Castel Specialty, the division of club-style MGA formation platform Castel Underwriting Agencies Limited has launched a new e-trading platform called Square Pegs to address complex and unusual small business risks.

Square Pegs offers brokers access to a broad range of commercial coverage through a flexible online trading platform, enabling them to quote and bind covers for a diverse spectrum of clients. 

Square Pegs has schemes to accommodate a range of clients with more challenging coverage needs, including those with a complicated mixture of trade activities within a business, those operating in “high risk” locations or with non-standard or unusual product types and firms with prior financial difficulties including liquidation or bankruptcy.

Stuart Dickinson who is the former head of commercial at Chaucer Insurance (now Markerstudy) will lead Square Pegs. Dickinson has over 30 years’ experience in commercial underwriting, including roles with Novae and AXA.

Commenting at the launch of Square Pegs, Dickinson shared: “There are many standard ‘off-the-shelf’ products available for small businesses. These are great for businesses with straightforward insurance needs, what we call ‘round hole’ clients. However, for those businesses with more complex and unusual needs, the ‘square peg’ clients, cover is often difficult to obtain easily.”

Adding: “Our highly intuitive trading platform has been designed specifically with the needs of brokers in mind. It has the flexibility to enable brokers to quote for risks that may not fit the acceptance criteria for other insurers and enables them to easily manage their portfolios online.”

Mark Birrell, chief executive officer of Castel, said: “Square Pegs represents a further development in our capabilities, as our first cell using an online internet-based trading platform. This demonstrates the ability of Castel to utilise technology to maximise the distribution opportunities for brokers working with clients of different sizes and risk transfer needs,”

“Stuart brings a wealth of expertise in commercial insurance and will enable us to provide an innovative and effective solution for far more complicated and challenging risks.”