American Specialty Insurance revolutionizes risk management in sports and entertainment with NetRate

NetRate: A rating solution offering critical efficiency

American Specialty Insurance & Risk Services, Inc. is an MGA/MGU with letters of authority, that writes business through 1,000 independent agents. They underwrite for sports, leisure, and entertainment industries nationwide—businesses that place the company in the crosshairs of exposures such as injuries, concussions, sexual harassment and abuse, guns, terrorism, and venue issues.  

American Specialty president, Drew Smith, has 60 teammates in Fort Wayne, Indiana, working in sales, accounting, IT, underwriting and claims. American Specialty was established in 1989, and purchased by Brown & Brown (B&B) in 2005.

Drew says the acquisition gives the company several advantages, including the ability to work with like-minded individuals and access to robust carrier partner relationships. They use NetRate to handle their commercial lines rating requirements. 

“We’re ambassadors of NetRate within B&B,” said Drew. “We continue to recommend NetRate to other MGAs at B&B. We’re part of National Programs, which is now 25% of B&B revenue.”

Service first, last, and always

The company's website promotes the American Specialty brand, “What Special Feels Like,” to highlight their goal to provide service beyond expectation. This concept is so ingrained in their DNA, that they demand "special" from their vendor and technology partners as well.

“We need to continue to raise the bar, evolve as a service organization, and move quickly as the market changes. We like the speed with which changes can be made with the NetRate application,” said Drew. He added that thanks to NetRate, “carriers see us as a speed boat rather than a cruise ship. If a system is static and slow, it won’t work for an MGA in today’s world. We tried other rating software but chose NetRate because it is the fastest to process and efficiency is critical. That is what special feels like.” 

The focus on service and moving quickly as the market changes is clearly reflected on their website. When the COVID-19 pandemic severely affected large crowd gatherings, American Specialty included checklists, questions to consider, and numerous resources for their sports, leisure, and entertainment clients to review as they started to reopen their venues.

Not only did the website have items to focus on before reopening, with sources to monitor for up-to-date information, American Specialty went the extra mile to create industry specific guidelines for modifications to consider while reopening.