The Voice of Insurance

Ep275 Christopher Croft, LIIBA: Where Innovation Happens

At first glance, today’s guest might have an unenviable job. That’s because that job entails trying to find the common ground between the hundreds of Lloyd’s brokers, some of whom are extremely large and very many of whom are very small and very specialist indeed.Christopher Croft, the CEO of the London & International Insurance Brokers’ Association (LIIBA)is someone who I see and meet constantly out in the marketplace, and is someone I have been meaning to get on the podcast for some time. That’s because he’s one of those people that if you didn’t already know, a mutual acquaintance would suggest that you meet.LIIBA is a unique trade body and lobbying group because its membership operates globally and so blends a core remit looking after broker interests in the London Market with an important role representing wholesale specialist brokers on the global stage. And Chris is a unique character – he is technically and intellectually very strong but combines this with a down-to-earth good humour and sense of fun that is infectious. In this podcast we focus on the key role that Lloyd’s brokers play in innovation and how this role is often under-appreciated and misunderstood by regulators across the globe.We also get up to speed with all the regulatory goings on and market reform programmes in the UK, Europe and beyond. After a listen you’ll have learned a lot but I think will also have found a friendly new voice banging the drum for the global insurance industry’s pivotal role in the global economy and London’s unique role within it.NOTES:Here’s a Link to obtain the Innovation Imperative Report we mention. The report was produced in association with Insurindex:https://theinsurindex.com/reports/the-innovation-imperative-why-brokers-matter-more-than-ever/?utm_source=linkedin&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=LIIBAreport2025&utm_content=innovationLINKS:We thank our naming sponsor AdvantageGo:https://www.advantagego.com

Ep274 Tim Ronda CEO Howden Re: The System is Working

Todays’ Episode was a joy to make. It was a face-to-face meeting that crackled from the moment my interviewee walked through the door and shook my hand all the way through to a swift exit to a pressing engagement. As I was tidying cables and packing away my microphones into their case, I already knew this was going to be a really strong Episode. Now that I’ve had a listen back for the final run-through I know it to be the case. They say the best leaders embody their businesses and if that is true Howden Re should be absolutely buzzing along because this encounter with that business’s CEO Tim Ronda highlights someone bursting with confidence, smarts, charisma, energy and something else that we don’t see so often – genuine happiness. Tim is clearly enjoying himself in his role. The podcast covers all the issues of the day in the reinsurance market and quite a lot more besides. Discussions about M&A, Casualty, AI and even the competitive reinsurance broking landscape all make an appearance. Also, despite running a reinsurance broker that has reached such a size and scale that it can no longer be referred to as a challenger and is still growing at pace, Tim doesn’t tend to engage that regularly with the media. Given what you are about to hear, I think that’s probably a mistake but I ‘m also grateful that Tim has given The Voice of Insurance an outsized allocation of his rare press time.As the nights draw in I can highly recommend this episode as a warming and energising tonic. It’ll bring you right up to date, put a smile on your face and a spring in your step.LINKS:We thank our naming sponsor AdvantageGo:https://www.advantagego.com

Ep273 Andrew Robinson Skyward Specialty & David Ibeson Apollo: So many opportunities, we have to filter them

I really enjoyed recording today’s episode because both my guests have been on the show before and that always makes getting a conversation going much easier.And to make the session even more lively, we had something really interesting to discuss. Andrew Robinson’s Skyward Specialty has just entered into an agreement to buy David Ibeson’s Apollo. In M&A the parties often talk about a combined entity being more than the sum of its parts and I think that in podcasting terms this is definitely an episode where one CEO plus one CEO equals more than two. Both Andrew and David are strong and unambiguous business leaders and the level of energy, camaraderie and enthusiasm on display here is infectious. For Apollo the deal ends any lingering uncertainty about its long-term ownership and is another reminder of the enduring global attraction of the Lloyd’s platform and for Skyward the deal is a vindication of Andrew’s strategy since taking over what was then Houston International five years ago and transforming it into a premium rated specialty insurer, now quoted on the public markets.There’s a lot of cultural affinity between the two businesses and a similar rapport between these two executives and the next half an hour will absolutely fly by.NOTES: SOX = Sarbanes-Oxley, prominent US Corporate re-regulation of the early 2000’sLINKS:We thank our naming sponsor AdvantageGo:https://www.advantagego.com

Ep272 Tony Ursano & Joe Plumeri: The M&A Continuum

This episode is a very special one because, thanks to one of my guests, we are going to hear from somebody who I assumed I had missed my chance of getting to appear on this podcast.Let me explain. Tony Ursano of Insurance Advisory Partners is someone I have interviewed many times over the past 20 years. In fact I first met Tony when he was working at Willis during the thirteen-year reign of our second guest. Tony has recently executed quite a coup – that’s because he has managed to convince industry legend and former Willis CEO Joe Plumeri to come and work with him at Insurance Advisory Partners. I’ll let Joe and Tony do the talking, but I’ll just say you are in for a treat.Many of us in the insurance industry, particularly when we get to a certain age, tend to get nostalgic about an unspecified past era when there were so many more strong characters working in the sector than there are now and then we complain that these days things aren’t quite the same. Well, Joe Plumeri is exactly the kind of person that people my age tend to think of when they make that complaint Of course Joe is a senior executive with a glittering multi-decade career, spanning a broad spectrum of financial services, but he is also a complete original and a natural speaker and great motivator. One of his strongest skills is the ability to express often very complex ideas in simple terms that large numbers of people can quickly comprehend and get behind. He is always original and he is always direct. There are no grey areas. This discussion examines the prospects for M&A and consolidation all the way through the insurance value chain, from carriers of all sizes and specialisms to mega brokers, MGAs and even hybrid carriers.You'll leave this discussion incredibly well informed and in no doubt what Tony and Joe think are going to happen – but there’ll be a little bit extra – you will have met an industry legend and heard his unique perspective along the way.LINKS:We thank our naming sponsor AdvantageGo:https://www.advantagego.com

Ep271 Dave Paulsson MS Transverse: Fulfilling demand for outperformance

The growth in Hybrid Fronting carriers has been explosive in the past seven years and this growth has both been fuelled by, and has helped feed, a parallel explosion in the formation of MGAs and the rise in commercial insurance distribution outside the Admitted Lines market.Today’s guest is one of the first movers in this relatively novel insurance carrier type and co-founded the business that is now MS Transverse. As such Dave Paulsson is a guest with a unique perspective. Now that the sector is beginning to mature and MS Transverse itself is part of a top 10 global insurance group, this podcast examines what is going to come next in this remarkable growth and transformation story. Unlike most of us, who just one day found ourselves doing insurance in one way or another, Dave came to the sector by looking at it from the outside, spotting a golden opportunity and executing a plan to make the most of that opportunity. That’s what makes him such a refreshing insurance entrepreneur and this podcast a little out of the ordinary. Dave is very smart and is laser-focused on the job in hand, so if you want a clear idea of where the multi-billion-dollar Hybrid carrier boom is heading, then listen on, one of the industry’s best-qualified executives is on hand to guide the way.LINKS:We thank our naming sponsor AdvantageGo:https://www.advantagego.com

Sp Ep Matt Hicks Co-Founder Recorder: The Best People want the Best Tools

I often wonder if we in the insurance industry have any idea how lucky we are that there are so many smart people out there looking to help make the way we do business easier, more efficient, more productive and ultimately, more profitable. Today’s guest, Matt Hicks, is one of these people. Matt is the co-founder of Recorder, a next-generation broker management system that connects producers directly with underwriters and gives those underwriters instant quote and bind capabilities. Matt is a serial entrepreneur who has already been involved in two successful fintech ventures and now has some very well-known insurance investors on board this one. The product Matt and his team have produced is laser-focused on what adds the most value in the commercial insurance value chain. It’s all about reducing admin and freeing producers, whether they are brokers, coverholders or frontline underwriters, up to do what they do best. The initial productivity gains claimed are eye-opening.The term serial entrepreneur may give you a misleading impression, so I’d say the best way of describing Matt would be that he would always be the most investable guest on an episode of Dragon’s Den or Shark Tank. By the time he had finished with them, he would have all the investors fighting to be involved. The key I think is that special humility and empathy you get with really successful entrepreneurs. In my time as an insurance journalist I have lost count of the number of entrepreneurs I have met with who have undoubtedly superb technology, but who ultimately failed because they had zero empathy or understanding of how insurance professionals actually work and therefore what help they really need.Matt and his team are in insurance for the long run and know that the sort of API-lead revolution they are proposing will take time. But at the same time they know that history is on their side if they are patient enough. So I can highly recommend a listen. Matt is incredibly easy to talk to and his experienced and down-to-earth approach means he knows exactly how to go about making Recorder the sort of tool that over time the best producers are going to be clamouring for.  LINKS: https://www.recorder.tech/https://www.recorder.tech/contact
 

Sp Ep The State of (Re)insurance 2025

Welcome to a Special Documentary Episode of The Voice of Insurance podcast Produced in association with Stephens RickardThis is the fourth episode of its kind.The first saw a historic, chaotic, dramatic hard market renewal unfold, at the next stability and a return to orderliness was craved - and was granted.Last year animal spirits started to be talked of in hushed tones, but it was too early for anything like a full return.This year the reinsurance industry has its mojo well and truly back.Capital has been fully replenished. Profits are real and there is increasing confidence that they are to a large extent baked in for a time.Surprise multi-billion dollar loss events have been weathered and yet instead of apologising to our investors for poor results we are still set to report and project healthy profits and returns on capital.Profitable growth is still on the agendaThe real questions this year are of a more philosophical nature:Can everyone grow profitably without changing the nature of the market?Is it better to buy or build?Should capital be returned or deployed in M&A?What’s different now, and what’s not?We came to Monaco knowing that reinsurers were likely to have to give a little to get a little, but the question was what and how much were they were prepared to trade in return for a little more of what they really wanted.So join me as I wander the streets, dodge the supercars, cross the squares and elbow my way through the crowded bars and lobbies to meet a representative cross-section of the reinsurance buying and selling public and find out what’s happening in the State of (Re)insurance.RECOMMENDED FURTHER READINGHowden Re's Who Dares Wins report: https://www.howdenre.com/sites/howdenre.howdenprod.com/files/2025-09/Howden_Re_Who%20Dares%20Wins_Report_September_2025_EN_Final.pdf
Gallagher Re Half-Year 2025: https://www.ajg.com/gallagherre/-/media/files/gallagher/gallagherre/news-and-insights/2025/september/gallagherre-resinsurance-market-report-hy-2025.pdf
Swiss Re sigma 3/2025:https://www.swissre.com/institute/research/sigma-research/sigma-2025-03-property-casualty-growing-stronger-riskier-world.html
LINKSWe thank this year's Sponsor, Stephens Rickardhttps://www.stephensrickard.com/

Ep270 Ken Reilly Sompo: Capturing growth

The transformation of major Japanese insurers into genuinely global insurers has been one of the most remarkable long-term changes of the last couple of decades.Today’s guest is an embodiment of that internationalisation.
Ken Reilly is CEO of Insurance for Sompo in Asia Pacific but boasts a 30-year international career that has seen him work in New York, London, Bermuda and Tokyo. Ken now splits his time between Singapore and Tokyo because, in addition to his APAC role, he now runs Sompo’s own Japanese commercial insurance division. This is a really interesting encounter because – swayed by the big numbers, we are often guilty of an over intense focus on the North American and European insurance and reinsurance Markets. In this episode I get to talk to someone who knows that world intimately to show me the nuances of the Asia Pacific market through the eyes of a global business that has been in some of those markets for 50 years.Ken is a great guest and this is a very refreshing and enlightening interview. Listen on for the dos and don’t of Asia-Pacific expansion and a lot more besides.LINKS:We thank our naming sponsor AdvantageGo:https://www.advantagego.com

Ep269 Richard Brindle & John-Paul O'Hare The Fidelis Partnership: A Multi-Platform Risk Allocator

Every year for the past four years I have been lucky enough to be given time with Richard Brindle at the opening of the Monte Carlo Rendezvous and every year we have had the sort of conversation that helps set the tone for the rest of the gathering and indeed the rest for the calendar year and into the next.This year was no exception. As ever, Richard was forceful, unambiguous and direct on all topics, from the state of the market and the growth opportunities within it to what The Fidelis Partnership has learnt from its experience with the Russia-Ukraine Aviation War losses and the California wildfires. Richard was joined by John-Paul O’Hare, the Fidelis Partnership’s Group Director of Underwriting. As the discussion took flight and encompassed subjects as diverse as the Application of Ai and algorithmic underwriting to the insurance work ethic, service levels and the return to the office, John-Paul held his own.As a result I can highly recommend this episode for an original and uncompromising view on the opportunities and threats facing the global specialty insurance and reinsurance markets in 2026 and beyond.NOTES: Pine Walk has 16 cells signed up, of which 13 are currently active and is expected to write $1.2bn in premium in 2026.LINKS:We thank our naming sponsor AdvantageGo:https://www.advantagego.com

Sp Ep The New Benchmark for Quality Underwriting with Ali Shahkarami Swiss Re & Simon Fagg AdvantageGo

Successful insurers have always been in the business of gaining a competitive edge in the form of better information and intelligence. Going right back to the days of early marine underwriters funding improved communication between global ports and ship operators, the best players have always made sure they had the clearest possible view of the risk in front of them both, at a granular, individual level and then at the portfolio level. But there’s more to it than that. The most successful underwriters today are now able to do all of their analysis and assessment at the sort of speed that would have been impossible even a decade ago. Because they can cut turnarounds from days to minutes they can hugely increase the number of submissions they can handle and therefore greatly improve their chances of selecting the best and most optimally profitable risks for their portfolios. It’s clear that with the advent of smart underwriting workbenches that enable underwriting teams and their managers to blend multiple information sources and better dissect and digest risk, we are in the middle of a revolution in the way that underwriting is handled. So join me, Ali Shahkarami Head of Risk Data Solutions - Insurance & Public Sector at Swiss Re (pictured, Bottom) and Simon Fagg, Global Head of pre-Sales Solutions at AdvantageGo (pictured, Top) as we explore what the new benchmark for quality underwriting is going to look like in the digital age. The business unit that Ali runs is at the cutting edge of risk information, providing definitive resources such as CatNet to the global market and Simon is an underwriter who has developed his career to become a pre-eminent advocate of the application of technology to the underwriting process. Between these two excellent guests we have all the expertise we need and what follows is lively and enlightening discussion that will leave you in no doubt as to the industry direction of travel and what you need to do to position your business for differentiated growth in the coming years.LINKShttps://www.advantagego.com
www.swissre.com