McCarron Coates Takes On its First Appointed Representative

Leeds-based insurance brokerage, McCarron Coates, has offered a trading agreement to its first appointed representative business, based on a friendship long in the making.

McCarron Coates has partnered with new start-up brokerage Kentaro, becoming the new Horsforth-based brokerage’s AR principal and offering it a suite of services that will help fuel its growth.

Whilst Kentaro may be a new name, the individuals behind the business, Dean Fletcher and Zahid Taj, are well-known to McCarron Coates. In fact, McCarron Coates director, Paul Coates, and Kentaro director, Dean, first became friends at primary school. 

Although they have never worked for the same business, both Paul and Dean have been on a similar journey through the insurance world and have remained close friends ever since those days of school assemblies.  Their parents still live just doors away from each other and Paul is destined to be an usher at Dean’s wedding, which takes place later this year.

Dean and Taj are also well-known to the other McCarron Coates directors, Ian McCarron and Luigi Maggio.

The new arrangement between the close friends was something always likely to happen, with both feeling they would one day work together in some capacity.  

2025 became that time. Although Dean and Taj’s previous employer, Schofield Insurance Brokers, was bought out three years ago, the broking duo were led to believe it would be able to retain its name and identity.  Having learned it would now be subjected to a rebrand, they decided the time was right to start their own business.

As a former head of sales at Schofield Insurance Brokers, Dean had worked for the business for 23 years.  Taj joined later but also accrued 18 years of service.  With both brokers consequently being extremely well-known in the Leeds market, they now see a strong future for their new business.

The appointed representative business will be focusing on areas of insurance not necessarily a priority for McCarron Coates, which has a strong heritage in fleet transport insurance, scaffolding, roofing and manufacturing.  

Kentaro, on the other hand, will be focusing, in the main, on retail and wholesale, property, motor trade, construction and hospitality.  

Paul Coates says, “It was probably a matter of not ‘if’ but ‘when’ Dean and I would work together and circumstances have finally allowed that to happen, after so many years treading different paths in the industry.  McCarron Coates is delighted to be in a position where it can give a helping hand to Kentaro and looks forward to working closely with the business.

“We have no intentions of establishing a full appointed representative network or making this move a regular thing.  This was very much a case of a friend assisting a friend, in a way in which both could benefit.  It’s probably something our old school teachers might have predicted would happen one day.”

Kentaro is actively starting to build its presence in the market, largely on the basis of referrals and lead acquisition.  A new website is being built and the hard sales work is underway.

Meanwhile, McCarron Coates will be continuing its impressive growth and following strategies that have enabled it to win six national insurance awards to date.          

Ends

Editors notes

McCarron Coates is an award-winning insurance broker, based in Morley, Leeds, which is a specialist in fleet transport insurance and other niche areas such as roofing, scaffolding and woodworking insurance. It also supplies many other types of commercial insurance policies and risk management services, to clients nationwide and is highly respected as an industry thought-leader, within its individual spheres of influence.