We had a chat with David Ballinger, our new Agriculture Regional Trading Underwriter for South West England and South Wales to hear about his career journey so far and see how he’s settling into the team.
Tell us about your journey into motor insurance
I kicked off my career in property and liability underwriting. About seven years back, a neighbour encouraged me to apply for a job at FarmWeb. I started in an admin role and worked my way up to underwriting over time. I've always been up for learning new things; my motto is, "If you're willing to teach me, I'm willing to learn."
What were your first impressions of ERS?
Before I got the offer, I knew ERS as a direct competitor and recognised it as a respected insurer. They have a solid reputation and offer a wide-range of specialist products with diverse appetites. When Matt Evans, my current manager, reached out about the position, I felt pretty confident taking it because I knew and trusted him. I had a good vibe about the company culture and thought I'd fit right in—and I did! There’s a real sense of trust here, which lets us make decisions that actually help our brokers and their clients. It’s been a welcome change.
Tell us about your role and what does a typical day look like for you?
As for my day-to-day, I cover the Southwest and Wales, spending most of my time in South West England, where many clients are within an hour's drive. My main goals revolve around building and maintaining solid relationships, renewing contracts, and bringing in new business. I work exclusively with brokers; while many cases are standard, I also get to tackle some more complicated ones that sit in the grey area between agricultural and commercial businesses.
What’s the best part of regional agricultural underwriting?
The best part of regional agricultural underwriting is the variety of risks we handle and being local means I can respond quickly and always be available for our brokers. When new opportunities pop up, having a strong product portfolio combined with my knowledge allows me to make quick decisions.
What makes us stand out within the Agricultural Motor market?
What sets us apart in the agricultural motor market is our broad range of risk appetites and our skilled underwriters who really understand the unique challenges in this market. They can come up with flexible solutions for the more complex risks. Plus, we’ve got a dedicated operations and claims teams in our Swansea office that support our brokers, so the rest of us can focus on the bigger cases. We’re proud of our reputation for excellent service—when our brokers reach out, we respond quickly.
Building strong relationships with brokers is important to us. What has been your experience with this so far?
Building strong relationships with brokers has always been a key part of my work. I got comfortable meeting people right from the start because my previous role was all about relationships. I’ve worked with most of our agriculture brokers before, so I’m keen to keep strengthening those ties while making new ones. I usually catch up with brokers face-to-face a few times a week. ERS also spends time with brokers at events, and I had a lot fun at my first one held on a farm for some of our key brokers—my team won, which made it even more fun!
What hobbies or interests keep you busy in your free time?
In my free time, I’m all about food—I love anything related to food and drink! There are some funny stories involving me and cheese, but I’m keeping those under wraps. I also enjoy sports—whether it’s football, rugby, or cricket, I’m always down to watch something.
