The Voice of Insurance

Special Episode: Matthew Grant & Henry Gale of InsTech. Parametric: where traditional insurers fear to tread

Today’s guests are InsTech CEO Matthew Grant (pictured top right) and Research Analyst Henry Gale (bottom right). Regular listeners will know that the InsTech team are my go-to experts from the world of Insurtech. I rely on them to keep me informed and connected with the most important developments in that burgeoning field.Matthew Grant has spent over 30 years at the intersection of technology and insurance. Since he co-founded the InsTech events and intelligence platform five years ago, it has grown into an extremely active global community of around 25,000 industry professionals which has worked with over 200 companies. As this unique community has grown, so has its manpower and the sophistication of its output. Instech’s regular research reports are essential reading for incumbent insurance folk, tech investors and entrepreneurs.And it is the latest InsTech report that we are focusing on today. No-one will have managed to ignore the Parametric Insurance phenomenon as it has exploded into our consciousness, particularly over the past couple of years as eye-catching launches and multi-million-dollar fundraisings have made the headlines. With such an explosion of new ideas and potential partners, the subject is a potential minefield. Who to partner with? Which avenues to pursue and which to avoid? Thankfully Instech has produced a comprehensive and highly practical report on the subject. Matthew has been personally involved with parametrics for over 25 years and Instech has been closely engaged with all of the most interesting players in the space since it was founded.One of the aims of InsTech is to connect incumbents, investors and entrepreneurs around workable ideas that have the best chance of succeeding in the real world and this makes for a very focused podcast. And important for me, Matthew and report author Henry may be supremely well connected and clued up, but they have their feet on the ground and explain their ideas with great enthusiasm but expressed in plain English in an easy-going manner.This means you don’t need to have any specialist knowledge or interest to learn an awful lot from this conversationEnjoy the podcast NOTESAs Matthew alludes to at the start, he has been hosting the InsTech podcast since 2018. He has notched up over 200 episodes with a cross-section of the insurtech community. Check them out on your favourite podcast app or here: https://www.instech.co/podcastsLINKSThe report is called Parametric Insurance in 2022: the 150+ Companies to Watch Here's the link: https://www.instech.co/civicrm/contribute/transact?reset=1&id=21 If you want to follow up on the offer Matthew makes towards the end of the podcast, please email hello@instech.coCheck out all of InsTech’s latest reports, podcasts and online and in-person events at https://www.instech.co/

Ep134 Joshua Motta CEO Coalition: Building a Cyber Muscle

Today’s guest is a former Microsoft, CIA and Goldman Sachs employee who, perhaps unsurprisingly, has found his way to somewhere very close to the top of the Cyber Insurance tree in the past few years.With a billion dollars in run-rate GWP after just five years, major VC funding, aggressive international expansion plans and now a newly-acquired US admitted carrier, Coalition and its CEO Joshua Motta have quite a story to tell. With his deep cyber security background it was likely that Coalition was going to build something very different from incumbent insurers and indeed the firm’s offering is much more of a joined-up full service than many of its competitors.As Joshua puts it, Coalition “owns the repair shop” and that helps an awful lot with risk engineering and loss mitigation. And so far the results have been excellent. The grand tour of the Coalition modus operandi is really interesting but it is when the conversation spreads to more weighty industry topics that I think this podcast really takes off. Joshua has some really strong views about how fears around systemic risk in cyber have been overblown and how to unlock the capacity that cyber will need if it is to continue its fast growth without hitting capacity constraints.Now you may say that he would say that, but now that Coalition is funding more of its own underwriting, Joshua is clearly happy to put his money where his mouth is. Coalition is also putting some of its own modelling work out on open source to help others get comfortable with its view of risk.I definitely recommend a listen for anyone nervous about committing capital to cyber reinsurance for fear of earth-shattering systemic risk – the counter-arguments made here are pretty convincing.LINKSHere is the announcement about Coalition buying Admitted lines carrier Digital Affect Insurance CompanyThis coincided with our podcast recording and as you will hear, it was definitely news to me. With hindsight I should have probed a lot more. Next time!We thank our naming sponsor AdvantageGo:https://www.advantagego.com/We also thank this Episode’s advertising supporter Oxbow Partnershttps://oxbowpartners.com/

Special Charity Episode: You managing your body, not it managing you. With ABF The Soldiers’ Charity

Today we are going to be doing something completely different. We’re not going to talk about insurance.Regular listeners will know that AdvantageGo has been a great supporter of the Voice of Insurance since the early days of the podcast.But you might not have known that this excellent technology company is also an important backer of UK military charity, ABF The Soldiers’ Charity. AdvantageGo is an associate Sponsor of The Soldiers’ Charity’s Annual fundraiser, the Lord Mayor’s Big Curry lunch at the Guildhall in London, which is a fixture attended and supported by many in the London Insurance market. It’s the Soldiers’ Charity’s work we want to showcase here, particularly a highly successful programme the charity funds in the field of pain management. So I’m going to introduce two services veterans, Russ Kirby (pictured bottom right) and Bernie O’Toole (top right) who have both been through the programme. Russ is a Navy veteran and Bernie was in the Army. You may find parts of their accounts distressing, but I would encourage you to continue because you will be rewarded with a great story of empowerment and optimism. The pain management programme has given them their lives back and you will feel their positive energy as they recount drastically reducing the painkillers, or dispensing with them entirely and regaining the confidence and optimism to look forward to productive and satisfying future lives. As Bernie says – the programme works and it’s worth its weight in gold. NOTESFor worldwide listeners, B&Q is a major UK DIY store.LINKS
If you want to get more closely involved with ABF The Soldiers' Charity, please contact Katy Wildman on kwildman@soldierscharity.orgor email lmbc@soldierscharity.org
Please donate if you can here:The Lord Mayor’s Big Curry Lunch website: https://events.soldierscharity.org/event/lmpjbc-2022?lightbox=/event/lmpjbc-2022/donateOr here:ABF The Soldiers’ Charity website: https://soldierscharity.org/donate/make-donation/SSAFA is the Armed Forces charity.Russ also mentions other UK Armed Services charities The Poppy Factory  and Help for Heroes Russ’s private business is called Russ Mounts StuffWe thank AdvantageGo for organising this very special podcast:https://www.advantagego.com/

Ep133 Jean-Jacques Henchoz: Not yet hitting the glass ceiling

Today’s guest is someone I’m delighted to be welcoming back to the podcast after just under two years. Back then he was the relatively new CEO at Hannover Re and some of my questioning probed what sort of things he might do differently from his predecessors. Now into his fourth year in charge and Jean-Jacques Henchoz is the seasoned boss of a reinsurer that has not skipped a beat since its leadership transition. Very strong growth has continued and results have been excellent. In the first question in this podcast I dared ask if Hannover Re’s growth streak could continue now that the already 3rd largest reinsurance group in the world is far closer to the number two spot than the number four is to it. The answer was a very frank “yes for now” and that set the tone for everything that was to follow. I learned a lot about a huge range of topics, including views on the Ukraine war, Florida, resurgent inflation and the prospects for Cyber ILS. I also discovered how the strong growth environment has created the conditions that have made Covid reinsurance disputes far fewer in number than we thought they might have been two years ago. Jean-Jacques is clearly at the top of his game and I couldn’t recommend this episode more highly as not only a crystal-clear view into the reinsurance industry’s standout performer of the past fifteen years, but a really useful primer for the autumn conference season and the testing end of year renewals to come.LINKSWe thank our naming sponsor AdvantageGo:https://www.advantagego.com/We also thank this Episode’s advertising supporter Oxbow Partnershttps://oxbowpartners.com/

Ep132 Sean McGovern CEO UK and Lloyd’s, AXA XL: Redefining Everything

Today’s guest is Sean McGovern CEO, UK & Lloyd’s at AXA XL. Sean was first on the show a year and a half ago when he was less than a year into his first industry CEO role.When we last spoke he was in the middle of a root-and-branch remediation of AXA XL’s book, the severity of which had taken many by surprise.As a senior Lloyd’s executive and spokesperson Sean had been in the public eye for many years, so everyone knew he would be able to handle that side of the job.But if anyone had any doubts about his ability to lead a tough underwriting turnaround, they were dispelled as AXA XL’s Syndicate 2003 posted a vintage 75% combined ratio in 2021 – that’s a 59-point improvement on the previous year.I think the difference between the two podcasts is palpable. Here is a confident and forward-looking executive with growth on his mind in all areas of his business. As a result this is a really positive discussion with one of Lloyd’s largest players about today’s opportunities as well as the major issues affecting the London Market as a whole. I can highly recommend a listen.NOTESA couple of abbreviations:AIRMIC stands for the Association of Insurance and Risk Managers in Industry and Commerce and is the UK’s Risk Manager trade body.NZIA stands for the Net-Zero Insurance Alliance, a global industry body which has been convened by the UN.LINKSWe thank our naming sponsor AdvantageGo:https://www.advantagego.com/We also thank this Episode’s advertising supporter Oxbow Partnershttps://oxbowpartners.com/

Ep131 Simon Hedley CEO Acrisure Re Group: Finding a way to get things done

Today’s guest is the sort of reinsurance broker I’d want out broking for me in this tough and difficult to call market. Simon Hedley CEO of Acrisure Re Group is a real broker’s broker. What you see is what you get. By his own admission he is someone not averse to rolling up his sleeves and getting out into the market.He is really down to earth and straight talking. But don’t let this demeanour confuse you – just because he doesn’t talk in management speak it doesn’t mean he doesn’t think deeply about the market and strategy.He’s as sharp as a razor and can see the big strategic picture. He is also really good at explaining his vision in language that people like you and me can understand.Acrisure Re is in a really interesting position. It’s owned by a massive and growing US retail broking network and a big part of its role is to connect up capital and analytics with the distribution and technological muscle of its parent.It’s also at the forefront of the current boom in hybrid carriers and MGAs because it is a major supplier of reinsurance capital to support this expansive sector. All this means our talk gives you everything you need to know about the capital and reinsurance markets and how their changing moods can affect everything else along the insurance value chain. NOTES:A few JV abbreviations in this one. A JV is a Joint Venture.LINKSWe thank our naming sponsor AdvantageGo:https://www.advantagego.com/We also thank this Episode’s advertising supporter Oxbow Partnershttps://oxbowpartners.com/

Ep130 Clive Buesnel CEO Tysers: Here to make our brokers brilliant

Today’s guest is Clive Buesnel CEO of Tysers. Tysers is one of the oldest broking brands at Lloyd’s, with a history going back 200 years. But the Tysers of today is the product of a lot of recent M&A activity involving the UK arm of Integro and London Wholesaler RFIB, all of which has agreed to be acquired by Australasian broking group AUB. Clive’s background is not as a broker, but as a financial services professional who has spent a career serving the insurance market. He is disarmingly open about this and immediately describes his role as one of an enabler who allows his brokers to be brilliant. And in a market where investment in technology and multi-skilled teams finding new ways of doing business are key to unlocking value, everything that Clive says makes enormous sense.As management and broking are recognised as two separate skills and as brokers become much larger and far more complex entities, far fewer of the brokers of the future are likely to be run by career brokers.But business acumen and technical ability aside, it is Clive’s energy that comes across in this podcast. Tysers is a firm that has been through a lot, but with integration complete and an ambitious new owner behind the group, the overriding impression is of an energised business excited to get to grips with new insurance problems. Clive is concise and direct and that means we cover a large number of topics and detail in a relatively short time. After a listen you should get a really clear idea of how Tysers will develop as a broker in the coming years.See if you find his enthusiasm as infectious as I did.NOTESThe AUB takeover of Tysers is pending regulatory approval.iMRC does indeed stand for the Intelligent Market Reform Contract, that is to say the latest digital iteration of the London Market placing Slip.LINKSWe thank our naming sponsor AdvantageGo:https://www.advantagego.com/We also thank this Episode’s advertising supporter Oxbow Partnershttps://oxbowpartners.com/

Ep129 Waleed Jabsheh President IGI: A Good Company is a Good Company

Today’s guest is Waleed Jabsheh President at International General Insurance (IGI)Waleed and IGI have a really interesting story to tell. IGI is the twenty-year growth story of a very small regional insurance business founded in Jordan that over time has fully internationalised, re-domiciled to Bermuda and is now present in the major international insurance hubs. It is A-rated by AM Best and S&P and now employs around three hundred staff writing 25 lines. It produces underwriting profits that would be the envy of all but the very best players in our business.Finally, the business listed on the Nasdaq two years ago.Were this a company with different origins I think we would be quicker to celebrate its achievements. But at the moment the market is sceptical.But as I’m guessing Waleed would probably put it – we are who we are and it is what it is. This interview gives a strong idea of what makes this close-knit business tick. Waleed is meticulous and thoughtful in his responses and is excellent company.Here is a firm with a patient strategy that is happy to stay out of the limelight and quietly get on with its business with the confidence that at some point it will eventually get more attention and win greater recognition.It makes for a very interesting thirty minutes.NOTES When Waleed refers to ‘here’ he means London, which is where we did the interview.LINKSWe thank our naming sponsor AdvantageGo:https://www.advantagego.com/We also thank this Episode’s advertising supporter Oxbow Partnershttps://oxbowpartners.com/

Ep128 Miles Wuller of Ryan Specialty Underwriting Managers: Enabling Masters of their trade

Today’s guest is Miles Wuller, President and CEO of Ryan Specialty Underwriting Managers, the underwriting arm of Ryan Specialty. As such Miles is responsible for more than 20 MGUs, offering more than 150 lines of business and employing around 550 staff in 27 offices who wrote $2.4bn of Gross Premium in 2021.This means he has a fantastic view of the market and where all its pressure points are to be found.A listen to this podcast will definitely get you right up to speed with all the cut and thrust of US and international specialist lines.But Miles is also a great business builder and manager and in our chat we really get to the heart of the Ryan Specialty modus operandi. For instance, how does Miles keep an incredibly diverse business with multiple brands, housing a huge variety of underwriting entrepreneurs within a core strategic Ryan Specialty identity and culture?Very few executives have to maintain and incentivise innovation and creativity on such a scale while at the same time keeping on top of all the compliance and reporting demands of a major unit of a fast-growing public company. Miles exudes a calm competence at every turn and it is abundantly clear that he thinks really deeply about the industry.For instance his thoughts on the effects of inflation on the sector, cyber insurance, his business’s relationship with technology, and the burgeoning hybrid carrier phenomenon are highly insightful. And that’s just to mention four topics among many more.Suffice to say that I learnt an awful lot during this interview and I think that you will too.
NOTES:
A couple of property abbreviations:
TIV=Total Insured Values. SOV=Statement of ValuesAlso a request. If anyone can tell me any significant difference between a Managing General Agent (MGA) and a Managing General Underwriter (MGU), please let me know. After 30 years of head-scratching, I think they are completely interchangeable transatlantic versions of each other.LINKSWe thank our naming sponsor AdvantageGo:https://www.advantagego.com/We also thank this Episode’s advertising supporter Oxbow Partnershttps://oxbowpartners.com/

Ep 127 Mike Reynolds CEO Oneglobal Broking: Organic builds take longer

It's been two years since I had the CEO of Oneglobal Mike Reynolds on the show. Back then he had just joined and was articulating a vision to build a global specialty broker under the newly-created Oneglobal banner. They always say that no battleplan survives to the first shots of war, so I was really keen to find out how the business had executed on its plan and how it may have iterated its vision in that time. In that 24-month period the specialist broking world has seen more than its fair share of M&A activity and I wanted to put that into context.I found Mike on top form and incredibly candid and lucid about the market and exactly where he sees Oneglobal fitting into it. He outlined the business’s organic build and how some of the firm’s early investments are starting to pay off.Our chat contains some great discussions, not least about sky-high broker valuations and intermediaries’ sometimes difficult relationships with the public markets, But we also spoke about ESG, culture change, technological reform and team-building in broking culture, to name just very few. Brokers are often run by visionaries who need someone else to come and make the vision work to the best of its potential.Mike brings a CEO’s strong vision but tempered with a CFO’s practical experience and in our sector that is quite a rare phenomenon. That’s why I commend this episode to anyone who really wants to learn how to build a specialty broker in today’s market.LINKSWe thank our naming sponsor AdvantageGo:https://www.advantagego.com/We also thank this Episode’s advertising supporter Oxbow Partnershttps://oxbowpartners.com/