In 2013, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada-based Excel Insurance Group – an Assurex Global Partner, welcomed Sheppard Insurance Service and Risk Management into their Independent Broker Network. As part of the Excel Insurance Group, Sheppard Insurance gained access to the Assurex Global Partnership.

Just prior to the partnership, a valued and long-time client of Sheppard Insurance was looking to expand into the South Pacific and needed international insurance coverage. This client was faced with a challenge that was much more effectively supported through Assurex Global’s worldwide group of premier insurance brokers.

A client since 2001, this privately held multi-million dollar company is based in Western Canada. In business for nearly a half century, the company operates as a contractor in the industrial construction sector. In 2015, the client expanded and opened a new company in Australia. This time, Sheppard Insurance immediately turned to the Assurex Global Partnership.

A Sheppard Insurance Account Executive contacted the Sydney, Australia-based Assurex Global Partner – GSA Insurance Brokers – to learn about local requirements. She also requested GSA’s assistance in placing the primary local coverage. GSA stepped right in to determine how they would work together in delivering precisely what the client needed.

Notably, the Sheppard Insurance team learned from GSA that minimum legal liability requirements are significantly higher in Australia than they are in Edmonton, Alberta: $200,000 versus a whopping $30 million in Australia. Together, Sheppard Insurance and GSA were able to create a local, on-the-ground insurance program that enabled the Australian operations for the client – and do it in an efficient, expedient and responsive manner.

In what is common for collaborating Assurex Global Partners, Sheppard and GSA were able to turn around Certificates of Insurance from Australia to the client’s headquarters in Canada within 10 minutes.

Working within the Assurex Global Partnership provides the ability to treat every piece of business like it is your own. There is an ownership and accountability factor that streamlines the service delivered to the client.

GSA solidified the first stages of getting two lines of insurance placed for the client. As the new company becomes established in Australia and beyond, Sheppard Insurance Group will enlist Assurex Global Partners every time the need arises.