Commerce Insurance Services is mirroring its banking parent's push into private-client services and hired an executive this week to lead the marketing of niche insurance products.
"The bank announced they were building a private banking capability, and we're actually building the premier-client group to work very closely with them," said Ed Kiessling, the president and chief operating officer of Commerce Insurance in Cherry Hill, N.J.
In its push to promote the group, which provides clients with access to niche insurance products ranging from personal insurance options to commercial product lines, Commerce Insurance has hired Robert M. Kellner.
Mr. Kellner was hired as a vice president to bolster the group's revenue but declined Friday to specify a sales goal. The premier-client group sells traditional personal lines products - homeowners, auto, and liability - but also offers coverage in niche markets, including aircraft insurance.
"These clients have needs that are not dissimilar from our typical client base," Mr. Kiessling said, "but they may have assets that are particular to an area, like an art collection, or helicopters and jets, or equestrian pursuits."
Identity fraud and kidnapping and ransom insurance are also available to premier clients, he said.
It is important for Commerce Insurance and banks in general to have a group dedicated to affluent clients, said Mr. Kellner. "It's rare in the brokerage world to find expertise in every area," he said, and Commerce Insurance wants to create a one-stop-shopping experience.
"Bank people are anxious to wrap the customer up, and the group is attractive because you don't have to go to different silos," said Mr. Kiessling.
He declined to discuss how much in premium the premier-client group generates, or long-term sales goals for the division. The premier-client group's headquarters will be in New York, but Commerce Insurance's 14 offices are distributed around the bank's footprint, he said.
Commerce Insurance is still looking to buy an agency in New York. "We are still interested in where the bank operates. We had a number of efforts that we have been pursuing," Mr. Kiessling said.
Premier clients are hard to define, he said, "Those that have a higher asset base would be a likely customer. There isn't any hard and fast rule on asset size," he said. "We may have a premier client that doesn't have a high asset base but may be interested in show jumping and has a high investment in horses. That's the type of specialty need that needs to be covered."
Commerce says premier clients include celebrities, professional athletes, entertainers, entrepreneurs, chairmen, and directors.
The group has 3,500 clients out of Commerce Insurance's 130,000, Mr. Kellner said, and he is looking to bolster his group's total by "internal marketing through banking channels and having producers and business development executives go out externally and hit the high-end realtors, CPAs, and tax attorneys."
"We're like the bank," Mr. Kiessling said, "as we have aggressive sales goals and we're going to match them step to step."
