What a Private Client Advisor Actually Does
And Why It Matters More Than You Think
READING TIME: 7 minutes
BRAMPTON, ON - Imagine you just bought a new car.
Not any car. The one you have been thinking about for a while. You sign the papers, you pick up the keys, and now you need to add it to your insurance before you drive it off the lot.
You call your insurer. You are placed on hold. Fifteen minutes pass. Twenty. You get transferred. You explain the situation from the beginning to someone who has never spoken to you before, has no idea what else you own, and is reading from a script.
This is not a hypothetical. This is the experience most people have — including people who have built significant wealth and have far better things to do with forty-five minutes of their afternoon.
The question is not whether this experience is frustrating. It obviously is. The question is whether there is a better way.
There is.
"The call centre doesn't know your name, your home, or what changed since the last time you called. That's not a service model. That's an exposure."
— Bram Bains, Maverick Insurance Brokers
What is happening in the market right now
Insurance has always been a relationship business. But the market is shifting — and not always in the right direction for clients who need it most.
The assumption that a standard carrier can service a complex household. The assumption that a retail broker relationship will scale as wealth grows. The assumption that a brand name is a proxy for expertise.
These assumptions are failing clients — and most of them do not find out until something goes wrong.
As Bram Bains told Insurance Business Canada in August 2025: "When it comes to high-net-worth insurance, the real risk is not the assets — it's the assumptions."
The shift has been driven partly by new entrants. Carriers accustomed to mass market volume are expanding into the high-net-worth space without the underwriting depth or service infrastructure the segment requires. "You've got the players with the rich history in the space and the expertise and the experience and the staffing levels — and then you really have a lot of the other ones which have entered the market but don't really have the understanding of the clients themselves."
The result: business placed with the wrong markets, coverage gaps that only surface at claim time, and clients who are growing faster than the broker relationship designed to serve them.
“Ten years later, as they've grown their wealth... that broker that they started with is a retail type broker. They just don't have the markets or the specialty to be able to service that client going forward."
The Chubb 2025 Wealth Report surveyed 1,000 high-net-worth individuals across North America and asked them what they actually want from their insurance relationship:
55% want their advisor to keep them apprised of potential coverage gaps
54%want advice on risk mitigation
53%want an advisor who understands their personal risks and ensures their coverage is adequate
They are not asking for a lower premium. They are asking for a relationship.
"When it comes to high-net-worth insurance, the real risk is not the assets — it's the assumptions."
— Bram Bains, Insurance Business Canada, August 2025
What a private client advisor actually does
A private client advisor is not a different kind of call centre. It is a fundamentally different model.
The distinction matters because the word "advisor" gets used loosely. Banks use it. Insurance companies use it. Call centres use it. The title alone means nothing. What matters is what the relationship actually looks like.
Knows your full picture.
Not just your home policy. Not just your auto policy. Your full picture — all properties, all vehicles, collections, liability exposure, household staff, business interests, travel patterns, lifestyle. All of it. Because a gap in one area creates exposure in another, and no piece of your coverage exists in isolation.
And critically — understanding that full picture begins before the first quote. "Before you even underwrite the risk, it's underwriting the client. Like, who is this person? What's their source of wealth? How did they accumulate their wealth?"
Proactive, not reactive.
The mass market model is renewal-based. Your policy renews, your premium changes, you may or may not hear from anyone. A private client advisor reaches out ahead of changes — when you buy something significant, when your circumstances shift, when market conditions affect your rebuild cost or your liability exposure. You should not be the one initiating every conversation.
Accessible.
Direct. Not through a queue. Not through a general inbox. When you need something — a new car on a Saturday afternoon, a question before you close on a property, a claim at the worst possible moment — you reach a person who knows you. That is not a luxury. For clients with complex assets and fast-moving lives, it is the baseline.
Reviews, not just renews.
The difference between a review and a renewal is the difference between coverage that reflects your actual life and coverage that reflects your life as it was three years ago.
What being well-connected actually means
The value of a private client advisor extends well beyond insurance products. An advisor who is genuinely embedded in the world their clients operate in brings access and perspective that no call centre script can replicate.
A client travelling internationally for three weeks mentioned his plans in passing during a routine conversation. The discussion quickly turned to his vehicle collection — two cars together worth over $700,000 — sitting parked and exposed while he was out of the country. Within days, he was connected directly to contacts at Hagerty, who arranged appropriate storage coverage for the duration of his trip. He had not thought to ask. That is the point.
Another client owned an estate home valued at $6 million. A required water shut-off device needed to be installed — standard enough in concept, but the calibre of work demanded a level of expertise that most plumbing contractors simply do not have when working at this scale. A referral to the right tradesperson, someone with direct experience in homes of this value, meant the job was done correctly, without the risk of a costly mistake on a property that warranted more care.
A third situation involved a business owner looking for credible marketing support for a growing company. It falls outside the traditional boundaries of insurance advisory — but well within the boundaries of a trusted relationship. A vetted referral to a partner with a proven track record is worth considerably more than a cold search.
This is what it means to have the right advisor in your corner. Not someone who processes renewals. Someone who is paying attention.
Why the mass market model falls short
This is not about the quality of the people inside large institutions. It is about the model.
Mass market infrastructure is built for efficiency at scale. Standardized products. Centralized service teams. Volume-driven underwriting. These are not flaws — they are deliberate design choices that serve most customers well.
But they consistently fall short for clients whose lives are not standard.
"A lot of markets are fairly rigid in their underwriting. They see things as black and white — it fits this mold or it doesn't. I think a lot of business that flows through is in the wrong places. It's with markets that it should not be with."
The entrepreneur who just sold a business and is now navigating an inheritance, a new estate property, and an expanding collection simultaneously does not fit into a dropdown menu. The family moving into a $2.5 million custom build has a protection gap that a standardized renewal process will not catch.
"It just takes a claim... and then something will come to light that this is a $4 million house. It shouldn't even be with this market. How did it get there?"
"A lot of markets are fairly rigid in their underwriting. They see things as black and white. I think a lot of business that flows through is in the wrong places."
— Bram Bains, Insurance Business Canada, August 2025
What to look for in a private client advisor
Direct access. You should be able to reach your advisor directly. Not a team. Not a queue.
A full review at the start. Not a quote. A review.
Proactive outreach. Your advisor should be reaching out to you when things change — not waiting for you to call.
Carrier access that matches your profile. Chubb, Intact Prestige, Aviva Ovation. These are not products available through every channel.
Connections that go beyond insurance. The right advisor knows people — in speciality carriers, in trades, in professional services — and is willing to make introductions when it genuinely serves their clients.
A long-term perspective. The right advisor is not optimizing for this renewal. They are building a protection strategy that grows with you.
“The brokers that do it very well are the ones that actually take the time to listen and understand who that client is, communicate in the same type of language that they understand, and know which markets or which carriers would be a best fit for them."
The value is in the relationship
You would not trust your legal affairs to a call centre. You would not trust your investments to a script.
Your insurance deserves the same standard.
"The value of a private client advisor is not the policy. It's the person. Someone who knows your full picture, reaches out before you have to, and picks up the phone when you need them."
— Bram Bains, Maverick Insurance Brokers
Statistics referenced from the Chubb 2025 Wealth Report — The Resilient Mindset: Turning Risk Awareness into Advantage. Survey conducted July–September 2025, 1,000 North American high-net-worth respondents.
About Chris Davis & Insurance Business Canada
Insurance Business Canada is one of Canada's leading trade publications covering the property and casualty insurance industry. Published by Key Media, it delivers breaking news, analysis, and broker intelligence to insurance professionals across the country.
The article referenced in this piece — Private client brokers face rising pressure as legacy models fall behind — was published August 29, 2025 and authored by Chris Davis, Vice President of Content Innovation for Insurance Business titles across North America. With a career spanning over two decades, Davis has profiled some of the most eminent figures in the industry and is recognized for his in-depth dialogues with thought leaders and trailblazers in the field.
About Maverick Insurance Brokers
Maverick Insurance Brokers is an independent private client advisory based in Brampton, Ontario. Founded by Bram Bains, Maverick serves entrepreneurs, business families, and community leaders across Ontario — providing direct access to a trusted advisor across home, auto, high-value assets, and commercial insurance. Maverick is a member of the MIB Broker Distribution Network and an official partner of the Brampton Honey Badgers (CEBL).
Interested in working with Bram Bains? Learn more about the Maverick Private Client Group or Book a Call.
