With more than 50 locations and 2,000 teammates throughout the United States, United Kingdom, Europe and Asia, Bridge Specialty Group holds market recognition that enables us to connect our retail partners with tailored insurance solutions through our specific practice groups including Property, Casualty, Environmental, Executive Risk, Personal Lines, Public Entity, Farm & Ranch, Transportation and Workers’ Compensation.
Our commitment to exceptional customer service and responsiveness ensures clear communication, especially when it comes to unique or creative placements. Leveraging our exclusive access to limited markets, extensive market knowledge and awareness of wholesale industry trends, we offer valuable insights to help guide and keep retailers aware of the wholesale landscape. Our seasoned professionals bring years of industry experience to the table, translating them into accurate proposals you can rely on.
In the following months we’ll spotlight each of the Bridge Specialty Group practice groups and their significance in the marketplace. This month we’re featuring our Personal Lines practice group, led by Joe Failla.
Bridge Specialty Personal Lines Practice Group
Bridge Specialty Personal Lines is an exclusive team of more than 200 experienced and knowledgeable specialists dedicated to Personal Lines insurance. Strategically positioned in 15 locations nationally and boasting a regional and international presence, the team provides resources and innovative approaches to Personal Lines coverage and together deliver customized solutions that meet diverse customer needs. The team collectively places over $650M in premium into the market, annually.
Local knowledge. Regional experience. Aligned insights.
Although Bridge Specialty Group has offered Personal Lines coverage for many years, in 2023 we brought together all teammates who specialize in Personal Lines and formed a practice group that provides invaluable local expertise in various key markets across the country. This strategic spread allows us to offer specialized knowledge in crucial domains. Examples include managing generational wealth risks in New York, earthquake risk mitigation in the West, and hurricane preparedness in Florida. By having team members deeply familiar with these region-specific challenges, we can provide comprehensive and tailored Personal Lines solutions that address environmental and financial risks faced by clients in different parts of the nation.
Our organizational structure features regional points of contact, which helps us be more accessible to customers and carriers. It also streamlines communication processes and makes it easier for retail customers and carriers to do business with us. When we harness the collective talents and capabilities of all members of this experienced group, we create a more integrated, knowledge-sharing approach to Personal Lines insurance. And that’s where the Bridge Specialty Personal Lines practice group truly shines.
Team composition and expertise
The practice group offers expertise in three main areas:
1. Admitted business
Our insurance offerings cater to a diverse range of clients, from traditional homeowners and mobile homes with low Total Insured Value (TIV) to high-net-worth individuals requiring comprehensive coverage packages that include home, auto and unique personal collections to extensive high-net-worth packages. Our local expertise, years of experience and tailored programs provide access to coverage for boats, ATVs, jewelry and everything in between.
2. Traditional E&S Underwriting
At the heart of Bridge Specialty Personal Lines is our specialized Excess and Surplus (E&S) underwriting. We proudly represent E&S carriers both domestically and in the London market, giving us a unique edge in the industry. What sets us apart are our exclusive products, unavailable through our competitors, allowing us to provide comprehensive, tailored, nationwide solutions to our valued retail customers.
We have delegated authority with our carrier partners, empowering us to make swift decisions on behalf of our customers. When unique situations arise, we tap into our extensive brokerage network. This powerful combination allows us to offer comprehensive solutions across the entire Personal Lines market.
Our teammates work collectively to leverage our expansive geographic footprint and deliver tailored insurance solutions that reach customers from coast to coast. And what’s so valuable to our customers is that our incredible team of underwriters has a collective experience that spans an astounding 500+ years.
Bridge Specialty Personal Lines relationships in London have provided a tremendous amount of capacity into the US market. We’re able to build exclusive products with our sister company Decus Insurance Brokers, which allows us to access the Lloyds market and provide solutions across the country.
As Bridge Specialty Personal Lines has joined forces across the country, we look to provide the same experience for all our customers no matter how they access us. We give our customers the choice of how they want to do business with us and continue to provide the best service in the industry.
We are continuously refining our underwriting guidelines and focusing on optimizing the performance of our book of business, resulting in our broadened authority and increased capacity.
3. Digital platforms
According to Joe Failla, “We will be launching our first digital product across the country.” It has been live in California and now with the launch of our new platform we will be rolling out new states over the next couple of months. The first two new states will be Florida and New Jersey. “The Bridge,” will allow our customers to submit information on a secured, proprietary platform, quickly receive a quote and bind it on our behalf. It’s low touch, high transaction business on a digital front.”
The Bridge:
- Provides digital quoting and binding capabilities
- Supports non-admitted business
- Enables low-touch, high-transaction insurance processes
“The Bridge”
Bridge Specialty Personal Lines’ interactive submission application, known as “The Bridge,” makes it easier than ever for our customers to submit new business applications.
We’re dedicated to making insurance simple, seamless and straightforward. The Bridge technology platform is designed to create an effortless experience for our customers, reducing friction and streamlining every interaction. By investing in advanced technology, intuitive processes and skilled teammates, we’ve built a system that makes doing business with us as smooth and efficient as possible. Our commitment is to remove complexity, provide clear communication, and deliver quick, responsive solutions that meet your unique needs.
We have a strong commitment to the stability and growth of our personal lines platform through significant investments in the Bridge technology.
“The Bridge” currently offers:
- Interactive dashboard: Monitors and tracks all submissions through each stage of the process, from creating a new submission all the way through to binding.
- Interview screens: Navigational screens that make it easy to request a quote in minutes.
- Pre-filled risk data: Reduced manual data entry. With pre-filled data fields, you simply need to confirm the data that has been populated for you.
- Request a bindable quote: Complete the simple interview screens and request a bindable quote in minutes.
- Document library: Simple upload and download functionality to both retrieve and send bindable quotes, policy documents, invoices, signed applications and more.
- Policy bound: Receive notification as soon as your bound policy has been uploaded, available for you immediately in the document library.
- Communication hub: Communicate with your dedicated account executive without having to go outside the application. You have the ability to edit applications and communicate with your account executive if you need to make changes.
Coming soon! Enhanced features of “The Bridge”
We’re excited to offer upgraded capabilities of The Bridge, which will deliver even more innovation and convenience!” Enhanced features include:
- New Business – Rate, quote, bind and issue in just minutes.
- Third-Party data integrations
- E-signature capabilities
- Policy management
Current challenges in the marketplace
Currently in the marketplace for Personal Lines, capacity and rates have been a problem. Depending on geographic territory and the challenges that the market faces, capacity and rates could be an opportunity or obstacle.
In California, wildfire is front and center in everyone’s minds. Companies have derisked and have either left the state or have decided not to write wildfire prone areas. This has created an opportunity for markets to change the business they write and has allowed us to provide solutions to our customers. The past wildfires have really changed the landscape in California as we believe more capacity will be searching for lower wildfire prone areas. We will also need to see where the fair plan ends up due to the wildfires and what the California landscape will look like in 2025.
In CAT wind states, the intensity of hurricanes in the past few years have carriers looking at their portfolios and ensuring that they are deploying their capacity and confirming that they can still deliver an underwriting profit in a high hurricane season.
In the Northeast, admitted carriers have pulled back due to their inability to remain competitive in the rapidly changing rate environment, so the E&S market continues to expand.
Markets need to stabilize for individuals with homes in CA and FL, where rates are unattainable for most insureds. Part of that solution will need to come from regulations set by the Department of Insurance.
What has been important for us is fostering and maintaining robust relationships with carriers. Our well-established connections proved invaluable when the market opened, enabling us to secure capacity in California swiftly. Our exceptional relationships in London allowed us to rapidly develop three proprietary products—Homeowners, Dwelling Fire and DIC—in direct response to market demands. Additionally, while many wholesalers struggled to find capacity in LA County, our longstanding positive reputation with domestic markets enabled us to secure capacity in the challenging Los Angeles County. These connections not only enhance our market agility but also ensure we can provide comprehensive solutions for our customers, even in the most demanding regions.
Future vision
At Bridge Specialty Personal Lines, our overall goal is to create a more integrated, nationally focused personal lines practice group that can provide exceptional service and expertise across different regions.
As we look ahead, our team will continue to set new standards for innovation and service. Bridge Specialty Personal Lines is future-focused brand, poised for longevity in the marketplace. We stand as an example of stability, seamlessly blending regional insights with national expertise to reshape how we show up in the marketplace.
Our commitment to innovation drives us to enhance our marketing efforts across the country by appointing regional marketing teammates to promote our digital platform and the proprietary products we will offer into the marketplace. Their underwriting background enables them to accurately evaluate risks, while their marketing experience helps in positioning these assessments effectively to customers and carrier partners.
Most important is our customer service. And our hybrid approach of combining marketing talent with specialized underwriting skills will help enhance customer interactions, enabling us to communicate complex policy details with clarity.
By cultivating sales-oriented talent and fostering a culture of continuous learning, our Bridge Specialty Personal Lines team will remain uniquely positioned to navigate future market challenges. Our experienced, nimble team will ensure that Bridge Specialty Personal Lines will stand at the forefront of the insurance industry, delivering sophisticated, tailored personal lines solutions that meet the evolving needs of our customers.
