In Person: Adrian Saunders spells out his top priorities for Ecclesiastical

Walk a short distance from the Monument to the Great Fire of London and you’ll come to Monument Place, headquarters of Ecclesiastical Insurance, a befitting grade A building cast among London’s iconic glass buildings.

Moving up to the roof top of the office space, and just beyond is the Shard, Gherkin, the Leadenhall Building and even low flying aeroplanes. 

The sun is shining.

It’s a fitting location for Insurance Age’s interview with Adrian Saunders, commercial director for Ecclesiastical, and self-confessed cycling addict.

Passion
Proud of his Bristol roots, he retains a passion for Edinburgh, Yorkshire and the south coast of England, where he has had the experience of working.

He has worked in insurance for 30 years, 10 of which have been in London. He now splits his home between the capital and Hampshire.

By his own admission, Saunders fell into insurance through a degree of necessity.

He freely admits that “all those many years ago” he had to make a career choice between going to university or getting a job. He started off at a local broker in Bristol during the mid-80s, spent eight years at Marsh and joined Ecclesiastical in 2014.

“From that point of view it has been great because I have had a chance to work the length and breadth of the UK,” he said.

He has been at the insurer, which provides home insurance and church, heritage and charity insurance, as well as financial products and services for individuals and organisations, for two years looking after its broker business.

He is responsible for its regional insurer operations in London, Birmingham, Manchester and its schemes business which the company runs out of Gloucester. 

Broker market
“I am absolutely enjoying the role,” he tells Insurance Age. “I want us to be liked even more in the broker market and we have got to work hard on [building] those relationships.”

First, he points out that the company has two UK brands – Ecclesiastical and Ansvar Insurance. 

Ansvar is a business division of Ecclesiastical, which is wholly owned by Allchurches Trust – a registered charity in the UK, headquartered in Gloucester.

Formed in Sweden in 1932, Ansvar works primarily with specialist brokers who focus on the insurance needs of the not-for-profit sector, including churches, charities and voluntary organisations.

It also provides personal insurance for people who are associated with the not-for-profit sector.