Launched in August 2022, Birchin Insurance Brokers Limited is a dynamic new boutique insurance broker specialising in professional indemnity insurance for a wide range of professional firms – but with a particular focus on solicitors, independent financial advisors, insurance intermediaries and property professionals.
Based centrally from offices in the City of Bristol, we chose the location because of its vibrance and long-term tradition as a market for the professional indemnity sector, probably the largest regional UK concentration of specialism outside of the London market.
Part of a fully independent group of insurance and professional services businesses, we are free of any external shareholders, enabling us to put clients and staff at the heart of what we do. We are owned and managed by a team of respected industry figures – whilst we are a new name, the team isn’t new – we all have a long history in insurance broking and professional indemnity, with an independent mindset and client first attitude.
Leading the development of the business is Mark Addis, a senior insurance professional with more than 30 years’ experience, nearly all of which has been in professional indemnity. Formerly the wholesale managing director of the Giles Group and INK Underwriting prior to its acquisition by AJ Gallagher, Mark is focused on growing Birchin to become one of the leading independent brokers of choice.
Mark Addis, Birchin managing director, commented – “Having watched the sheer scale of mergers, acquisitions and consolidation activity in the UK broker and MGA market, it became clear that clients would eventually become mere commodities, with their access to products, services and advice becoming dependent on their value proposition. Clients chose independent brokers for a reason – not every client wants to be represented by a large international broker, where involvement is standardised on size and geographical location, where their advisor is told to place their business in markets that suit the broker, so called ‘placement strategies’.
That’s why we started Birchin – to bring independence back to broking and give clients the choice they’ve lost in recent years”.
