Monique Rossato (pictured left) and Jordan Stone (pictured right) didn’t turn up to the UAC Sydney Market Exchange looking for another generic market update and a complimentary fridge magnet. They came with a practical, urgent agenda: find underwriters who can move faster when clients need cover quickly - sometimes within hours - because their brokerage’s ability to compete increasingly hinges on turnaround time, not just premium.
Rossato, a broker assistant, and Stone, a broker, at Macey Insurance Brokers in Bowral, described a familiar pressure point: customers who need property or motor cover “today” don’t care about process. They care about certainty, documentation and a policy schedule in their inbox before settlement, handover, or tomorrow morning’s job.
Macey Insurance Brokers has around 40 staff across multiple offices spanning the Highlands through Camden and Shoalhaven, plus Canberra. Its portfolio mixes domestic lines with a broad spread of commercial risks - motor fleets, tradies, farm packages, transport businesses and excavation. That range means the “need it now” moments can hit at any time, from a small business owner chasing a fleet certificate to a property buyer whose bank refuses to settle without evidence of insurance.
The challenge, the pair suggested, is that while brokers are held to the client’s clock, underwriters can still be stuck in a slower cadence - especially where quoting depends on emails, individual appetite calls and the availability of the one person who “owns” the file.
“I think there are a lot of underwriters who send an email to get a quote, and if that person’s not in and it’s going to their general inbox, it can take a week to get a quote back," said Rossato.
That speed gap is more than an operational irritation; it is now a competitive fault line. Consumers can click through a directly sold motor product in minutes. Yet even for “standard” risks that brokers expect to place routinely - home, motor, uncomplicated property - turnaround can be slow enough to cost the account. In a market where pricing pressure is already making customers skittish, delays can be the final push toward a direct channel.
Stone said she has noticed price increases this year compared to last year and customers are “tighter”, with more people questioning whether insurance is worth it or simply hunting for the cheapest option. Rossato described the difficulty of competing with major retail brands in the domestic space as renewal premiums keep rising. In that context, every friction point - slow quotes, unclear requirements, too many back-and-forths - adds to the temptation for clients to ring around or go direct.
For Rossato and Stone, the UAC Exchange was a scouting mission: which underwriters are improving their portals, tightening their workflows and using automation in a way that actually helps brokers get terms faster?
Brokers need underwriters whose systems can triage, validate and respond quickly, particularly for routine cover. If automation can reduce the number of touchpoints required to produce terms, it changes the broker’s ability to meet the client’s deadline and preserves the value of advice when the direct market is selling speed as a feature.
Rossato and Stone framed the urgency in everyday terms from the brokerage front desk: “We definitely have people call us up and say their insurance expired yesterday and they need something as soon as possible," said Rossato.
"Yes, we've taken calls from customers who have bought big commercial properties and say they need insurance today," said Stone.
This is the reality of retail and SME clients juggling competing priorities until a deadline forces the issue - and the broker’s promise of service is only as good as the market’s responsiveness.
The service story brokers tell, particularly around claims advocacy, remains real. Rosato and Stone were clear about the role brokerages play in taking pressure off customers when something goes wrong but they strongly argued that service can’t only mean “we’ll help when there’s a loss.” Increasingly, it also needs to mean “we can get you covered in time.”
"It's really hard to service customers when underwriters take days or weeks to come back to you,” said Stone.
For underwriters, it’s both a warning and an opportunity. Brokers are still hunting for appetite and relationships but they’re also hunting for speed and they’re looking for the underwriters and systems that can turn “today” from an exception, into business as usual.
