Olga Collins: WBN leader says brokers must become ‘an extension’ of corporate risk management

The role of brokers is changing across the world, driven by forces like the rapid development and deployment of technology and the rise of dynamic new risks that clients must be protected from. 

Taking a perspective on these issues can be challenging for any one organisation because of the day-to-day process that colours and informs perception, leaving it up to those who take a truly global view of trends in both risk and the ways it can be mitigated. 

Olga Collins, chief executive at Worldwide Broker Network (WBN), is one such individual – as the top boss of an international broker network that emphasises the importance of feedback from the risk managers it works with from around the globe, she has developed a sense of what she believes to be the world’s risk trends. 

Speaking to Insurance Times as she marks five years with the organisation, Collins discusses the importance of an active, consultative approach to risk management as well as the changing role of brokers, the necessity for technological progress and emphasising people-led relationships.

Career to date 

Collins never planned to enter the industry and “didn’t know insurance risk management existed” while studying maths in the US, but stepped into the finance world and, from there, fell in love with risk management because it is “a combination of analytics and people relationships”. 

Her first role in this world saw her spend 15 years with transportation giant UPS in a risk management capacity, before switching over to “the broker side” in 2014 to search for “a service platform with global connectivity that could service complex clients”. 

The broker she joined was Brown and Brown-owned Beecher Carlson, where Collins led the multinational practice. As an existing member of WBN, it was here that Collins “leaned into” the network in building up the firm’s offering for multinational clients. 

The relationships she built with the network during this time led to Collins being invited to become WBN’s youngest ever board member in 2019, before joining the network as its chief executive five years ago in April 2021. 

She explains: “That transition was an interesting time and it was definitely helpful knowing what I was walking towards because of the relationships we had – and Brown and Brown’s still a member, so I still work with my old team.” 

Competing globally

Since becoming responsible for WBN’s strategy, Collins has grown the network’s capabilities and membership, bringing her experience of risk management to the task of creating “one giant, seamless international risk platform for clients” and providing independent broker members with the ability to compete across the globe. 

WBN functions as a member-owned, international independent broker network that can provide insurance services through a lead broker member that then works in partnership with other members in international jurisdictions to provide insurance services in the locales where clients require it. 

UK broker members such as McGill, Miller, Price Forbes, Verlingue or Specialist Risk Group (SRG) can then organise insurance for corporate clients with business interests across the world by working as a lead broker with WBN members based in the jurisdiction where the insurance is needed. In its largest programme to date, 80 countries were involved in one risk management process. 

Collins adds: “This community of 150 brokers includes various levels of size and capabilities, but they work really well together to become one very giant, sophisticated platform for clients.

“But for 30 years or so, WBN was almost a secret despite the success – it was never a name that was talked about in the industry.

”So, one of the parts of the job that excites me most is that shift towards externalising the brand to highlight its strengths and then build upon them.” 

The role of brokers

With her perspective as both a practised risk manager and insurance broker, Collins’ view of the changing role of insurance brokers is informed by experience from both sides of the coin, as well as the feedback WBN gathers in its drive to be “client-centric”.

What this means, in practice, is that Collins has been focused on ensuring that risk management teams, which often comprise few staff even at very large organisations, are supported as efficiently as possible through technology and relationships. 

WBN has created its own proprietary collaboration platform, for example, that allows risk managers to view information about their international programme, such as compliance and benchmarking, all in one place, providing ”visibility to the entire cost of risk throughout the world”. 

Collins explains: “I’m from the [risk manager] client side and we have a team of people who are too – our experience is that this sort of information simply wasn’t available.”

Alongside this technological development, the network has invested in deepening the relationships between its member brokers and clients through ”advisory councils”, which allow international brands to provide feedback directly to member brokers on what they are looking for. 

Collins says: ”We, as brokers, need to be an extension of risk management to support them – more often than not, we meet a risk management function from a large organisation and it’s a party of one, so they need all the support they can get. 

“If we can become that extension, that’s where we can really build deep relationships. Risk management is not just the same as buying insurance remember, it’s about advice.

”I’ve been in consultative roles where I’ve walked away from a client meeting telling them that they can stop buying so much insurance – being that advisor and understanding the financial implications of insurance on a balance sheet is very important.” 

Risk trends

As the role of insurance brokers changes, Collins believes that there are opportunities for new forms of technologically enabled risk management right across the globe.

She explains: ”As the world shifts, the needs of clients are shifting as well. Keeping up with compliance and the new products that are coming online is really important and we need to feed the market with ideas around how to manage their risk.” 

For example, Collins says that “alternative solutions” such as parametric policies or captive insurance companies are “a big topic” for WBN at the moment.

And, in terms of what she would ask insurers for, Collins says the carrier market also has some improvements to make in its processes, especially around creativity for new products and the management of escalation points, which are of vital importance in global contexts to understand corporate risk profiles.

She finishes: ”Risk managers are increasingly trying to showcase their worth and their impact on bottom line, so connecting them with those that can speak at the advisory level –  versus just insurance buying – is key for us.

“With our client centricity and the complexity of our network, in the qualitative sense, we can compete really strongly across the globe.”