Capital Mutual, the Company’s first AR, celebrates 10th anniversary with McLardy McShane
This year, the partnership between McLardy McShane and the Company’s first ever corporate authorised representative, Capital Mutual Insurance Brokers, celebrates its 10th anniversary.
But the connection between Don McLardy, Mike McShane and Capital Mutual director Seamus Hounihan dates back much further than the past decade.
“It probably goes back 30 years,” Seamus said.
Throughout the 1990s, Seamus worked with GRE Insurance (which later merged with Zurich) and Suncorp as a Business Development Manager. On both stops, his portfolio included OAMPS Insurance Brokers, where Don McLardy, Mike McShane, Kevin Tehan and Paul Quinn were employed.
Capital Mutual had previously held its own Australian Financial Services Licensing, but, in 2013, the insurance broking company was seeking to take a new direction and had begun to survey the market to operate under a new license holding company.
Having merged their respective insurance businesses in 2007, Don McLardy and Mike McShane had quickly grown a stable operation but were also looking to write the next chapter in their company’s story.
A meeting was organised between the old acquaintances.
“We had a chat where we spoke about both parties’ goals and what we wanted to do, and Don and Mike spoke about how they wanted to progress into an AR model,” Seamus said.
“Above anyone else we spoke to, McLardy McShane ultimately emerged as a long-term option for us that was really going to offer that consistency.”
Seamus’ co-Director at Capital Mutual Penny Collins added that a further selling point was the existing strength of the McLardy McShane brand, with Don McLardy’s involvement with the Melbourne Football Club and the REACH Foundation.
“We had some large corporate clients, and I think we decided that the McLardy McShane brand was going to be the easiest transition for us,” Penny said.
“We felt that the brand was established and had really good potential for us to be able to promote that to our clients that we are part of a bigger organisation.”
One decade on, it is fair to say there are no regrets from either party.
“The beauty for us is that we’re able to run our own race and do our own thing and that’s what we wanted to do,” Penny said.
“We’ve also been privileged enough to become involved with REACH and Fight MND off the back of this partnership as well, which has allowed us to grow our philanthropic side which has been incredibly important.”
Having onboarded its first authorised representative 10 years ago, McLardy McShane’s network now exceeds over 150 ARs across the country, including 27 joint venture operations.
McLardy McShane CEO Don McLardy said the growth in the AR area has been extraordinary since Capital Mutual first joined 10 years ago.
“Having previously been an AR ourselves, we knew what ARs were like and built a model different to other Corporate AR networks – way more flexible, better communication and quick decision making,” Don said.
“We still try and keep those key principles today and they are proving more valued than ever in the current environment.”
Seamus and Penny understand the rewards and challenges associated with a growing business, with their own organisation having undergone considerable change throughout the past decade.
“It’s always a challenge to work out how you manage your client base as easily as possible to maintain the level of service you want to provide,” Seamus said.
"We’ve previously grown our business through acquisition, buying three or four small portfolios over the time, so I don’t think we will look to make any more acquisitions going forward but instead allow our growth to occur naturally through referrals and the like.”
“I don't think we want to get the size we were five years ago,” Penny continued.
“Post-COVID we tried to downsize and get a bit of a work-life balance, which hasn’t quite happened yet but we’re bringing on another staff member or two that may help us achieve that!
“But we’re not going anywhere, we’ll be round for a while!”