In Person: Head of Marsh Networks David Hopwood

Hopwood on being owned by Marsh, restructuring the networks division and why he wants brokers to remain independent.

Marsh Networks consists of Bluefin Network, Purple Partnership and Marsh ProBroker and Hopwood maintains that there are no plans to merge the three into one.

He explains that the propositions are “very distinct”, with Purple members looking for enhanced products and insurer service, while Bluefin members want more support around the compliance side. Marsh ProBroker has the larger members with a “more sophisticated and complex” client base.

“As a business we’re one business but if the propositions fit with what the broker wants, why change that?” Hopwood asks.

“When we’re talking to a new prospective member it’s very easy to talk to them about which of these propositions most suits them,” he continues. “That option makes our job a lot easier and they don’t need to feel like they’re being shoehorned into something that perhaps doesn’t fit.”

The business went through a restructure in September 2017 in order to bring the networks together under the same top leadership team, while still keeping them as separate propositions with their own management teams underneath.

This was also when Hopwood stepped into his current role after previously being managing director of Bluefin Network.

His new position involves a lot of travelling to visit clients and members and he notes that he likes to “spend time with as many brokers as I can as often as I can”. 

Hopwood explains that the decision to push on with three distinct offerings came after taking a close look at all of the individual businesses and what their members wanted.

As a business we’re one business but if the propositions fit with what the broker wants, why change that? When we’re talking to a new prospective member it’s very easy to talk to them about which of these propositions most suits them

“Brokers felt comfortable with those propositions and as a result we’ve been able to maintain our existing membership and grow it significantly as well,” Hopwood notes.

The combined networks business has around 270 members and 15 of them were added in the last twelve months. Together they control £1bn in gross written premium.

He highlights that all three were shortlisted for the Network of the Year Award at the 2018 UK Broker Awards. The trophy was scooped up by Purple Partnership for the second year in a row.

“It felt absolutely fantastic that Purple Partnership won, I’m delighted for Les [Brewin, Purple MD] because he does put his heart and soul into that business and making sure he looks after those brokers,” Hopwood remarks.

He argues that all of the comments about the restructure from network members received so far have been positive and that pooling the three propositions together has allowed the different networks to access a wider range of services.

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