Brokers have expressed relief at Blue Zebra’s new capacity arrangement for home, landlord and SME products, which comes as the underwriting agency’s contract with Youi is days away from expiring.

They say its personal lines covers are vital for consumers who prefer using a broker for home insurance needs.

“We have a lot of respect for the Blue Zebra team, so we are really happy they have found some quality backing for these products,” Roderick Insurance Brokers sales manager Paul Codd told insuranceNEWS.com.au.

“It’s certainly a great relief for us that Blue Zebra will continue to offer home and landlord ... There has been such a reduction in the number of insurers in the personal insurance space, so it’s really important that they remain as a viable option for us.”

Mr Codd, based in Melbourne, added: “There’s a large group who value the advice model that brokers provide and are very uncomfortable in going [to] the direct call centre model, so they absolutely prefer to deal with brokers who advocate for them and are experts in these products.”

As reported this morning, Blue Zebra has told brokers its home and contents, landlord and SME offerings will be backed by a co-insurer panel led by Chubb. AIG and HDI Global Specialty through its Australian branch are the other two security providers.

National Insurance Brokers owner Abbie Wilson said of the co-insurer approach: “We need more options like this to help combat the affordability and availability of insurance, especially for regional and rural areas. There is an opportunity for many more shared solutions. The real question is, do insurers care enough for their clients to explore these options further?”

She says the panel “should be seen as a positive … but maybe it also highlights there are issues with just having the one insurer as security. It helps, I guess, to lessen their risk profile.”

Blue Zebra MD Colin Fagen told insuranceNEWS.com.au: “It’s a very strong panel of partners. It’s a multi-year [arrangement] … We see the opportunity to continue to support the broker market in these three products. The team has worked extremely hard to get us here [and] we’d like to thank all the brokers who have been sending us positive messages through this time.”

Under the new arrangement, broker commission on home building and contents and landlord cover will be changed to a maximum of 15% from August 1. It is currently 17.5%.

Mr Fagen says the commission change “is a very small move … which helps ensure sustainability of our offerings over time”.