The Voice of Insurance

Special Ep Amrit Santhirasenan CEO hyperexponential: How to win at the team sport of underwriting

Today’s guest is someone pretty unique for our sector because he’s a software engineer who became a senior actuary and then founded his own insurance-focused technology business.Amrit Santhirasenan, Co-founder and CEO at hyperexponential’s story is a classic of the entrepreneurial genre: Frustrated with a lack of an insurance-specific decision-making platform to bring together underwriters, actuaries and the exponentially growing datasets that an increasingly digital world is producing, Amrit decided to build his own. The longer I am around, the more I find that an unorthodox combination of skills and experience often unlocks extra value and Amrit is a great example of this. He’s also not a stereotypical actuary because, amongst his many talents, he has the sort of communications skills that would put many top brokers to shame. So this podcast is an incredibly eloquent summing up of hyperexponential’s business model and a wider and very detailed examination of the state of insurance today. Ironically you could argue that underwriters and actuaries used to work closer together until technology started to get in the way. Amrit is on a mission to bring back a much tighter feedback loop between the actuaries who interrogate the data to uncover insights and the underwriters who have to take those insights and turn them into decisions out in the real world.Pricing is at the intersection of all the most exciting things that are happening in insurance today – it’s where data, brain power and market savvy all come together to try and give carriers an edge over their competitors.Amrit’s great company and a dream guest, so technologists and technophobes alike do listen on as we set the world to rights. You certainly don’t need any tech knowledge to get the benefit of Amrit’s insights.LINKS:www.hyperexponential.com

Ep179 Antony Erotocritou CEO Ardonagh Specialty: We’re not slowing down

Today’s guest is someone with a fascinating story to tell. Today Antony Erotocritou is the CEO of Ardonagh Specialty but he has ridden the Ardonagh story all the way from its origins in the debt-for-equity swap for troubled UK retail consolidator Towergate in 2015.Ardonagh has since been on a journey to build its specialty and international operations, which included 2021’s transformational deal to buy the newly-formed Corant Global Group, comprising the brokers Ed and Besso.The organic and inorganic investment continues at high speed. Over the last eight years, perhaps the only part missing from this story has been a clear narrative from the broking group itself. It has given the impression that it is too busy with its head down to worry about what others might think of it. Ardonagh seemed happy to leave a vacuum that many of its peers have been eager to exploit. It’s fair to say that media coverage of the group in the past few years has been chequered, with as many negative stories of team defections as positive ones around new hires or acquisitions.Well, this podcast gives me the sense of being the start of the group getting out on the front foot. Ardonagh Specialty has consolidated its many brands into Price Forbes and Bishopsgate and Antony has a very positive growth story to tell. As a former CFO he is absolutely on top of the numbers and strategy and we have a very detailed discussion about the economics of scaling up an expansive broking platform. He’s excellent company and as someone who arrived to rectify one of UK broking’s most serious mis-steps, here is someone who knows in great detail how expansion should not be done. Here we learn how he thinks it should be done properly and given his unique experience, it’s really worth hearing him out. There’s a lot to learn and plenty of myths to be exploded.LINKS:We thank our naming sponsor AdvantageGo:https://www.advantagego.com/

Ep178 Tony Ursano of Insurance Advisory Partners: A ton of fun!

Today’s guest is someone I should have had on the show a long time ago, but I’m really glad has finally got an episode to himself.Tony Ursano is the Managing Partner and Co-founder of Insurance Advisory Partners and is someone who has been right at the top of deal-making in our industry for more than three decades. With roles at blue-chip firms on Wall Street and at Insurance brokers, he’s one of the few people who really excels at making the connection between the insurance industry and the global investment community and has had a hand in a large proportion of the most significant M&A transactions of the last 20 years. Because of this he is a fount of knowledge and is someone whose counsel and analysis it is always worth seeking out. For example if I ask: What will it take for investors to come back to reinsurance in significant volumes? Will higher interest rates take the shine off broker valuations? Or whether the boom in MGAs will run out of steam?With Tony I know I am going to get straight answers and a real feel for where the market is headed that comes from direct and constant experience. He’s also now his own boss and that independence just seems to make it easier for him to speak his own mind.In this discussion I asked all these questions and a lot more besides, and I wasn’t disappointed. And neither will you be. I’ve interviewed and chaired Tony many times over the years and I think our easy and good-humoured rapport comes across clearly in this conversation.So, sit back and get ready for a vintage episode with a real market player.Whether a buyer or seller - or a business looking to raise debt or equity finance or an investor looking for good opportunities in the insurance sector, Tony one is of the first people I’d advise anyone to call.NOTES:I let an abbreviation through. It was SaaS, which stands for Software as a Service.LINKS:We thank our naming sponsor AdvantageGo:https://www.advantagego.com/

Special Ep Paul Templar and Sebastian Prosser of VIPR: Stop throwing people at the problem

Today’s guests are Paul Templar CEO and Sebastian Prosser, Head of Account Management at insurance technology solutions specialist VIPR. VIPR started out in the London Market 14 years ago. From day one its core offering was to provide a software solution to the endless administrative problem of the ingestion and checking of data in the Delegated Authority (DA) space. With around 40% of the business at Lloyd’s transacted this way, it started life in a very fertile environment that was drowning in a mass of spreadsheets, emails and stray documents.Today it has grown enormously to be the largest player in this segment with over 400,000 bordereaux processed annually relating to around £5 billion of gross premium. This business is at the real coal face of digitisation in our industry and its development is following a ruthless logic: If you can ingest, verify and cleanse insurance data on a large scale, the next step is to start to analyse that data and gain genuine insights into the business you are writing. And once you can do all this you can also speed up the process of onboarding new partners from a compliance perspective. My chat with Paul and Seb comes as VIPR is making large strides internationally into the US and European markets on the back of significant new blue-chip investment. With digital initiatives gaining traction and prominence all over the insurance world it’s an exciting time for the market and for VIPR. Here we talk about the prospects for a far more efficient, digital and data-driven marketplace, the world of insurance software ecosystems and the exciting expansion opportunities opening up for VIPR and its clients. Paul and Seb are great company and I recommend this episode to anyone looking to learn how to climb the first rung of the digital ladder.NOTESNaturally we mention DA a lot. That’s the abbreviation for Delegated Authority.There is also TPA, which stands for Third Party Administrator (usually for claims).LINKShttps://viprsolutions.com/

Special Ep Warren Downey & Lee Anderson of Specialist Risk Group: Building a natural home for specialists

Today’s guests are Warren Downey Group CEO and Lee Anderson, Group Deputy CEO of UK-headquartered intermediary Specialist Risk Group (SRG).Warren was last on the show as part of two very early Special Episodes that SRG sponsored over three years ago.Back then SRG was just about to get a new private equity backer in the form of HGGC. Since that change of ownership the growth has been impressive, with SRG increasing its intermediated premium threefold via a combination of organic and inorganic growth.So far this makes SRG sound like it is treading a well-worn path of PE-backed consolidation, but that would be to fundamentally misunderstand what Warren and Lee are trying to do with this singular organisation.SRG is a fast-growing broking and MGA platform with very high ambitions, but it is in no way a conventional scale-up play on the hunt for market leverage and cost removal.SRG is best described as a growing collection of very specialist businesses that are all operating in niches where it is the depth of its specialist knowledge and relevance to very specific markets and not its scale that allows it to compete.Warren and Lee are a brilliant double act and this is a fascinating and fun insight into a broking group that is building something intentionally different and going out of its way to do unexpected and surprising things.From being agnostic about channels to market, doing M&A differently, running a shadow board or giving staff access to accelerated management programmes and share ownership, there is a huge amount to admire in what this duo is trying to achieve.So listen on – Warren and Lee talk about preferring to show people what they have already done as opposed to telling them what exciting, but as yet unexecuted, plans they have for the future and this podcast is full to the brim of excellent examples.And on a personal note I don’t think I have had a more fun, lively and down-to-earth duo on the podcast in a very long time – the time will fly by.NOTES: Warren refers to growth to 600 million in premium volume. That’s in £ pounds, or $785mn in US Dollars.LINKS:SRG’s website is here: www.specialistrisk.comYou can contact Warren Downey at Warren@specialistrisk.com

Ep177 Chris Killourhy QBE Re: Balance is critical

Today’s guest is Chris Killourhy, Managing director of QBE Re.The reinsurance market has been through some comprehensive changes in the last 12 months and so has QBE Re. In this podcast we delve right into the evolving appetites and re-vamped strategy at this well-respected medium-sized reinsurer. In the past QBE Re was viewed as a highly competent and nimble trader in the markets in which it operated. Today it is evolving into a player that is looking to become a long-term across-the-board partner for the right kind of cedant. Chris hopes that this strategy will deliver a growing, balanced portfolio and a more predictable and less volatile level of earnings than in the past.Chris is a qualified actuary and has had a really varied career to date, which has already included multiple roles within the wider QBE group.But, unlike the apocryphal actuary to be found as the butt of hundreds of insurance jokes, he lays out his stall with great eloquence and his ideas on how to build a more balanced portfolio make for fascinating listening.Listen on for many wise insights and a clear vision for how a mid-sized reinsurer should navigate this market and how it can best compliment and benefit from its ownership by a major global insurance parent group.NOTES: Chris refers to a Jamie. That’s Jamie Cook, QBE Re’s Chief Partnership Officer.LINKS:We thank our naming sponsor AdvantageGo:https://www.advantagego.com/

EP176 Lorraine Harfitt of Asta: People, Plan, Capital.

Asta is the largest third-party manager of Lloyd’s Syndicates by quite a long way. As such, today’s guest Lorraine Harfitt CEO of Asta, almost certainly has a better view of what types of new business entrepreneurs and major insurers alike are looking to set up. She also has the best view of Lloyd’s changing appetites around what type of businesses it is looking to allow into - and keep out of - the marketplace.So this podcast is a great temperature gauge on the Lloyd’s and wider international insurance and reinsurance markets. I’m happy to report that I found Lorraine full of optimism and enthusiasm, with a long and diverse pipeline of business in prospect on many fronts, be it new Syndicates in boxes, Captive Syndicates, traditional syndicates, other alternative vehicles or MGAs.As Lorraine puts it, there is always a fear that the appeal of the Lloyd’s and London Market may one day wane. On this showing there is no evidence of this happening any time soon. Lorraine is a an industry professional of vast experience who has worked her way from the Lloyd’s Policy Signing Office in Chatham all the way up into the heart of the market. She knows this business inside and out, she’s great company and this podcast is packed with lots of really nuanced observations.NOTES: Lorraine mentions a Julian. That is of course Julian Tighe, former CEO of Asta and now its Group Director and Chief Commercial Officer at Davies Insurance Services.ICAS, the UK forerunner of the Solvency II regime, stood for Individual Capital Adequacy Standards.LINKS:We thank our naming sponsor AdvantageGo:https://www.advantagego.com/

Ep175 Julian James, Sompo International: A Degree of Equilibrium

Today’s guest is someone who has had a career now into its fifth decade and is someone who I have been interviewing on an off for just under 20 years. He has held senior roles in broking businesses, underwriting firms and right in the heart of Lloyd’s.Today Julian James is CEO of Global Markets Commercial P&C Insurance at Sompo International. This is a global role that encompasses everything relating to commercial P&C in the Sompo organisation that is outside Japan or North America. Few executives could cope with a role that is this international, stretching from the far east all the way across to Brazil.But it is a job that suits someone like Julian down to the ground because he is someone who has been a globe-trotter for as long as I have known him and has a global outlook on the insurance businessBut just because I and many of you know already him, it doesn’t mean that Julian has lost the ability to surprise. In this interview I find someone energised and enthused about the challenge of creating and presenting a consistent and coherent Sompo offering to worldwide clients. With myriad jurisdictions, systems, brokers, languages and cultures to deal with, this is extremely hard to do. I also meet someone heading a business that has been discreetly increasing many of its risk appetites while most others have been moving in the opposite direction and which has grown quickly as a result. I also meet a global representative of a huge business that as recently as 5 years ago was not at all well known or understood outside its core Japanese market and has a large amount of communicating to do.Listening back this is a remarkably broad and fun conversation that covers a vast array of topics and lifts the lid on Julian and the wider Sompo organisation’s strategic thinking on the key issues facing the market.We even briefly touch on Eastern and Western philosophy. NOTES We spoke about some ancient history and I promised to put something in the notes about it. Julian worked at Sedgwick (a major UK-headquartered broker) early in his career. Sedgwick was acquired by MMC in 1998, at the height of what was then an unprecedented wave of consolidation that established MMC and Aon as the first genuinely global broking houses: https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB904040627273832000LINKSWe thank our naming sponsor AdvantageGo:https://www.advantagego.com/

Ep174 James Drinkwater, Amwins: Time and Money

Today’s guest is James Drinkwater, the President of Amwins. James is one of the most successful broking entrepreneurs of his generation. But he is also someone who doesn’t give a lot of interviews and so I have been working to get him on the show for quite some time. I am really glad I finally did because this is a really lively and fast-paced interview with someone right at the top of our industry and at a fascinating time in the marketplace.A massive wholesale broking business like Amwins gets to see where all the stress points are in the market far sooner than anyone else and here we identify these and point to the most likely solutions. But it’s in our broader conversation that I think we learn the most about this leading wholesaler and its global strategy. Transforming from being the largest US wholesaler to being a dominant global player will require a clear strategy and a lot of time. And that’s why it’s refreshing to hear James talk about this because unlike many in our business, he certainly gives the impression that he has the patience to play the long game and refuses to compromise the group’s wholesale identity and culture.Also as a Londoner it’s heartening to hear that the group’s London operations are set to play a key role in its global expansion.James is always frank and a straight-talker and our half-hour chat rattles by in no time.LINKSWe thank our naming sponsor AdvantageGo:https://www.advantagego.com/

Ep173 Clive Washbourn of Navium: Welcome back, my friends

It's great to have Clive Washbourn back on the show. The Episode I recorded with him two years ago has been the most downloaded of any so far, so it’s obviously going to be good for business to do a follow-up.But it’s more than that. Clive is one of those people who is famous in the market. He is someone who people tell stories about, so you’ve heard about him even if you haven’t met him. So when he founded his Navium MGA it was a no-brainer to ask him on the show. I had no idea what to expect. What happened was Clive being an absolute force of nature and one of the most revealing and fun interviews I have ever been a party to. We did that one under a lockdown over a video call. This time we are face-to-face in Navium’s office on Lime Street in the heart of the London market. It makes a huge difference to be physically in the room with someone like Clive. He really comes alive. What follows is another tour de force which reveals what is driving this remarkable marine MGA and what has pushed it to produce an amazing $360mn in gross written premium. We talk about the market, Clive’s business philosophy and where Navium is heading and how it fits in with Pine Walk and the wider, and now restructured, Fidelis operation.But because this is Clive, we get into something that we rarely talk about elsewhere:Listening back, we grapple with the true art of underwriting and how to play yourself into a strong market position. We learn how you can be a really technical underwriter without being the least bit boring and how you need to be ultra-selective and teach yourself to maximise opportunities whenever they arise.We also get an idea of how you can turn down large amounts of under-priced business but at the same time make the brokers keep coming back to see you. After two interviews I’ve got my own theory. I think people come to see Clive because they really enjoy his company.I think he is someone you could talk to about anything and he would make it an interesting conversation and an honest an unflinching exchange of views. I get the feeling Clive makes all the people he talks to feel understood and special.Here Clive even reveals a historical interest in the battle of Waterloo and burnishes his prog rock credentials by bursting straight into song!We both had a lot of fun – and I learned a huge amount - and so will you.NOTESAbbreviations:TLO is a Hull insurance abbreviation for Total Loss Only.ULR is the Ultimate (Net) Loss ratio.Rinku Patel is mentioned as being in the room with us. He is CEO of Navium’s incubator Pine Walk and is also now COO of Fidelis MGU as well as being its UK CEO.The quote ‘No battle plan survives the first shots of war/first contact with the enemy’ has been attributed to many, including Napoleon, but probably dates back to an 1871 paper by Prussian Field Marshal, Helmuth von Moltke.And finally, here’s a link to the 1973 progressive rock classic Karn Evil 9 by Emerson, Lake & Palmer:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLS0Med0s6E the original had to be split into 3 parts so that it could fit on a vinyl LP! Clive’s part comes in at 8’40”…LINKSWe thank our naming sponsor AdvantageGo:https://www.advantagego.com/