The Voice of Insurance

Ep 118 Vicky Carter: Nurturing the Future of the Industry

Today I’m talking to Vicky Carter, a very senior reinsurance broking executive with a glittering career. As well as chairing Capital Solutions, International at Guy Carpenter, Vicky is a Member of The Council of Lloyd's and is a Lloyd's Deputy Chairman.
But we aren’t going to be talking about her day job intermediating between the insurance community and the reinsurance and capital markets and helping to guide and represent 1 Lime Street.That’s because for over a decade Vicky has also been directly involved in Guy Carpenter, MMC and the wider market’s youth development programmes. This work has culminated in the very high-profile Rising Professionals series of events in London. As the first post-pandemic edition is fast approaching I decided to focus this interview on what our industry has learned from the pandemic and what plans and strategies there are to get young people’s careers back on track now that the world is tentatively returning back to face-to-face working.Were there any positives from the accidental work-from-home revolution caused by Covid? And how has insurance fared versus other sectors in the Great Resignation that has followed in its wake?Vicky is one of the market’s great communicators and this is a typically enjoyable and frank encounter, that doesn’t duck any of the big questions.LINKSWe thank our naming sponsor AdvantageGoFor enquiries about the MMC Rising Professionals event contact: mmcrpforum@events-uk.comVicky was last on the podcast back in Episode 37 in August 2020

Ep 117 Channelling a Raging Torrent of Insurance Innovation: George Beattie, Head of Incubation Underwriting at Beazley and Co-chair of the Lloyd’s Product Launchpad

Today’s guest is someone with a really difficult and really important job. You could say that the future prosperity of the insurance market is a big part of his remit. We keep fretting about how hard it is, and how it seems to be getting harder still, to innovate in our industry and how if we don’t do it fast enough we are all going to become irrelevant. Well, Head of Incubation Underwriting at Beazley and Co-chair of the Lloyd’s Product Launchpad George Beattie is both inspiring and eloquent and listening to him should make you feel a bit more positive about the industry’s long-term prospects. The structures he is part of both within and outside his own organisation have been designed to make innovation easier by very deliberately removing the disincentives that currently exist for it to happen. After all, who wants to risk their bonus on a new idea that by definition doesn’t come with years of claims data or actuarially-approved pricing models attached to it? It turns out the problem is absolutely not a lack of original ideas and far more a lack of time and resource to do all the best ones justice.Listen on for a fascinating and uplifting episode.NOTES and LINKS:I refer to the Episode with Relm Insurance. That’s Episode 113Lloyd’s Product LaunchpadThe IVF venture with Gaia is also backed by Chaucer We thank our naming sponsor AdvantageGo

Ep 116 James Kent Global CEO Gallagher Re: A broker run by brokers

Today’s guest is a major reinsurance broking CEO at the top of his game. A quarter has passed since the completion of the purchase of Willis Re by Gallagher and the integration of the 3rd largest reinsurance broker in the world into Gallagher Re. Global CEO James Kent is clearly buzzing with energy and enthusiasm for the job in hand and the prospects that new ownership and investment are going to open up for his business. In this podcast we talk about how Willis Re managed to hold itself together during the interminable Aon-Willis merger saga, the state of the reinsurance market and the new business’s ambitious growth plans. I have known James for many years and think this encounter is a great snapshot of a team leader who has come through a trial and is absolutely delighted to be out on the other side and very much looking forward to the future. NOTES:A couple of abbreviations. KRW is of course the infamous trio of 2005 Hurricanes, Katrina, Rita and Wilma. UNL is Ultimate Net Loss and in this context is a synonym for an indemnity-type contract as opposed to a parametrically-triggered one.
LINKS:We thank our naming sponsor AdvantageGo:https://www.advantagego.com/

Ep 115 How Parametric will fix Commerial Insurance: Descartes Underwriting

Parametric insurance has been with us for quite a while now, so it is an idea that most of us have become familiar with.We can all see its advantages, particularly when it comes to almost instantaneous claims payments with practically zero adjustment cost.But until recently it has been a hyper specialist corner of the market, often restricted to very large very high value contracts such as cat bonds. This is because it is only now that the cost of technology has come down significantly enough and the availability of accurate information sources has become wide enough to make these often bespoke products relevant at the commercial lines, and even personal lines, levels.There are lots of small specialist parametric players out there but today’s guests have seen this opportunity and really grabbed it with both hands.Tanguy Touffut, CEO and co-founder and Violaine Raybaud, Head of business development at parametric specialist MGA Descartes Underwriting don’t do anything by half measures and the business comes fresh from an eye-popping $120mn fund raise. But that $120mn is not for capital to underwrite with – it is for an enormous investment in people, technology and global locations.And that’s why I asked them to come on the show. Because for an investment of this size to work, the opportunity will have to be of the once-in-a-lifetime sort. Tanguy and Violaine clearly believe so and it is great to hear such passion about the prospects for application of parametric solutions in a vast global market like commercial lines.LINKS:Here is the link to the $120mn funding announcement that I mentioned:https://www.descartesunderwriting.com/descartes-underwriting-raises-120-million-to-become-a-category-leader-in-corporate-insurance-worldwide/We thank our naming sponsor AdvantageGo:https://www.advantagego.com/We also thank Claims Direct Access (CDA) for their support today:https://www.claimsdirectaccess.com/

Ep 114 Richard Leftley MIC Global: Where Microinsurance and the Gig Economy meet

Today’s guest is a true pioneer in insurance and also in insurtech.In fact Richard Leftley, Executive Vice President of MIC Global has had about fifteen years head start on many of the other others in that game. As a trailblazer in microinsurance in the developing world, where premiums per customer can often be measured in $single digits, Richard learned right away that without a digital-first approach you are going to get swamped by the expense ratio and you won’t have a viable product. As technology and robust data sources have advanced so the microinsurance opportunity is finally coming into its own.But what’s particularly exciting is that it turns out the hard operational lessons learned from that tech first, very high volume, low individual premium microinsurance experience are transferable to the high-growth emerging embedded insurance applications in the gig economies of today’s most developed countries.And now that MIC Global has been given in-principle approval for a syndicate in a box at Lloyd’s it seems poised to benefit from strong growth in both of these incredibly different worlds.Richard is passionate and eloquent and really knows his business inside and out. There is a lot you can learn from him and I can highly recommend a listen today.LINKS:We thank our naming sponsor AdvantageGo:https://www.advantagego.com/We also thank Claims Direct Access (CDA) for their support today:https://www.claimsdirectaccess.com/

Ep 113 How to Build a Crypto Insurer from scratch: Joe Ziolkowski CEO of Relm Insurance

Sometimes you just have to give credit where credit is due. Most of the guests on The Voice of Insurance are long-term CEOs of large companies. They are all major players in the market and I don’t need any special reason to talk to them. But today’s guest is on the show, not because he runs a market-moving global insurance business, but because I think he has done something completely out of the ordinary that deserves closer attention. Relm is a remarkable business because it has responded to a moment of disfunction by creating something entirely new. Seeing a total absence of insurance industry response to the emerging Cryptocurrency phenomenon Joe Ziolkowski, Relm’s co founder and CEO has built the first Crypto insurer with a licence from a recognised international jurisdiction and an A rating. The result is that Relm is a business that can underwrite in Cryptocurrency limits, pay claims and crucially hold assets in Crypto on its own solvent, rated and regulated balance sheet. I doubt that Relm will be the last of the native Crypto insurers, but the story of what Joe has achieved so far is a fascinating one.And it’s not just Crypto – this business’s culture seems to be to seek out genuinely uncharted areas of opportunity. For this reason insurance for the nascent cannabis and psychedelic sectors are also areas of focus. You don’t need to understand all the ins and outs of these markets to see that there is enormous unmet demand for insurance in these fast-growing new verticals For that reason I would highly recommend a listen.LINKS:We thank our naming sponsor AdvantageGo:https://www.advantagego.com/We also thank Claims Direct Access (CDA) for their support today:https://www.claimsdirectaccess.com/

Ep 112 Alastair Swift WTW: We can grow exponentially in Specialty

Today’s guest is a broking veteran known across the London Market and beyond. Alastair Swift is Head of Corporate Risk and Broking for Global Lines of Business at WTW as well as CEO of Willis Limited. Recently new WTW CEO Carl Hess has spoken about his desire for the group to get some of its swagger back and I think this interview could mark the beginning of that process for the firm.Following the damaging twists and turns of the Aon merger saga of the past two years and the eventual sale of Willis Re to Gallagher, it was refreshing to hear someone senior at the newly rebranded WTW come out fighting and start focusing on the future at the global broker and advisor. Alastair didn’t duck any of my questions, in fact quite the opposite. I know every podcast introduction says that what follows is must-listen stuff but this really is a must-listen episode! LINKS:We thank our naming sponsor AdvantageGo:https://www.advantagego.com/We also thank Claims Direct Access (CDA) for their support today:https://www.claimsdirectaccess.com/

Ep 111 Rinku Patel CEO Pine Walk Capital: helping underwriters be in their last job

Today’s guest is one of the people behind the scenes who help make the insurance market tick. With a background in finance and operations, he has made a career of helping businesses become successful and stay successful, but hasn’t necessarily taken much of the credit for doing so. Now that Rinku Patel is a CEO – running London-based MGA platform Pine Walk Capital, his profile is considerably higher. But the nature of the business that Pine Walk is in continues to put others in the limelight because the purpose of this firm is to free up underwriters to do what they do best. And that’s why I am really glad to be able to put him in the spotlight today. The MGA space is a fascinating corner of the market at the moment and Pine Walk is at the heart of a movement to professionalise all aspects of this segment. Rinku is the embodiment of a no-nonsense leader and this interview clarifies the vision and purpose of Pine Walk and the nature of its relationship with its parent Fidelis beyond doubt. Rinku is straight-talking and always comes immediately to the point in hand. If dealings with him in his day job are anything like as direct and effective as in this interview, I can highly recommend engaging with him.LINKS:We thank our naming sponsor AdvantageGo - enabling an enterprise view of exposure:https://www.advantagego.com/We also thank Claims Direct Access (CDA) for their support today:https://www.claimsdirectaccess.com/

Ep 110 Rick McCathron President, Hippo: A path to profit, but on our own timeline

Today’s guest is from one of the highest profile firms from the group of pioneering US insurtechs that emerged in the middle of the last decade. Hippo Insurance, along with many of its trailblazing peers, is now a public company. But despite the transparency this brings, it’s easy to look at Hippo and become confused by a whirl of alliances, structures and news announcements. One analyst recently complained that it looked like Hippo was throwing different strategies against the wall and seeing which ones would stick. In the light of this podcast that doesn’t seem fair.Today’s guest would counter that Wall Street hasn’t really got its head around the variety in the newly-arrived insurtech sector and currently tends to put them all in the same bucket.Hippo’s President Rick McCathron joined the business five years ago. With almost 30 years’ P&C experience, Rick has insurance running through his veins and is incredibly focused on what Hippo’s mission is and how he is setting out to achieve that. Insurance people can relate to him and he is excellent company.Listen on and any lingering doubts about this firm’s clarity of purpose will melt away.
NOTESRick mentions the 'CAC to LTV' ratio. This stands for customer acquisition cost to lifetime value. ie a measure of how effective your marketing/acquisition spend is.LINKSWe thank our naming sponsor AdvantageGo - enabling an enterprise view of exposure:https://www.advantagego.com/
We also thank Claims Direct Access (CDA) for their support today:https://www.claimsdirectaccess.com/

Special Episode: Seeking quality premium in motion with Madhu Tadikonda, President, Corvus Insurance

Corvus Insurance is a young business that is moving so fast that to those of us looking in from the outside could be forgiven for seeing something of a blur.For instance, should we look at this business as a specialist cyber underwriter or should we see a cyber technology provider or indeed a much broader data-driven insurtech company that is class-agnostic? The answer is probably a blend of all three.That’s why it’s so valuable to speak to someone of the calibre of Madhu Tadikonda, Corvus’s President. As a tech entrepreneur who then rose rapidly to become AIG’s Global Chief Underwriting Officer, Madhu has had a stellar insurance career of his own before joining up with Corvus last year.In this really lively podcast I get Madhu to explain all of the moving parts within Corvus and distil the common themes. In doing so we get a front-row view of the challenges and opportunities facing the cyber market, run through the rationale behind Corvus’s recent acquisition of cyber MGA Tarian Underwriting and look into what other classes are catching this progressive business’s eye.I’d say what really makes Corvus tick is a real affinity for the fastest growing insurance classes where client need, demand and opportunity are greatest.This is then coupled with the realisation that the most important risks of the future are becoming much more dynamic and that the most successful underwriters of tomorrow are going to have to be much faster learners than their predecessors and be much more engaged and helpful to their customers. Almost paradoxically Corvus looks very much like an ultra-traditional insurance business… except that its way of going about things is anything but!It’s fascinating stuff.LINKShttps://www.corvusinsurance.com