Bio file | Three lengths supplied | Credentials and media topics below
Matt Bartlett is Director of Apex Insurance Brokers Limited, a Bristol-based commercial broker specialising in professional indemnity for solicitors, IFAs, surveyors, architects, engineers and accountants. He writes and speaks on the UK PI market, the Building Safety Act 2022, and the Insurance Act 2015 fair-presentation duty for SME clients.
Matt Bartlett is Director of Apex Insurance Brokers Limited, the FCA-regulated commercial broker he leads from QCS, 53 Queen Charlotte Street, Bristol. Apex specialises in professional indemnity for professional firms — solicitors, IFAs, surveyors, architects, engineers, accountants, IT consultancies — alongside a broader commercial book covering fleet, motor trade, contractors, education, hospitality, manufacturing, charity and property owners.
Matt placed business through the 2021-2025 PI hard cycle and has used that experience to build a structured proposal-form library and a quarterly market commentary that has become part of how clients and trade press read the cycle. He writes plain-English explanations of the Insurance Act 2015 fair-presentation duty, the Building Safety Act 2022 cladding implications for design professionals, and the broker-versus-direct question for SME buyers.
Apex Insurance Brokers Limited is FCA-regulated under firm reference number 724952 and registered at Companies House under company number 07014570.
Matt Bartlett is Director of Apex Insurance Brokers Limited, the FCA-regulated commercial broker he leads from Bristol. Apex specialises in professional indemnity for professional firms — including solicitors, IFAs, surveyors, architects, engineers, accountants and IT consultancies — alongside a broader commercial book covering fleet, motor trade, contractors, education, hospitality, manufacturing, charity and property owners. The firm trades from QCS, 53 Queen Charlotte Street, Bristol and serves clients across Bristol, the South West and nationwide.
Matt’s specialism is the placement of professional indemnity for small and mid-sized professional firms — work that requires fluency with the structure of the Lloyd’s PI box, the appetite of the major composite PI carriers, and the proposal-form discipline that determines whether SME risks are read favourably by underwriters. He placed business through the 2021-2025 PI hard cycle and through the early stages of the 2026 softening, and writes a quarterly UK PI market commentary that has been picked up by trade press and adviser networks.
Beyond the day-to-day book, Matt has written and published an unusually deep technical and content estate at Apex — a sector-by-sector cluster of professional indemnity guides, a proposal-form library covering the questions underwriters ask in 2026, plain-English guides to the Insurance Act 2015 fair-presentation duty, briefing notes on the Building Safety Act 2022 implications for designers and contractors, and an ongoing strand of work on cyber-PI overlap and aggregation language in commercial wordings. The depth of that estate is unusual for a regional commercial broker and is the reason Matt is increasingly approached for trade press commentary and podcast appearances on the SME PI market specifically.
Matt’s media topics include the structure and direction of the UK PI market, the broker-versus-direct question for SME buyers, the Insurance Act 2015 fair-presentation duty in practice, the Building Safety Act 2022 and its cladding-related impact on design professionals, the overlap between cyber cover and PI cover, and the broker’s role in managing the proposal-form rejection rate that has come to define commercial underwriting discipline in 2026.
Apex Insurance Brokers Limited is FCA-regulated under firm reference number 724952, registered at Companies House under company number 07014570, and a member of the British Insurance Brokers’ Association.
Matt is the named Director responsible for Apex’s regulatory permissions under the FCA register entry for Apex Insurance Brokers Limited (firm reference number 724952). The firm’s permissions include arranging (bringing about) deals in non-investment insurance contracts, making arrangements with a view to transactions in non-investment insurance contracts, dealing in investments as agent for non-investment insurance contracts, agreeing to carry on a regulated activity, advising on non-investment insurance contracts, and assisting in the administration and performance of a contract of insurance. Permissions and senior manager certification status are kept current on the FCA register.
Apex Insurance Brokers Limited is a member of the British Insurance Brokers’ Association (BIBA). Trade body memberships, CII status of certified staff, and any further professional qualifications held by Matt are kept current on file and will be confirmed in writing on request.
[INSERT: Specific Chartered Insurance Institute qualification level held by Matt — Cert CII / Dip CII / ACII — to be confirmed in writing before quoting in editorial copy.]
[INSERT: Any current or past industry roles — committee memberships, regional BIBA roles, mentoring positions — to be confirmed in writing before quoting in editorial copy.]
Matt’s day-to-day expertise covers the placement and renewal of professional indemnity cover for small and mid-sized professional firms across the South West and nationally, the wider commercial portfolio held by Apex (fleet, motor trade, contractors, charity, education, hospitality, manufacturing, property owners), and the regulatory and contractual environment in which UK commercial brokers operate. He is also fluent in the digital and content marketing environment for an SME broker, having built the Apex content estate that runs to several hundred thousand words across pillar pages, sector cluster pages, proposal-form guides and market commentary.
For media work specifically, Matt’s depth is greatest on the following six areas, set out in detail in the journalist briefing notes in Section 4 of this pack: the UK PI market cycle, broker-versus-direct, the Insurance Act 2015 fair-presentation duty, the Building Safety Act 2022 cladding and design-professional implications, the cyber-PI overlap, and the broker-buyer relationship for SME clients.
The PI market cycle 2021-2026 — what the hard cycle did to brokers, what the softening is doing now, and what the proposal-form discipline of 2022-2023 left behind.
The broker-versus-direct debate for SME buyers — what a broker actually does on a sub-£50m turnover risk, where the direct channel cannot reach, and where the broker model has to evolve.
The Insurance Act 2015 fair-presentation duty in everyday SME placement — what it changed, what it didn’t, and where buyers still get it wrong.
The Building Safety Act 2022 and its continuing impact on design professionals and contractors — cladding, fire-safety design, and the PI market’s response.
Cyber and PI overlap — where the two covers meet, where they leave gaps, and how SME buyers should read the question.
The regional broker view of the 2026 commercial market — fleet, motor trade, contractors, hospitality, professional firms.
For media enquiries: Matt Bartlett, Director — matthew.bartlett@apexinsurancebrokers.co.uk — 0117 325 0027. Apex Insurance Brokers Limited, FCA FRN 724952, Companies House 07014570. Trading address: QCS, 53 Queen Charlotte Street, Bristol BS1 4HQ.
Last reviewed: June 2026.
Apex Insurance Brokers serves UK professional services firms and commercial businesses. Call 0117 325 0027, email hello@apexinsurancebrokers.co.uk, or request a quotation.
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