By Bruce Christian, SCF Arizona
July 11, 2007 – SCF Arizona, the state's largest provider of workers' compensation insurance, has expanded with the launch of SCF Premier Insurance Company, offering an option to its largest and safest customers.
One of the Greater Phoenix Area's leading home builders, T.W. Lewis, helped make the new workers' compensation carrier a reality, when it became the first SCF Arizona policyholder to make the switch.
As a wholly owned subsidiary of SCF Arizona, SCF Premier gives qualified companies up-front savings in the premiums they pay, instead of end-of-policy-year dividends.
“Until now, our company has been restricted in rewarding our safest customers,” said Don Smith, SCF Arizona president & CEO. “Diversifying our rate structure through the creation of SCF Premier will enable us to keep prices stable, because we can spread risk more efficiently and offer lower prices to companies with strong safety records. This gives us the ability to be more competitive – and that's good for Arizona.”
T.W. Lewis' Chief Financial Officer Gina Self said the homebuilder switched because it can realize greater financial benefits from its safety record through SCF Premier.
“Because the dividend was paid out once a year in arrears, we felt that we basically were overpaying our premium throughout the year,” Self said, adding that the up-front savings makes more sense. Also, dividends are not guaranteed and they are dependent on SCF Arizona's financial performance for the year.
Self said another factor in the home builder's decision is the emphasis on personalized customer service that SCF Premier will be able to offer.
SCF Arizona has been the workers' compensation insurance leader in Arizona for more than 80 years, covering nearly 70 percent of the market.
“We want SCF to be the insurer of choice in the workers' compensation marketplace in Arizona, and to do that we needed to offer our customers more choices,” Smith said. “This is a very important step for SCF.”
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