We sat down with Paul Lucarelli, the SVP of Personal and Commercial Lines, to get his thoughts on 2020, the recent expansion of his role and his outlook for 2021.
Q1) In October, it was announced that you would be taking over the Personal lines portfolio, in addition to the Commercial Lines portfolio at RSA. Can you share with us your thoughts on this transition and how you’re feeling about the change?
A: Personal insurance is a big part of the RSA business and I don’t take lightly the amount of work our teams accomplish or the impact of a change of leadership would have on our people. Our strategy remains the same and our leaders are there to provide support and direction. What this transition presents is an opportunity for alignment of our capabilities, structures, including Personal, Commercial, Marketing, Sales, and Broker Management – which will enable a sharper focus on products, growth and services for our broker partners.
Q2) 2020 will always be remembered as the year of COVID-19. Despite this, how would you describe how RSA’s Commercial and Personal lines performed in 2020? What were some of the challenges and what did we do to overcome them?
A: I’m very proud of our performance this year, from a financial and operative standpoint. We adjusted quickly (within days) when Covid-19 measures were implemented by local governments and worked with our industry and broker communities to offer relief measures. What I found challenging was the unpredictability of impact on business, which encumbers planning, and forces our view to be reactive versus forward thinking, which is where we ultimately want our business to be positioned. Our response however was very positive on many fronts – we stayed connected to our broker partners, found new ways of working together and moved our business forward together.
Q3) Looking forward, what is your outlook for RSA’s Commercial and Personal lines in 2021?
A: In Commercial, we are well positioned for growth. For the last two years, we have worked on remediation efforts, articulating our appetite and working with portfolio management. These efforts have built confidence in our future plans, and are aligned with RSA’s areas of strength and expertise. The market remains very challenging for our broker partners, and our capacity and expertise is needed now more than ever. It is so important that we continue the positive momentum which we were able to build on in 2020. In Personal, our focus for 2021 continues to be on retention and growth; it’s a very competitive environment with many external factors working against us placing pressure on our retention. Our focus is to utilize our pricing sophistication and broker partnerships to strengthen our topline and keep retention strong, whileworking diligently with our Sales Team to attract new desired business.
