In the specialty arena, our value proposition is to recognize that each customer segment has its own needs, and to address those needs with appropriate products and services. Now let's take a closer look at how each of the combined entities' three divisions is dealing with the challenges and opportunities created by the merger. Personal insurance Heading up the Personal Insurance Division is Jim Pouliot, who had been executive vice president of Orion. As a result of the merger, he says, Royal agents now have access to a high-quality nonstandard auto market through OrionAuto, while OrionAuto producers can offer their clients Royal's comprehensive portfolio of standard and preferred auto products. In the homeowners arena, Orion's flood product will be made available to Royal agents.
Plans also call for the development of a renters policy.
Other product offerings are umbrella, inland marine, boat, and dwelling fire. At Royal, whose personal lines products are geared for the standard and preferred markets, there's considerable contact between agent and insurer as well as between agent and client, he notes. Orion's nonstandard auto business, in contrast, is of necessity a commodity operation where price drives the decision-making process. Our goal is to become the carrier of choice for all of our agents. A key post-merger objective for the personal division, Pouliot says, is to maintain and expand the corporate philosophy of ease of doing business.