Atlas extends National Interstate tie-up and looks for carrier partners on other lines
Atlas Financial Holdings has extended its agreement with National Interstate that sees it underwrite its paratransit portfolio on behalf of the specialist auto carrier, and revealed it is looking to establish MGA relationships with carriers on the other lines of business it writes.
The National Interstate tie-up was first announced last June as Atlas moved to transition from operating as a risk bearing carrier to an MGA model on its business.
Under the extended agreement Atlas subsidiaries will continue to act as underwriting manager for National Interstate and transition new and renewal paratransit business to the carrier’s paper until at least 2021 for fleets with seven or fewer vehicles.
The arrangement has only been extended until November this year for accounts with eight or more vehicles, however.
National Interstate – which is part of American Financial Group’s Great American Insurance Group – has the option to buy up the renewal rights on either of the segments of the Atlas portfolio when the underwriting agreement expires.
In a statement, Chicago, Illinois-based Atlas said it has continued to grow its MGA operation through partnerships with external insurance and reinsurance partners as it looks to “leverage its focus, experience and infrastructure to create value for stakeholders”.
And it revealed it is also pursuing arrangements in order to establish MGA relationships on its other lines of business.
Atlas separately recently sold Gateway Insurance Company to insurtech Buckle, along with an MGA program focusing on taxi, livery, limousine and full-time transportation companies. The insurtech is being recapitalized with financing from Hudson Structured Capital Management.
Commenting on the extension with National Interstate, Atlas president and CEO Scott Wollney said: “National Interstate is an extremely valuable partner and we are proud to be working together to support paratransit operators across the US.
“Atlas and Anchor Group Management, Inc. (AGMI) focus has centered around owner operators and smaller accounts and we believe the modification and extension of this agreement confirms the core competency we’ve developed in this unique area.”
He added that the strategy is consistent with the company’s aim to generate Ebitda at the MGA level “while endeavoring to reduce risk and capital requirements related to traditional primary insurance company operations”.
“We will continue to pursue opportunities to leverage this expertise in other areas of specialty commercial auto as a managing agent as well,” said Wollney.
The extension comes after Atlas received its latest delinquency notice from Nasdaq over its failure to file its 10-Q for the first three months of 2020, and its 10-K for 2019.