You are Grace Halloran, chief executive of Brightwell Insurance, a British motor and home insurer that sells almost everything through brokers. An app that charges 18% less is taking your young drivers. At the next meeting the board wants a single sentence: will Brightwell compete with a second business model, or not?
The situation
It is April 2026. Brightwell writes £1.2 billion of premium a year, and brokers sell 88% of it. Its combined ratio is 94%: a six-point underwriting margin in a market where many rivals run close to break-even. You have led the company for four years, after a decade running commercial underwriting, and your reputation rests on one rule: never buy volume with a worse book.
Swift Cover Direct sells cover only through an app, with no broker commission. Its expense ratio is around 14%, against Brightwell's 31%, and it has just passed 600,000 customers. Over the past year your new business with drivers under 35 has fallen 22%.
The board has set a limit: whatever happens, the combined ratio, adding the current business and any new venture, may not exceed 97% in any quarter. A credible digital build would cost about £45 million over two years. Neither you nor anyone on your executive team has built a digital business before, and your incentive plan, like everyone's, pays on combined ratio and premium growth.