Frequently Asked Questions

A mutual is owned by its customers – its members – and operates solely for their benefit. It is not operated on the basis of making a profit for shareholders. The members contribute to a common fund which is used to pay members’ claims and meet overheads. The mutual pools the risks of members from a specific sector, or a large company, to generate benefits that would be out of their reach as policyholders with a shareholder owned insurance company.

Before a mutual is established, we review the market and conduct a feasibility study. The feasibility study can be an extensive piece of work, but once this is completed we will be able to confirm whether a mutual is a viable option and the next steps for getting a mutual up and running.

Mutuals offer a huge range of benefits (click here for our guide to mutuals). The benefits that we feel most passionate about are that you, the member, own  the mutual, you have the right to be actively involved in the business, and any surpluses must be used for the benefit of the membership or as the members may agree– that is what makes the a mutual unique. There are no external stakeholders; no dividends are paid to shareholders. The board is drawn wholly or mainly from the membership and  takes decisions in the members’ best interests, not the interests of external investors – there are none.

Regis has a separate broking service to support our core belief that we want to offer our clients more choice. We found that many of our clients needed a bespoke broking service as they were not ready to become a mutual or their requirements were very specific. Our broking division is also designed to support mutuals that have requirements that fall outside the mutuals scope of cover.