“In a small market like Newfoundland, it means that you're not just a service provider, you're deeply rooted and invested in the same community as your clients,” said Nicole Rose (pictured), trading underwriter at Agile Underwriting Solutions.
Agile Underwriting Solutions was one of the The Top MGAs in Canada winners. Read the 5-Star Brokers on MGAs special reports here.
That closeness, she argued, made insurance conversations fundamentally different. “Risk management discussions aren't purely transactional, they're personal. You're more aware of the human elements at play – how that business actually runs day to day.” She said the advantage in Newfoundland came from knowing more than the numbers on an application, from the leadership style of an owner to the morale of a workforce. Those insights often shape how policies are structured and priced.
Rose, who spent seven years as a broker before moving into underwriting this year, contrasted that with larger Canadian markets. “Underwriters really do rely heavily on standardized risk appetite and broad assumptions about that industry,” she said. But with input from local brokers, two businesses that look identical on paper can be underwritten differently. “It might affect the influence on different terms or pricing, or even the different types of coverages I can offer,” she said. “In small markets, that people element is just as important as the physical assets themselves.”
Rose said the scale and intimacy of Newfoundland insurance work creates a distinct environment compared with other provinces. “There’s such a distinct personal touch with the brokers here in Newfoundland, because for the most part, you do know business owners more,” she said. “I can't even really explain it, it's just so different.”
That difference is felt most sharply when businesses adapt to digital tools at uneven speeds. “You could have clients that have really advanced IT infrastructure, strong password protocols in place, ongoing training with their staff… whereas there are other businesses that might still be using paper records,” she said.
From her broker perspective, she said the challenge is making sure every client understands that cyber exposures were “fundamentally a people risk. Technology can be bypassed if human behavior is the weak point.” For underwriters, that uneven adoption creates very different conversations, even within the same sector. “We might receive two applications for similar businesses. One might be far more advanced in digital risk management… whereas the other might not have the proper policies in place,” she said.
Rose added that this placed MGAs in a position to help brokers with education, checklists, and training webinars. “That can really help clients strengthen their cyber resilience before it becomes a claim scenario,” she said.
Rose identified three areas where human-driven risks often go unaddressed. In resource industries, compliance with technical safety standards is strong, but issues like fatigue, mental health, and communication breakdowns can be overlooked. In small businesses, owners are often stretched across roles, leaving procedures informal and staff under-trained. And in the public sector, she said, “you usually see more comprehensive policies in place, but cultural or procedural bottlenecks can really limit how effectively those policies are implemented.”
Applications rarely capture those differences. “In our application, we have, ‘Do you offer employee training?’ and it's just a yes or no,” she said. “Without that broker's insight of exactly what that means, we don't really know if that training is actually formal, if it's reoccurring, or if it's just a one-time conversation had with that new employee.”
This, she said, was where the underwriter–broker relationship matters most, allowing coverage to be tailored with endorsements or loss control resources that better reflect the real environment.
Geography adds another challenge, with distance limiting how often brokers can visit clients in person. Rose said consistency and visibility were essential. “That would mean scheduling regular check-ins for quick questions for your client and proactively sharing resources, whether that's a checklist, a guide for emergency preparedness, or updates on emerging risks.”
When in-person visits are possible, she said, brokers need to go beyond paperwork. “Walking through the business, talking with their staff, and identifying potential vulnerabilities on site can really make a broker's advice more relevant and actionable.”
From the underwriting side, support comes through speed and flexibility. “That might mean, for us, offering fast response times for the broker, being available to discuss those unique local risks, or providing flexible solutions when maybe a standard market won't take it,” she said. “It can also involve creating tools to share with brokers that they can then share with their clients.”
For Rose, the partnership between underwriters and brokers is the only way to ensure clients felt understood and supported, even when the people shaping the policies were far away.
