Broker EPIC bets on specialism, data and AI to drive growth

Gregg Bundschuh, Chief Growth Officer at EPIC Insurance Brokers & Consultants, tells the Voice of Insurance podcast how specialisation, technology and private equity backing are shaping the firm’s $2bn growth trajectory.

As consolidation reshapes the insurance broking market, Gregg Bundschuh believes the edge belongs to those intermediaries able to demonstrate deep specialist knowledge.

The chief growth officer at EPIC Insurance Brokers & Consultants, part of Galway Holdings, told the Voice of Insurance podcast that his firm’s model sits on sector-specific expertise supported by data and technology.

“Every broker will tell you that specialist business units have higher client retention, higher profitability and higher organic growth,” he said. “If that’s the case and everybody acknowledges it, then why aren’t more brokers organised around that concept?”

Bundschuh, a former construction lawyer, argued that EPIC’s focus on vertical expertise across industries such as construction, transport and entertainment, are a differentiator.

“Our approach is to live and breathe an industry, not just serve it. The technical broking flows from that,” he said.

Insurtech and AI

Private equity ownership, including backing from Harvest Partners, Oak Hill and Carlyle, has underpinned EPIC’s expansion from $70m revenues a decade ago to nearly $2bn today.

That support, Bundschuh explained, has also allowed the broker to prioritise technology and artificial intelligence (AI).

“There are a remarkable number of rote tasks in the broking process that technology and AI can effectuate at a much easier level,” he observed.

These include automating submissions and data aggregation, freeing up brokers to focus on relationships, with more time for high-value conversations with clients and underwriters.

The greater prize is using AI to refine business development, he explained.

“We don’t always know everybody in the industry who has the characteristics we’re looking for. AI helps us identify those people, and it also strengthens our benchmarking by combining our company data with wider industry data,” said Bundschuh.

This data-driven approach enables EPIC to present more complete risk profiles and engage with markets on a consultative level, he argued.

“If I can express the risk of a complex project at a wholly differentiated level, the conversation with underwriters immediately starts at a higher level,” he added.

Challenges and niches

Bundschuh pointed to the US auto market as its toughest current pressure point. “Large fleets, large fleets, large fleets — that’s life in the US auto market right now,” he said.

Umbrella and excess capacity remain constrained despite existing mitigation efforts such as telematics and onboard cameras, he suggested, adding that autonomous vehicles “can’t come soon enough”.

Bundschuh also highlighted the continued interplay between admitted and excess and surplus lines (E&S), noting that the best delegated underwriting firms (MGAs and MGUs) thrive by carving out specialist niches.

Many MGAs struggle when asked to expand beyond their initial profitable niche, he emphasised.

The opportunity for E&S today is to adapt solutions for industry niches and upper mid-market businesses, where traditional coverages may not apply, he said.

That philosophy extends to EPIC’s acquisition strategy, which targets brokers with strong organic growth and deep-rooted industry immersion.

“The broker that can combine technical expertise with holistic consultative capability will be the one perceived as a true partner,” Bundschuh said.

As the business broadens its wholesale operations and expands internationally, Bundschuh sees vertical integration across retail, wholesale and carrier markets as a source of competitive advantage, while noting the London market, European and Latin American markets as places to grow.

The focus, he insisted, remains on knowledge, creativity and consultative value, across 10 industry practice groups.

“All I want out of my professional life is an unfair competitive advantage,” Bundschuh recalled a senior executive at a large carrier telling him. “For us that means deep industry knowledge, consultative capability…and delivering creative solutions.”

Deliver those things, and the broker’s future is secure, he added.