We recently expanded into a third jurisdiction and opened an office in Ireland, Dublin. Our Europe Managing Director, Patrick Mettler heads up the team and has worked in the Irish market for over two decades.
We caught up with Patrick to get a sense of the current market in Ireland and understand what his plans are for the Irish part of the business.
“It’s an opportunity I relish”
I’ve been in the industry for over 20 years. I started as a trainee on the Financial Lines (FL) book at Chubb, working my way up to manager of the FL department, before becoming country manager in just over 10 years. I then worked as a broker at Marsh on their FL book for some big global clients, which gave me a good understanding of what life’s like on the other side of the fence.
I then moved over to Hiscox as Head of Sales and Distribution for 2 years but, just as that role was coming to an end, the MD position opened up at Spring. It’s always been an ambition of mine to build my own business, so it’s an opportunity I relish and continue to be very excited about.
“We’re the only dedicated Financial Lines MGA in Ireland”
Spring Insure has a unique product and service offering for clients – we focus on a highly specialised area and bring together years of experience and expertise in the team. There are no other dedicated Financial Lines Managing General Agents (MGAs) in Ireland and, while there are other MGAs who can write Professional Indemnity (PI) business, no one else specialises more broadly in Financial Lines and financial institutions, and that’s where we can really stand out.
A very robust and lengthy authorisation process can often mean other carriers are slightly hesitant about entering the market over here. The liability insurance environment and claims costs, although improving, have further damaged Ireland’s reputation in insurance circles. And it can often be enough to stop businesses investing in the market.
Thankfully, Spring Insure’s founders and investors share my view that we need to counteract this reluctance. There’s a lot of opportunity here, you just need to understand the market and have a handle on its many nuances – and that’s where my experience can really put our firm at an advantage.
“A carrier like us can help alleviate some of the pressure in the market”
Tighter regulations, scarcity of capacity and increasing rates over the past two years have made it hard for clients buying insurance across these lines. I don’t expect this situation to change significantly. But I do hope to ease some of this pressure by introducing some great products backed by solid A-rated insurers and helping brokers insure their clients for reasonable prices.
I’m really excited about the hugely compelling proposition that the Spring Group can bring to the market, whether offshore in Guernsey, in the UK or here in Ireland.
Having Aston Lark as a joint venture partner in Spring has been really helpful for me and I’m very grateful for their help to date. They’ll always be a key partner, but we’re keen to maintain our independence too. So, now we’ve been authorised by the Central Bank of Ireland, we’ll be reaching out to other broker partners and starting to grow our footprint even further.
Get in touch with Paddy and the team
If you’re a Financial Lines broker working with commercial businesses and financial institutions in Dublin, feel free to get in touch with our Dublin office at info@springinsure.eu. We’ll be happy to chat through how Spring can help you realise your own plans and ambitions.