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Issues & Answers Special Advertising Section
October 2020

Issues & Answers: Meeting Partners’ Needs

David Nelson, senior vice president, Contract Underwriting, Nationwide E&S, said that technology investment has been a high priority for many excess and surplus carriers for the last several years. “As the environment begins to change and evolve as a result of the pandemic, now more than ever there's a need for data and information to find out what additional hazards are present and discover new avenues for revenue production,” he said. The following are excerpts of an interview.

David Nelson

David Nelson
Senior Vice President, Contract Underwriting
Nationwide E&S

“We seek to be a vital resource not only to support profitable growth for our wholesale partners, but also to leverage our unique scale, expertise and longevity in the marketplace.”


At a Glance

  • Fortune 100 company.
  • AM Best Rated A+ (Superior) FSC XV.
  • Third-largest domestic specialty (Excess and Surplus) commercial lines insurer.

How are data and new data sources impacting E&S?

New uses for data and data sources are making our industry more sophisticated in our pricing and risk selection methods. Additionally, they’re creating opportunities for us in speed, ease and efficiency. The ability to incorporate new data sources with our large, proprietary dataset enables us to enhance our pricing and risk selection through predictive analytics. Another thing it’s allowing us to do is to take much more of a precise approach to how we write business, rather than making broad changes or exiting entire classes of business.


How is Nationwide investing in technology and using data and analytics to meet your partners’ needs?

We’re investing heavily in best-in-class underwriting platforms to provide ease of use for our agents, meeting them where they are on their technology journey. We are integrating third party data into these platforms that will enable a more holistic ability to dynamically select and price risks. We are also building our predictive modeling capabilities, including the ability for a greater number of our associates to access and analyze data. Furthering our risk and pricing disciplines allows us to manage our business and sustain financial growth, as well as prioritize capital deployment.

Are relationships more important now than ever?

The relationships we have with our partners have always played an integral part in our success, and that’s really what built our company and continues to be critical to our mutual success. With the unprecedented events and the acceleration of technology, getting connected is more important than ever. The voice of our customer has really been instrumental in driving our priorities. In addition to learning from each other, we continue to work together to leverage data and analytics, ensure that our technology solutions are improving our integrations with each other, and providing solutions that meet consumer needs.

What is Nationwide doing to bring more value to these relationships?

It all starts by listening to their needs and understanding what creates value for them. We strive to be a vital resource for our wholesale partners by leveraging our unique scale, expertise and longevity in the marketplace to provide insights and knowledge; enabling them to develop strategies for profitable growth and promotion to an elite status within the wholesale distribution space. As we invest in technology, data and analytics, our partnership-centric philosophy is our No. 1 guiding principle.