Speaker: Craig Simpson, Head of Business Advice
What is your name and role at MAS and what do you do in your role?
Craig Simpson: Hi, my name is Craig Simpson. I am the Head of Business Advice at MAS. I currently lead a team of professional Business Risk Advisers who give advice to our business insurance Members. We ensure that their assets and liabilities are covered correctly. We ensure the distribution of our products as well as other partner products is done in an efficient and effective manner. And this would involve all aspects of their business insurance. It's a newly formed team, it's been operating for 2 years, it's growing. We are very excited about the future of Business Risk for MAS and looking forward to what the future holds for us and for MAS and our business Members.
How long have you been at MAS and what relevant roles have you had prior to working at MAS?
Craig Simpson: I've been with MAS since September 2001.
Craig Simpson: My insurance career spans a long, long time, 35-odd years. I started my career in an insurance company, learnt the ropes and then moved into the broker field, and basically built businesses, built various products, designed and developed and distributed products to clients, various clients. I developed underwriting facilities and delegated authority arrangements with insurance companies during that process. And then most recently operated with a large corporate insurer in New Zealand. Fixed up one of their branches in the South Island, helped them get their earthquake claims sorted out after the Kaikoura earthquakes. And then moved across to Wellington to head up the business development side for the corporate side of their business. But yeah, insurance is in my blood. I've been been in it a long time and I pretty much touched every aspect of insurance that there is out there.
What does the Business Risk team do?
Craig Simpson: The role of the Business Risk team is to make sure that our business risk Members have their assets properly insured, to give them the advice that they can make proper decisions around what they should be insuring for and the value that they should be applying to their policies. It's giving advice on the MAS products and most recently starting to give advice around other products in the market. It's also making sure that they understand the covers that they have and answering any questions that they have. One of the most important aspects of their role is to provide risk mitigation, measures that the Members can actually take to reduce the risks at their premises. So making sure their fire extinguishers are in the right places, serviced every year, and security systems. You know, if they're storing stock at their premises to make sure the stock is raised off the floor. So if there is any flooding to make sure that the stock doesn't get damaged because of maybe a tap that gets left on, it's protected by that space that a pallet would provide. So it's using the experience of having been in the industry to make sure that we give the clients the tools and the knowledge they need to number 1, protect their business. And number 2 understand how we can assist in placing or laying off the risk that they have in their businesses.
How many people are in the Business Risk team?
Craig Simpson: There are currently 10 Business Risk Advisers in the Business Risk team. And then myself, so I make say 11 people in all. It's a fast growing team. We've grown to this number over a 2 year period and will continue to grow as the business grows.
Why is Business Insurance important?
Craig Simpson: Business insurance is critical. Firstly, without Business Insurance, if there was a major loss the business would close. So all the people that are employed by the business would essentially be out of work. That's the first thing. The second thing is once you've established a business or if you are establishing a business you would require capital either from the bank or your own hard earned capital to initiate or start up a business. And this is one of the ways of ensuring that your business can continue to operate and generate income you know, to support the way in which you want to live. And without the insurance, if there was a loss, then the income that is generated from that business dries up. Obviously, there's various types of business insurance and not all business insurance is relevant for all businesses. So, you can select the type of insurance that you require based on your financial needs and the actual risk that you have. And obviously the various stages that you are in your business. So if you have an established business, it's well capitalized, you can take higher excesses, take some of that risk back yourself to reduce the insurance costs. But essentially without business insurance, you would be opening yourself or exposing yourself to the business going into liquidation because it's unable to get itself back into operation or able to replace some of the assets that you've purchased, which keep your business operational.
What is the most popular Business Insurance product we sell at MAS?
Craig Simpson: There is no 1 particular product that we sell as a Business Risk team that is more important than the other. Our goal as a team is to make sure that we analyse the Members' needs. We discuss that with the Member, we work out the financial viability of the products that we are offering a Member. So I wouldn't say there is a, more popular product than another, they are all important. It's more about establishing the need and meeting that need than you know, something being more popular. However, Cyber Insurance is becoming more and more of a a need that is essential within industry at the moment with everything being attached to a computer, whether it be a mobile phone, an X ray machine, which are all connected to computers, which can be hacked. And as long as there is data on those pieces of equipment, which in most cases there will be, there's a risk there. So it does, that seems to be 1 of the products that is spoken about a lot more regularly in our discussions with our Members and in fact, in the industry as a whole.
Why is Business Insurance an important product line for MAS?
Craig Simpson: Business Insurance is an important product line for MAS because we are making sure that we cover the most important assets that are owned by our Members. In most cases the largest assets they own, whether it be the building that they operate out of, the equipment that they use in order to generate an income. What's key here is that our businesses employ, you know, sometimes large numbers of staff and those staff can become Members of MAS as well, insuring their homes, their cars, life insurance, KiwiSaver and some retirement savings. So, we see Business Insurance as being a key part of the way in which we service our Members and provide them with protection to ensure that there is longevity in our relationship. And also that we continue to just be there for our Members, making sure we are protecting their assets and their livelihoods.
Why is MAS changing to a broker model?
Craig Simpson: The reason why MAS is changing to a broker model is we want to say "Yes" more often to our Members, We realized that over the last couple of years since I've been involved in setting up the Business Risk team we were turning away a lot of Members that were coming to us with assets that were outside of the norm that we were insuring for them. They were investing their business, their hard earned cash into larger properties, into businesses that were diverse from the ones that they are currently in. For example, barbershops, taking a share in a winery, and that's not our vanilla-type of product or our core Member product that we designed our policies for. And at MAS it's all about making sure that we support our Members and we just felt we weren't supporting our Members enough as their businesses grew and as their wealth grew and they started investing in other assets, they could return more than just putting the money in the bank. So that was probably the main reason why we decided to move to a broker model which will allow us now to say more, sorry to say "Yes" more to our Members when they come to us with these other assets that they want insurance for.
What hobbies and interest do you have outside of MAS?
Craig Simpson: One of my biggest loves is rugby. I played rugby until I was about 30 it was quite serious rugby. Unfortunately didn't play international rugby but played with some international players along the way. But love watching the game and obviously New Zealand, South Africa being one of my favorite test teams to watch competing against each other. Surfing is probably my biggest love at the moment. I can still do it, just a little bit slower than I was. But yeah, it is something that I really enjoy doing, jumping on the water with a paddle board or a surfboard and, hopefully having some encounters with dolphins rather than sharks, which I have done on a number of occasions. I enjoy mountain biking. But it was sort of doing a bit of downhill stuff but that is happening less often the older I get. Obviously just being outdoors, anything when it comes to waters, fantastic fishing and so on. But yeah, apart from that, spending a lot of time with my family, I love a barbecue, or a braai as we call it. And, yeah, being out in the sun it's a fantastic place to be able to do that.
