The Voice of Insurance

Ep203 Greg Hendrick Vantage Risk: Best Talent, Best Insights, Best Decisions

Greg Hendrick is a dream guest. He’s smart, incredibly knowledgeable and experienced, but also really easy and fun to talk to. He’s also still only in the fourth year of building out a major insurer, reinsurer and capital markets partner completely from scratch. For Greg and Vantage Risk, time moves a lot faster and experience is accelerated and compressed compared to the rest of us. There’s a huge amount to talk about and that’s why I was delighted to be able to spend so much time talking to him again. Here we catch up on how Greg’s strategy has evolved against plan and get into great detail about the state of the market all the way across the insurance value chain. But I’m glad we also spend a lot of time looking at how technology is shaping the future of underwriting and completely re-organising the way that we all work and interact with our colleagues day to day. After all, not many people get to the chance use all their experience to design a whole new business from scratch following a contemporary Blueprint with no legacy issues to deal with. Greg sounds like he’s really enjoying this opportunity and I think you’ll enjoy it too. NOTES:Greg mentions a Dinos. That is of course Dinos Iordanou, Vantage Risk’s non-executive Chairman.LINKS:We thank our naming sponsor AdvantageGo:https://www.advantagego.com/

Ep202 Kate Markham Hiscox: Do More, Do it Better, Do it Cheaper

Today’s guest has one of the biggest jobs in the London Market.Kate Markham is CEO of Hiscox London Market and the last time we spoke she had just brought her business unit through a remediation strategy that was beginning to bear fruit.Eighteen months later, and the results have been stellar. Today the best are looking to invest and grow and get out on the front foot and lean into the opportunities that a still very strong market has to offer. And this podcast is all about that. This is a business very much looking to the future.Our conversation came about because Hiscox has been one of the first to experiment with artificial intelligence to help speed up and enhance the lead underwriting process and so I wanted to dig right into the detail of what Kate and her teams had done and what the results had been like. So we spend much of this discussion going deep into this and examining where the next steps are going to lead. It’s a very heartening and positive message. Underwriters aren’t going to be out of a job because they will be freed up to add real value in the assessment of risk and to enhance the service that they give brokers and innovate to improve the relevance and quality of the cover that can give their ultimate customers.The emergence of a fully connected digital value chains is also going to make it much easier for a much larger share of world business to access the London Market. After all if underwriters make it really simple to send something to London, and turnarounds are almost instant, why wouldn’t many more brokers seek quotes?Kate is full of energy and enthusiasm and our conversation is fun and rattles along at a fast pace.Kate is also one of those leaders who has the gift of instilling confidence in the people they come in contact with and this podcast put a spring in my step about the quality of the London Market’s future if it can grasp the unique opportunities it is currently presented withI got a lot out of this chat and I think you will too.NOTES:I let the abbreviation D&F get through. It stands for Direct and Facultative and is big-ticket property business.
LINKS:We thank our naming sponsor AdvantageGo:https://www.advantagego.com/

Special Ep Guillaume Bonnissent of Quotech: Solving pain points you didn't know you had

Today’s guest is one of the most remarkable and exceptional people I have had on the show. Guillaume Bonnissent is the CEO of Quotech, a business he founded just over four years ago. With over 20 years in underwriting Guillaume can boast one of the most eclectic resumés of any of his peers.He’s written almost every class going, via almost every distribution channel in the insurance value chain, spanning specialist insurance, treaty reinsurance, portfolio underwriting and an MGA. This gives him a unique perspective on the needs of underwriters of all shapes and sizes, and indeed brokers too.But the really remarkable bit is that he has always been a technologist. He learned coding as part of a business degree and has kept his skills up to date. This meant that when in his last role he was looking for some software that it turned out didn’t exist, he was able to write a prototype version of what he needed himself. The tool worked and he quickly saw the potential for a new software business and Quotech was born. It’s a remarkable story which is really all about giving teams everything they need to do their jobs better. It’s a very rare story of software made by an underwriter for underwriters.In this podcast we’ll certainly learn all about Guillaume’s original inventions, which are being adopted by some very influential market businesses, but we’ll also have a really deep and far-ranging discussion about the long-term consequences of digitisation and artificial intelligence on the insurance value chain.Guillaume is a real London Market original and I found it really easy and fun to talk to him. Listen on and I think you will find it as enlightening and enjoyable as I did.LINKSQuotech https://quotech.io/

Ep201 Natalia Dorfman & James Kench of Kita: Gross Written Carbon

Most of my interviewees are good at using insurance to solve problems, but today’s guests Natalia Dorfman and James Kench of Lloyd’s Lab Alumnus Kita are taking this to a whole new level. This is because the problem Kita wants to help solve is what most would say is the biggest of our generation: Climate change.Kita’s still going to do this by solving client problems and making underwriting profits but it is inventing a whole new class of insurance to do so. Carbon credits are key to the world hitting its 2050 net zero targets, but as a major and highly valuable asset they need high quality insurance to be able to scale up at the speed that is needed if a meaningful positive climate impact is to be made.If we think of a carbon credit in its simplest terms as a physical asset like a forest that has been planted to take carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere, the amount of things that could go wrong is enormous.The trees could burn down or blow over or die from drought, pests or disease. The grower might go bust or run off with your money and not plant anything. Your carbon credit could be nationalised by a foreign government, or it could be wiped out by a change in the methodologies of those who calculate these things or it could just turn out that the trees you have planted might not sequester as much carbon as expected.There’s a lot of moving parts and my example is the simplest of many increasing complex and technical solutions. If we are to make a big dent in climate change we are going to need to scale a currently tiny industry many hundred times so that it grows as big as the Oil and Gas sector is today. That’s where the multiplying effect of insurance comes in. If a project is insured, a fund might be able to buy into three projects instead of one and a bank will be able to lend much more using the same amount of capital. By finding out what could go wrong the hard way Insurance also helps spread best practice and adds another layer of due diligence. Whichever way you look at it, what Natalia and James are building is one of the most exciting new classes of insurance to emerge since cyber. And it’s the good kind – insurance with a strong moral purpose, so any profits can come guilt-free.Natalia and James are really impressive and I think you’ll find this podcast informative and inspiring. Half and hour with these two and you’ll have a spring in your step and you’ll be recommending a career in insurance to every young person that you meet.NOTES:Here’s the link to the report we mention. This is well worth a read: https://resources.oxbowpartners.com/hubfs/202402%20Kita%20%20Oxbow%20Partners%20-%20Gross%20Written%20Carbon%20Report%20(05.02.24).pdfNatalia and James can be contacted at https://www.kita.earth/LINKS:We thank our naming sponsor AdvantageGo:https://www.advantagego.com/

Ep200 Renaud Guidée CEO AXA XL Re: Much more than just a transaction

Today’s guest has just taken over the running of a reinsurance business that, like many other in the sector has been right-sizing and re-focusing its underwriting over the past few years. But now Renaud Guidée and AXA XL Re are clearly out the other side and are looking to grow from their $2.5bn global premium base.In this podcast we focus on the state of the reinsurance market, Renaud’s plans for the business as well as the question of how this reinsurer fits in strategically at one of the world’s largest insurance groups.With executive experience in investment banking and with a challenging AXA Group role already under his belt, Renaud brings a refreshingly broad perspective to our conversation. Renaud combines high intelligence with great charm and you’ll learn a lot from time spent in his company.LINKS:We thank our naming sponsor AdvantageGo:https://www.advantagego.com/

Ep199 Kera McDonald Swiss Re Corporate Solutions: Trendspotting and Avoiding Passivity

Today’s guest has had one of the broadest and most diverse careers of anyone I have interviewed. Today Kera McDonald is the Chief Underwriting Officer of Swiss Re Corporate Solutions but over more than 25 years she has been an actuary and a pensions consultant, a risk manager, an aviation underwriter and a senior executive in an internal audit team. I’d say that unique blend of experience is an excellent preparation for her current role, particularly as Swiss Re Corporate Solutions moves out of its remediation phase into a period of sustainable growth.Kera is direct and easy to talk to and in this podcast we discuss the state of the global insurance market and Corporate Solutions’ strategy within it as well as this unique business’s position within its wider group and the applications of technology and artificial intelligence as the market digitises.She doesn’t duck any difficult questions and is excellent and incredibly well-informed company. I really benefitted from my time with Kera and I think you will too.NOTES: This interview was recorded on 22 February 2023 and so questionsare based on Swiss Re's Q3/9-month 2023 results.
A couple of abbreviations slipped through:PYD stands for Prior Year claims Development.And of course, CorSo is an abbreviation of Swiss Re Corporate Solutions itself..LINKS:We thank our naming sponsor AdvantageGo:https://www.advantagego.com/

Special Ep Mike Steel Moody's RMS: Answering a whole new set of questions

Today I’m talking to someone with an incredibly long and varied career at the intersection between science, technology and insurance and reinsurance, on both the broking and underwriting sides of the business. Now Mike Steel is General Manager of Moody’s RMS and is serving all facets of the industry from an independent perspective.The legacy RMS business effectively invented the insurance and reinsurance modelling industry and from the evidence that follows, it has been reinvigorated by its acquisition by global ratings agency and data and analytics firm Moody’s.I often liken the business of modelling to being a precision arms manufacturer when there’s a war on – demand for your products is insatiable. These days as formerly secondary perils become indistinguishable from primary threats and new digital and environmental ones are being created all the time, it is clear that the insurance war is opening up on multiple new fronts. Being part of Moody’s is giving this business a whole new perspective on the world of risk, as well as far greater operational and financial capabilities to help measure and analyse those risks.This could manifest itself in developing new products for non-insurance financial institutions and governments, or trying to codify Environmental Social and Governance factors in a format that the insurance industry can easily adopt.What follows is a fascinating run through of what is in Mike’s very varied inbox. It is important and valuable work that is going to keep Moody’s RMS and Mike very busy for decades to come. Near the end of this Podcast I remark that Mike has a really interesting job. And after a listen to this episode, I’m pretty sure you’ll agree LINKS: https://www.rms.com/

Ep198 Tom Clementi Pool Re: Taking risk off the State

Today’s guest is Tom Clementi, CEO of UK Government-backed terrorism reinsurer, Pool Re.
Now over thirty years old, Pool Re has been through a lot of recent changes that have reflected its growing maturity.
It has been classified as a Central Government Organisation by the Office for National Statistics and the UK Cabinet Office designated it as an Arm’s Length Body of the UK Treasury.
To add to that formalisation, which reflects its public role and unlimited State guarantee, Pool Re is moving from its tariff-led facultative reinsurance structure to a more sophisticated treaty relationship with its members.
Add to this the heightened sense of geopolitical risk in the world in 2024 and new UK legislation around safeguarding against the terror threat and Tom and I have lot to talk about.
This is a really lively discussion that covers the state of the global terrorism market, a frank assessment of the UK’s terror threat and Pool Re’s continued role in making and growing a private market well-funded enough to relieve pressure on the strained public purse.
Tom’s a great guest and his insights will give anyone wondering how successful public-private partnerships can be fostered a lot of excellent pointers.NOTES:We mentioned the UK Cyber Monitoring Centre. The recent Episode with James Burns has all the details: https://thevoiceofinsurance.podbean.com/e/ep192-james-burns-cfc-classifying-cyber/
LINKS:We thank our naming sponsor AdvantageGo:https://www.advantagego.com/We also thank our audio advertiser, Aventum GroupPlease contact them on: voi@aventumgroup.com

Ep197 Robert Wiest CEO MS Re: A good plan and the capital to execute it

Today’s guest is Robert Wiest CEO of MS Re.
After a long and distinguished career in both insurance and reinsurance, much of which was spent at Swiss Re, Robert took on his latest role in September 2022.
With prominent career roles in both P&C and Life - in Europe and Asia Robert is an extremely well-travelled and well-rounded professional and this broad experience shines through in the podcast.
Robert is comfortable on any subject and he’s the sort of person with whom anyone could strike up a rapport.
MS Re has rebranded and re-set the image it wishes to project out into the market and because of that we talk a lot about this mid-sized reinsurer’s strategy, appetites and growth plans.
It’s clear from this meeting that the business has a strong idea of how to differentiate itself and maximise the benefits of the fertile reinsurance markets of 2024.
But we also talk in detail about long-term big-picture topics as far-ranging as market digitisation artificial intelligence and how the industry should be attacking the problem of insuring the transition to net zero.
Robert’s definitely one of us and is very generous with his insights.
Listening back this encounter is packed with the learnings of a distinguished career and buzzes with the energy of someone with unambiguous ideas and lots of experience combined with the time and clear opportunity to execute upon them
Robert’s clearly enjoying his new role and I think you’ll really enjoy this episode.
 
NOTES:We mention Charlie Goldie, MS Re’s CUO.
Charlie features in the State of (Re)insurance 2023 Episode: https://thevoiceofinsurance.podbean.com/e/special-ep-the-state-of-reinsurance-2023/
LINKS:We thank our naming sponsor AdvantageGo:https://www.advantagego.com/We also thank our audio advertiser, Aventum GroupPlease contact them on: voi@aventumgroup.com

Special Ep: Ian Summers AdvantageGo and Jeff Cohen Zywave: Let the client choose what they want

Today’s episode showcases a really important advancement in the provision of technology to the insurance industry. Back in the early days of computerisation we installed different systems in our businesses to do different jobs. We didn’t expect them to talk to each other. And because each was made of proprietary tech  – they almost certainly didn’t.Nowadays we want systems to ingest data sources and the output of other systems and we expect these new outputs to be easily ingestible further down the chain by our own suppliers and all the different departments of our business as well as regulators and other essential third parties. Common standards and modern connectivity are allowing this to happen. I suppose this is the difference between computerisation and digitisation.But this begs a change in the way technology providers go about their business. Either they will try to be all things to all people and produce their best attempts at solving every problem and answering every question that the insurance industry is trying to answer, or they will have to be more realistic and pragmatic. In a world brimming with excellent providers of increasingly specialist solutions, many are realising that the best outcomes for customers are going to come about when they are provided with a wide array of choice and ease of operation. A customer should be able to run different tools on the same platform without having to become an expert in plugging them all together themselves. Tech providers should be doing this for them and making their lives easy. There should also be the possibility of choosing between different competing options for certain tasks. This strategy is called an ecosystem approach and it is what we are going to be getting deep into today. To help us I spoke to Ian Summers Global Business Leader of AdvantageGo and Jeff Cohen who is a Senior Vice President at Zywave. Ian and Jeff are vastly experienced in their fields. Ian is the architect of the AdvantageGo ecosystem idea and Zywave is a core member of this affiliation. You absolutely don’t have to be a techie to find this discussion useful and Ian and Jeff are really approachable and good at explaining things to laypeople like me.Half an hour with these two and I guarantee you’ll be excited about the possibilities that a genuinely digitised insurance world are going to open up for all of us, not least in a brave new AI-enabled world. NOTES AND ABBREVIATIONS:We mentioned ISO, which is the Insurance Services Office.API is Application Programming Interface.ECF is the Electronic Claims File used in the London Market.LINKS:Learn more about AdvantageGo’s ecosystem here:https://www.advantagego.com/ecosystem/Expect more additions as time progresses.