One-On-One With NAPSLOs President

It may be reminiscent of the mascot for the Princeton University football team, but the fact that wholesale brokerage Princeton Risk Managers uses the image of a tiger as its logo has nothing to do with the alma mater of the firms founder.

No, says James Griffith, he didnt attend the university or play for the schools Princeton Tigers football teaman admission that belies his commanding presence. The fact that his firm is located in the New Jersey college town just made the image seem like a natural fit 30 years ago when he started up the business, he says.

“There was an article [in another publication] that suggested I was a Princeton grad. But I did not go there. I had a cup of coffee there with some friends once. Thats about it,” he jokes.

Just as forthrightly, Mr. Griffith, the president of the National Association of Professional Surplus Lines Offices, Ltd. responded to NUs questions earlier this month from his New Jersey office, a week before the associations mid-year education conference. Some excerpts of our interview are included below:

Q: What prompted you to become a wholesaler broker in 1974, after working as an independent retailer for more than a decade?

A: “I had friends that were in wholesale.” In addition, there was “some frustration with the fact that I couldnt establish a partnership in the agency I was with at the time. Having that entrepreneurial spiritfeeling that I wanted to be in my own operation”prompted the move, he said.

A final push in the direction of brokering hard-to-place specialty lines came from the market itself, according to Mr. Griffith. “I had been bothered considerably by what I saw were dark clouds on the horizonand what I perceived to be a hard market coming on,” he said.

Q: Can you describe that market?

A: “Writing insurance for contractors, as it is today, was becoming more difficultas was products liability. [Likewise], hospital professional liability was in a crisis stage.”

Q: Why “Princeton Risk Managers” instead of “ Princeton E&S” or Princeton Wholesalers?

A: “Risk manager, at that time, was a popular way of accounting for what you did. Its a misnomer because a risk manager is usually someone whos with Betty Crocker or Quaker Oats or [another] major corporate environment. But I used the term feeling that it would be an attractive term. Risk management, after all, was something we were trying to domanage it or at least transfer it.”

Q: We usually ask wholesalers what they specialize in. But it seems as if every surplus lines product is listed on your Web site.

A: “Were generalists. We freely admit to that. There was a time when that was not thought to be a good ideathat you should specialize, get into a niche.We would enjoy, certainly, opening up a specialty division to serve a particular niche and have a program. But at this point, we dont see an opportunity to jump in and do that.”

Q: As with the products, the number of E&S companies you represent is overwhelming.

A: “There are some companies that we dont represent that wed probably love to represent. But thats the difference between the various wholesalers.

“Among wholesalers, youll find an 85 percent overlap in the companies represented. Its that 15 percent that sets them apart and sets us apart from them. That is why retailers should deal with two or three wholesalers, not just one.

“There are always occasions where we just cant deal with that one risk situation. But if we know someone that will, we refer retailers to that other market, hoping, of course, that theyll come back when they have their next problem.”

Q: What is your relationship with Bollingera Short Hills, N.J.-based financial services firm?

A: Bollinger purchased us two-and-a-half years ago. At the time, I regarded them as a large retail operation, and they are that. What I didnt realize, completelywas that over 50 percent of their business comes from other insurance agents that come to Bollinger for programsa golf and country club program, ambulance program, volunteer fire. They also have programs for employee benefits, group life. [And] they are very active in the youth sports area.”

“They were really up on IT, and thats something that, obviously, smaller agenciesretail, wholesalestruggle with because of the cost factors and having the kind of people that can handle sophisticated technology.”

Q: Is that what prompted you to sellthe cost of becoming more technologically proficient?

A: “It was one of the factors. Other factors [included] where I was in life. My wife was talking about retiring [and] I realized I had better start thinking about what I would be doing. It seemed to fit in pretty well with our life plans and how long I would commit myself to continuing with Princeton Risk Managers.”

Q: What sets Princeton Risk Managers apart from other wholesalers?

A: “I think were very caring. We have to be selective today because as much as we care and want to help everyone, it is becoming more difficult given the volume of activity that this hard market generates.

“So weve had to make tough decisions in order to service those clients that have been true to us over the years. But we certainly will create relationships with retailers that we havent dealt with previously.

“We try to explain our capabilities and make sure theres a good match between their needs and our abilitiesand then well try to move forward with someone new.”

Q: What are your goals as NAPSLO president?

A: One of them is partnering with other associations, including the Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers [of America], on key issues. The issue that concerns us most is the matter of whos going to be regulating in the futurewhether the federal government will suddenly create a department or whether it will continue to be the individual states.

“Our preference is for the individual states to continue to [regulate], but we want them to get up to speed in terms of how they regulate, because they vary so much. Issues include speed to market in terms of forms approval. Thats of great interest to the Big I and the [National Association of] Professional Insurance Agents. Its of some interest to us as well, although in surplus lines, typically, you have freedom of form. We want to protect our interest in that respect.

“The state system just needs to be retooled. So, in that connection, we have been working with the Big I, as well as carrier organizations.

“But my concept of partnering goes beyond that tooit goes into education And we do currently work with both the Big I national and the AAMGA, partnering in the technology area.”

Mr. Griffith described several education initiatives, including NAPLSOs internship programa program that invites selected students majoring in insurance or risk management to spend a part of a summer with a NAPSLO member insurance company and the remainder with a NAPSLO wholesaler.

Q: For young people considering insurance careers, what would you say are the most rewarding aspects?

A: In an insurance career you feel youre helping someone out, youre helping an organization outand I get a good feeling from that. I care about people, and I feel at the end of the day if youve done a good job in arranging an insurance placement, that youve helped.

“The other thing is that those insurance placements, at least in surplus lines, vary day to day. No two days are quite alike. Almost everything you see is unique.”

Q: This interview wouldnt be complete without asking your view of the market.

A: “Submission activity for us is actually growing. That may be because were doing some things right and some producers are coming to us more often. [And] to some degree, weve expanded the number of production sources we have, [though] not to an alarming extent.”

Otherwise, “the markets become more competitive. Were losing business back to standard companies. Weve seen that just in the last two or three months. Some of our 1/1 business went standard again.

“Its tough to lose it, but [in surplus lines] you have to understand that youve performed your rolefor a couple of years, youve had a piece of business that the standards werent interested in. When it goes back there, you cant be terribly upset. You just move on.”

Q: Whats the typical kind of business that standard companies are taking back?

A: “Umbrella business is moving back, some product liability risksthose two areas. I dont think the standards are terribly interested in commercial contractors, so we havent seen much movement there. D&O still is challenging, particularly if you need high limits.”

Q: Any crystal ball predictions on how long the hard market is going to last?

A: “Its a matter of definition. I guess it is leveling. We havent seen those tremendous spikes in rate increases [recently] that we did in the last three years.

“The fact that its leveling would indicate that theres going to be some more standard market competitionweve already seen that. Theres also more competition between the wholesale companies. I see them more strongly competing against each other. That would suggest that pricing will probably start sliding a little bit.

“But I dont think were looking at a soft market by any means. I think well probably continue to have a hard market for at least a couple of years before you see any noticeable cross-cutting going on.”

Reproduced from National Underwriter Property & Casualty/Risk & Benefits Management Edition, February 20, 2004. Copyright 2004 by The National Underwriter Company in the serial publication. All rights reserved. Copyright in this article as an independent work may be held by the author.

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