Willis has made a significant play in Australia’s “vast” SME market, launching direct digital platform Zest Insurance.

The website will operate under a general advice model and give SMEs access to industry-specific insurance products. Zest is not an aggregator – each tailored product will be backed by one insurer.

The aim is to provide a fully digital customer journey, backed by user-friendly forms and interfaces, but expert broker support is available if needed.

Zest has been launched in Australia first but Willis, a WTW company, hopes to expand it to other countries in time.

The platform’s first product – exclusively underwritten by Chubb – is available to the administration and support services industry. Further products are expected later this year.

Head of commercial and affinity for the Pacific region Brent Lehmann says until now Willis has “never been big in SME”, having forged its reputation around high-end, risk-managed corporate accounts.

But he says Australia is primarily an SME economy, with 97% of businesses having 20 or fewer employees and less than $2 million in turnover.  

And the Australian SME insurance market, valued at more than $9 billion gross written premium, has been slower to adopt digital solutions than global counterparts.

“If we were going to look at the SME segment, we didn’t want to be another competitor in a sea of sameness,” he said. “We wanted to do something different.”

Willis believes a new generation of business owners won’t put up with outdated, complex processes, and they increasingly demand convenience, speed and tailored solutions.

“Zest Insurance is our answer to that challenge,” Mr Lehmann said.

WTW head of Pacific James Baum says the launch comes at a pivotal time for the “vast and growing” SME market.

“We’ve built Zest Insurance to be more than just a platform,” he said. “It’s a new way of thinking about SME insurance.

“It’s about simplicity, transparency and putting the customer first.”

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