The Voice of Insurance

Ep308 Stephanie Ogden, Munich Re Syndicate: Balancing Realism and Ambition

I’m really happy about today’s podcast and that’s because today’s guest is a shining example of a new, very well-prepared generation of leaders that is coming through the ranks in the international insurance sector. With senior roles in the company market and inside Lloyd’s itself Stephanie Ogden was already well-rounded before she took on her current role as the CEO of the Munich Re Syndicate at Lloyd’s.Steph is a breath of fresh air – actually I’d say more like a blast. Listening back to this conversation, I have rarely spoken to someone who carries themselves as naturally as she does. I spoke to the same person before, during and after our recording. What you hear is what you get and what you get is a very clear sense of how one of the Lloyd’s market’s most consistently successful businesses sees the market today, where it sees it heading and how it intends to engage. This is a very well-rounded conversation. As one might expect, it’s technical and financial but it’s also technological, commercial, professional, passionate, personal and laced with humour.Steph is highly engaging and is well across the core challenges facing the London and global specialty markets, from the opportunities arising from the internationalisation of the market to the impact of technological transformation and AI.Talking to Steph made me feel a little old – but in a good way. Growing old isn’t easy, but when people really don’t enjoy getting old it’s because they think that things are getting worse than they used to be, not better. Forty-five minutes with Steph and the only conclusion is that many things are definitely getting better and the market’s best days are ahead of, and not behind it. LINKS:We thank our naming sponsor AdvantageGo, now part of Sapiens:https://www.advantagego.com

SpEp Helen Sanson CEO The Insurance Charity: Insurance for Insurance people

Everyone who works in the Insurance Industry knows it is a great business. The great cliché is that people fall into the sector via all sorts of roundabout routes and then they stay. They rarely pick the industry as a first choice. But once in there are many amazing benefits that take new entrants by surprise. In the UK the vibrant national and regional professional communities facilitated by a great institutions such as the CII, BIBA, Airmic and other bodies are obvious examples. But the connectivity goes way beyond our trade bodies.In places like the London Market there is an incredibly diverse and vibrant array of sporting and cultural activities available to all. From Sailing to Bridge to Art, if you can imagine it, there is probably an Insurance-related Club or Society devoted to it. There is even a London Orchestra with a direct connection to the sector that I only discovered by relative chance after at least 15 years of complete ignorance. But did you know there is another group that all insurance practitioners in the UK and Ireland also belong to? We are all potential beneficiaries of the Insurance Charity. This is a Charity that is 124 years old and was set up to look after any current or former insurance practitioners, and their families, in their hour of need. This week is the Annual Awareness week for the charity and so today’s guest is its CEO Helen Sanson. In this short discussion Helen guides me around the Insurance Charity, everything it does currently and everything she plans to do with it in the future. It’s a fascinating chat. You may also be relieved to hear that although donations are welcome, the charity is actually well funded. What it really needs from you is your attention, awareness and advocacy.Helen is a charming, warm and passionate guest. Who knew? Another benefit of working in insurance – we have our own charity and we have exceptional people like Helen and her team to administer it for us. NOTES: PIP is an acronym for Personal Independence Payment, a UK State benefitLINKS: https://theinsurancecharity.org.uk/

Ep307 Alistair Lester, CEO Private Equity & M&A EMEA, Gallagher: Industrialising M&A Insurance

Today’s podcast is a masterclass with an expert in a class of business that has exploded with growth over the past decade. M&A insurance is a broad church that holds a large number of products that are all related to inter-company transactions. Representations and Warranties, potential tax liabilities, litigation risk and other contingencies related to M&A are the subject of this incredibly innovative segment of insurance. Three decades ago Alistair Lester was in on the ground floor as the class of business developed out of the D&O market. Today this is a class that is producing $10-12bn in annual revenue and can put out very meaningful maximum limits of around $1.5bn dollars for any one deal.But it’s a class that most of us won’t be familiar with, or perhaps one that some of us might think we won’t be suited to because we imagine it’s full of people who first trained as lawyers and then got into insurance. Now Gallagher’s CEO of Private Equity and M&A for Europe the Middle East and Africa, Alistair is proof that this is a class where traditional insurance brokers can thrive. This is one of the most energetic and fun conversations I have had on the show for some time. Alistair’s passion and enthusiasm are contagious and through the course of this interview I learned an awful lot about this exciting class and its enormous commercial potential. We all know insurance is often a grudge purchase and always marked down as a cost, but here it can be an investment that immediately pays for itself many times over. That’s incredibly rare and perhaps explains why this class has so much opportunity and is giving Cyber and renewables a run for their money for the title of highest-growth segment of the global insurance market.Time with Alistair makes it clear that despite growing tenfold over the past decade, this maturing class has a huge amount of growth left in it.So listen on. If after 45 minutes you’re not as enthusiastic as Alistair or I, I’d be enormously surprised.
LINKS:We thank our naming sponsor AdvantageGo, now part of Sapiens:https://www.advantagego.com

Ep306 James Hands Group CEO Miller: Specialty with Scale

It’s been three years since today’s guest has been on the show. In that time the business he runs has doubled in size through a combination of organic growth and targeted acquisitions.Group CEO of Miller Insurance Services, James Hands, is looking for growth at a similar pace for the next three years and this interview is an excellent 360-degree guide to how he plans to achieve his goals. A focus on specialty insurance and reinsurance, investment in people and expertise and making the most of growth synergies from the firm’s acquisitions are very much the order of the day. Expansion into MGAs, and investments in technology and facilitisation are also going to be part of the mix. This is an exceptionally well-rounded interview with the leader of a business making the most of its best-of-both-worlds position as an independent with the scale and resources to be able to keep up with larger global broking groups, whilst retaining the speed and agility of a smaller business.James is relaxed and is brimming with confidence in the prospects for Miller and the global specialty broking market. A quick listen and a clear picture, as well as lots of market tips and insights, will come into view.NOTES: James refers to David Robinson. David is Miller’s MGA CEOLINKS:We thank our naming sponsor AdvantageGo, now part of Sapiens:https://www.advantagego.com

Ep305 James Brady & Tom King of Hiscox: FloodPlus ten years on

In insurance we usually spend a lot more time talking about innovation than we end up doing it. So this podcast focuses on two of the do-ers putting innovation into practice. It’s now ten years since Hiscox launched its market-first, tech-enabled, live quote and bind FloodPlus product and this Episode examines the story of that product’s development and its growth into a market opportunity that was primed for expansion.To guide me through the story I am joined by James Brady, Property Divisional Director at Hiscox London Market & Tom King, the firm’s Flood Line Underwriter. This is a story about overcoming obstacles, recovering from setbacks and constant iteration. Ten years on and Hiscox is the biggest flood market in Lloyd’s and the opportunity to write flood from the private market is only growing. Indeed since we completed this recording the Trump Administration’s Council to Assess the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), which runs the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) has just issued its final report, recommending the implementation of risk-based pricing and a take-out program to incentivise the transfer of policies to the private market. With US market penetration still at only 4% the prize for the private market is as big as any other underwriting opportunity out there today.Tom and James are sparkling guests and this podcast is an inspiring celebration of innovation in action that has applications way beyond the highly specific field of US flood. NOTES: The President’s Council to Assess the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) report can be found here. The part relating to Flood is on Page 11.LINKS:We thank our naming sponsor AdvantageGo, now part of Sapiens:https://www.advantagego.com

Ep304 Andrew Johnston Gallagher Re: AI will come to its own rescue

Today’s podcast is one of those conversations that stretched my ability to keep up with my interviewee to the limit. Andrew Johnston is the Global Head of Insurtech at Gallagher Re and has been at the forefront of understanding and chronicling the Insurtech phenomenon since it emerged over ten years ago. Gallagher Re’s quarterly reports on the topic have been required reading over the past decade for anyone wanting to understand the intersection between insurance and technology. In that period Digital disruption, Blockchain, Parametric and Embedded insurance are themes that have come to the fore. Now AI is the dominant force, so much so that Insurtech and AI are now effectively synonymous. Gallagher Re’s latest quarterly Insurtech report is one of the best pieces of research into AI and insurance that I have read. It goes way beyond AI-related Insurtech investment opportunities and digs right into the profound risk implications of AI as an emerging casualty peril in its own right.Andrew is a dream guest, incredibly sharp, bright and fun to spend time with. He’s that rare kind of person who makes you feel more intelligent for having spent time chatting to them.Listening back there are points in the conversation where whole new avenues of questioning were opening up that I failed to explore. But that’s the mark of a strong interview. It always leaves you wanting more. It’s a bit like when you wake up the morning after a big debate or argument with terrible pangs of regret that you failed to ask the killer question in the heat of the moment. The developments in AI are moving so fast that I feel certain it won’t be long before I have Andrew back on the show to help put everything into context for us. But until then this is the next best thing.NOTES:I highly recommend you download the latest Gallagher Re Insurtech report here: https://www.ajg.com/gallagherre/news-and-insights/global-insurtech-report-for-q1-2026/LINKS:We thank our naming sponsor AdvantageGo, now part of Sapiens:https://www.advantagego.com

Ep303 Will Bridger Compre: Beyond traditional Legacy

In insurance we love to divide ourselves into different mutually-exclusive tribes. Life and non-life, property and casualty, marine and non-marine. Long and short tail Traditional balance sheet reinsurance and Insurance-Linked Securities. And not forgetting - live and legacy.But the fact is that as the global insurance ecosystem becomes more sophisticated there are really only two major differences. Different types of insurance skills and different types of insurance capital. Legacy is a case in point. It has long since outgrown its claims administration roots and developed into the provision of increasingly complex forms of capital relief for the live market that are bringing it closer and closer to live risk.Today’s guest is the embodiment of that change. Will Bridger came into the legacy insurance world through investment banking, not claims handling. As Group CEO of Compre he has overseen extraordinary growth with a balance sheet that has moved from the tens of millions to the low-single-digit billions.If you think you already know legacy, you need to listen to Will. For example, Compre’s current plans envisage only one third of group activity coming from what we would think of as traditional run-off. So where are the other two thirds going to come from? Ever closer relationships with live carriers that bring more predictable renewal-style income streams, underwriting sidecars and pre-packaged legacy arrangements with alternative capital providers are all part of the mix. This is a fascinating conversation with someone who has developed into an insurance person as dyed-in-the-wool and baked into the insurance ecosystem as the best of us.Will is fun to spend time with and a great communicator. Forty minutes with him and your whole perspective about the legacy market, where it is heading and the value it might be adding to the global insurance whole will change completely.LINKS:We thank our naming sponsor AdvantageGo, now part of Sapiens:https://www.advantagego.com

Ep302 Nick Hankin QBE Re: Avoiding surprises

Today’s guest is running a global reinsurer with bold ambitions to double in size over the next five years. Nick Hankin is Managing Director of QBE Re. Now into his fourth decade in insurance and reinsurance, Nick has market experience in abundance, so when, despite the recent relatively rapid softening in the reinsurance market at the most recent renewals, he says he still sees plenty of opportunity for profitable growth, we should sit up and take notice.This is a podcast full of purpose and positivity. Nick has a clear plan that he wants to execute and makes a convincing case that his ambitions are eminently achievable. On the way we cover all the major issues of the day including the insurance and reinsurance opportunities arising from the data centre boom, the best use-cases for AI as well as the emergence of AI as a new casualty peril in its own right. Nick is good company and a great communicator with a clear vision. The next half an hour will fly by.LINKS:We thank our naming sponsor AdvantageGo, now part of Sapiens:https://www.advantagego.com

Ep301 Alfonso Valera CEO International Aon Re: Everyone is chasing growth

I first met today’s guest just under 34 years ago on my first day at work in the London Market. Back then Alfonso Valera and I worked in the London-based Lloyd’s subsidiary of the biggest broker in Spain. Alfonso was my senior and had already been in post for a year and patiently helped show me the ropes.He spoke perfect English, was a confident, skilful and forceful negotiator who was incredibly passionate about the insurance business and was always fun, direct and easy to deal with. He was mature beyond his years and was a natural leader. It seemed obvious to anyone who knew him back then that he was destined for great things.That broking business was taken over by Aon in the late nineties. Alfonso stayed on and over 25 years later he is now CEO of International at Aon Reinsurance Solutions. International covers the whole of the Rest of the World other than the Americas, and Aon is the largest reinsurance broker by revenues, so however you measure it Alfonso has one of the biggest jobs in global reinsurance.His job titles and seniority might have changed since we first met, but I can guarantee that he is exactly the same person I knew when I was fresh out of University.  He is still disarmingly direct and straightforward and he is still passionate about the business, but now he is speaking from a vantage point that few in the global insurance market can reach.Alfonso is still great fun to talk to and this conversation took on a life of its own. Whether it’s the state of the market and changes in buyer and seller appetites, facilitisation in reinsurance, the prospects for M&A, the MGA phenomenon, enhanced competition between reinsurance intermediaries or the changes that AI is likely to bring, Alfonso gives me a straight answer every time and we barely pause for breath. Catching up with Alfonso was a joy from start to finish. Listen on and you’ll be bound to agree.LINKS:We thank our naming sponsor AdvantageGo, now part of Sapiens:https://www.advantagego.com

Ep300 Patrick Tiernan CEO Lloyd's: "Why Not Lloyd's?"

Patrick Tiernan has come into the CEO role at Lloyd’s with the market brimming with confidence after a third successive year of strong profitability. Now that competitive forces are reasserting themselves with renewed vigour, the question is what next? From this meeting the future at Lloyd’s is one full of increased velocity and innovation in all things. New leadership, new forms of underwriting, new targets and ambition, new risks, new ways to transact business, new skills and attitudes from the people who work in the market and new capital structures to bear the financial load. Recorded live in the centre of the Underwriting room by the Rostrum on a busy working day this is an energetic encounter from start to finish. If you want to get a clear feel for the charismatic new Lloyd’s CEO’s strategy and modus operandi, this will get you up to speed in no time.Patrick is easy to talk to and is disarmingly frank. From my experiences of doorstepping him whenever I have had the chance over the past five years, I can promise you that we would have had the same conversation whether or not the microphones had been turned on. What you see is what you get. So listen on for an audio roadmap for the market of the next five years and beyond.NOTES: The Sean Patrick Refers to is of course Sean McGovern, Lloyds Council member, CEO of UK and Lloyd’s at AXA XL and current Chair of the LMA.ICX and TCX are respectively the special Innovation and Energy Transition risk codes used to account for novel premium transacted in the Lloyd’s market.LINKS: We thank our naming sponsor AdvantageGo, now part of Sapiens:https://www.advantagego.com