this will continue to be updated.

Certainly, in the short term, wherever your scheme is currently pointed to, we will endeavour to keep it in the same location. Longer term, we will be looking at where things work best to provide the best service we can to brokers, but if or when things change, we will notify you.

At the point of registering a claim, we recognise the importance of ownership of that claim going forward. You will be given a specific claims owner, so a named Claims Handler’s details will be provided. If you call us, you’ll have direct access on direct dials to that Handler, but if that Handler is already on another call, it will divert into a hunt group. This is common practice across the industry, and it is possible that somebody else will answer the call. If they are unable to help, we’ll let you know that the Case Handler will call you back.

The teams are currently working on including the RSA MI and data into the NIG MI report and this will complete over the next few months. The reports will continue to be produced and supplied as they are today, but if you have any questions, please escalate to your Claims Account Manager.

There is no change to the journey that you currently experience.

For our manually underwritten business (traditionally in mid-market) we are reviewing the quote process, particularly for New Business. We are looking at how AI and data science can help us drive extra efficiency and capacity to be more responsive, how we ingest unstructured data more efficiently, how we triage and enrich the data to get a better view of the risk and how we then route that to the best underwriter. For our online trade business (predominantly SME) we will continue to look at how we further improve speed of response and accuracy with the goal of maximising the number of enquiries that go straight through to quote without underwriter intervention.

We’re looking to take the best bits of two extremely complimentary businesses and work out where we can redeploy them within the wider business. Live chat is something that we employ extremely well in our online SME business at the moment. On a monthly basis, we’re doing in excess of 7,000 chats and the level of satisfaction rating is excellent or very good. This is in the mid-90s. That’s the technology we’ve been working with for a number of years now, and it’s exactly the sort of thing that we should be looking to redeploy into as many applicable areas of our business as possible.

• Know Your Customer (KYC) data – this is required by PCL to meet their regulatory obligations in completing a full credit assessment of the policyholder.
• Bank details
• Policyholder contact details – this is required as there will be a direct relationship between PCL and the policyholder. PCL will provide correspondence directly to the policyholder and will therefore require the correct contact’s name, postal address, and email address.

There will be 12 monthly instalments. Unlike our previous credit arrangement there is no deposit premium to pay, even for new business.

Our interest rates are variable and we are confident that any interest rates will be comparable to other insurers. Please contact your regional trading teams for more details.

There is an annual Minimum Service Charge by PCL. If the interest rate applied results in an annual fee paid of less than £15, PCL would increase the fee paid to £15 annually. This is confirmed in the credit agreement and Welcome Letter. The only other charge would be applied if PCL are unable to collect a direct debit payment – see below “What happens if the policyholder defaults on payment?

There are application forms for completion which are based on the policyholder’s type of legal entity. Once completed, brokers should email the form to [email protected]. The application form will capture all the details, including Know Your Customer (KYC) data, PCL needs to complete credit checks and set up a credit agreement for the policyholder.

Policies currently paying by direct debit will not be automatically set up to pay by direct debit upon renewal for any products, including policies that auto-renew. There are actions for both the broker and policyholder to arrange for payment by direct debit.

Every effort has been made to support the transfer of data we hold on systems to support the continued payment by direct debit. For any policyholders currently paying by direct debit, their bank details and any KYC data held has been migrated to RSA.

Our teams will be in contact with each broker to advise what additional information is required for each policy ahead of the renewal date. If you haven’t been contacted by a representative, please speak to your normal contact to discuss requirements.

The policyholder will need to sign a new PCL credit agreement at renewal and again at each annual subsequent renewal.

PCL will provide a link directly to the policyholder by email. They can then log into the PCL portal to review and E-sign the credit agreement.

When the policyholder logs into the PCL portal to check and sign their credit agreement, they will be able to see confirmation that the agreement has been signed and a copy of their payment schedule.

PCL informs RSA daily which credit agreements have been cancelled. RSA will then confirm whether the policy has been cancelled and contact brokers to advise and agree next steps, either arrange policy cancellation or an alternative payment method.

The policyholder will need to wait until renewal when we can set up a direct debit as the payment method for them.

Payment by direct debit can be cancelled at any time, either directly by the policyholder with PCL or via your FarmWeb contact. Any outstanding premium can then be collected via broker statement. The policyholder can also pay the balance of their agreement early by contacting PCL.

If a policyholder wants to change from paying monthly to annual payment at renewal, then brokers should let underwriting know in pre-renewal conversations or through triggering a referral via a software house.

In the first instance, brokers should contact your usual underwriting contact.

If the policyholder defaults on a payment, they will receive a letter directly from PCL advising them that their payment has not been collected. This letter will tell them about the date on which PCL will attempt to collect payment again, which will be 10 days from the missed payment date. It will also advise them that there will be a £25 default charge added to this payment. The default will feature on RSA’s daily default report received from PCL and they will share it with the FarmWeb team so the default can be actioned.

If the payment is rejected a second time, PCL will write to the policyholder again and advise that unless the policyholder contacts them to make payment the Credit Agreement will be ended by PCL 18 days after the first payment was due.

Our direct debit team will be in contact with brokers to advise on any policies that have defaulted on a direct debit payment.

If PCL is notified by the policyholder’s bank that they have cancelled their Direct Debit, PCL will send the policyholder a letter and provide a report to the RSA team who will share the message with FarmWeb. Both will advise that a new credit agreement is required. FarmWeb will forward this email to the broker and ask them to speak to the policyholder and advise what they need to do next.

If the payment is rejected a second time, PCL will write to the policyholder again and advise that, unless the policyholder contacts them to make payment, the credit arrangement will be terminated by PCL 18 days after the first payment was due.

If their circumstances have changed, or they’re worried about paying their monthly premium, please get in touch with your FarmWeb contact, we may be able to help.

Bank details can only be changed by FarmWeb underwriting and if the policyholder wants to do this, brokers should contact underwriting who will facilitate the change.

Policyholders can change their bank details on the PCL portal but they must also notify us so we can update their bank details on Acturis. Otherwise, it will revert to the old version at renewal.

The policyholder can request a hard copy to be sent by post. Please let your underwriting contact know. Where an email address is not provided at renewal or new policy set up, a hard copy will automatically be sent.

After the credit agreement is signed, the first payment will be taken from the policyholder’s account within 14 days of the renewal or inception date. Thereafter, the monthly premiums will be collected on the same date every month, that being the policy inception date.  So, if a policy is incepted on the 18^th August then the 11 instalments after the first one will be taken on the 18^th of each month.

Once a policy is being paid on direct debit, brokers will be able to make MTAs which affect premium up to 14 days prior to the next payment date to have the premium or refund split over the remaining monthly instalments.

Towards the end of the policy year, we will need to process any MTA prior to 14 days before the 11^th monthly premium payment has been collected or PCL’s system will not be able to amend the monthly premium accordingly. In these circumstances extra premium charges or refunds will be processed via broker ledger.

Rest assured that we won’t cancel policies if we do not receive KYC data in time.  We will remind brokers in advance of renewal that KYC data has not been received.  There is a small window of opportunity post renewal for it to be supplied and a direct debit to be applied to the policy up to 14 calendar days post the renewal date.  After this, the payment for the policy would be transferred to broker statement.