The Voice of Insurance

Ep 109 Bronek Masojada: Just the same, but completely different

The idea at the heart of the voice of insurance is to give everyone access to the most senior and influential leaders in the industry. I want to democatise the sorts of insights that until recently were only available to the privileged few. Today is one of those days when the mission is properly fulfilled because my guest is a very strong leader at one of the London Market’s best success stories of the last 30 years and someone who has almost always been in the room when the key decisions affecting the market have been taken over that period.Bronek Masojada is smart and direct and as Chief executive of Hiscox has built that business into a high-quality insurance franchise with global reach. Now he has stepped down from that major Chief Executive role this interview reflects on what has driven and continues to drive him and examines some of the pivotal moments in the past decades in which he has played a leading role.But we don’t dwell on the past for long and using his position as Chair of London Market electronic placing platform PPL we focus on his vision for a digitally-native global London Market, the challenges of market modernisation and the skills needed by the top underwriters of the future.We also get a feel for what sort of future roles might appeal to one of the London Market’s stars. But more importantly by listening in today you’ll get a great feel for what sort of person and what kind of leader Bronek is and get the benefit of all his hard-earned experience.NOTES, ABBREVIATIONS AND THANKSBronek mentioned early London electronic trading initiative EPS. EPS stood for Electronic Placing Support.In addition to PPL Bronek mentioned he is Chair of East End Community Foundation
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 108 John Cavanagh Beat Capital Partners: Building a perpetual business

Today’s guest is a really strong, highly successful well-known and well-respected presence in the market. He is someone great to know because he knows almost everyone, including the most powerful capital providers behind the scenes.He is a real broker’s broker with a career spanning 45 years, culminating as CEO of Willis Re. And he has all the broker’s charm and craft accumulated over that period.He is also passionate and wears his heart on his sleeve.A consistent theme he has pursued in his career is a belief in the importance of enabling the renewal of the specialty insurance business in general and the Lloyd’s market in particular by giving entrepreneurs the opportunities and support they need to innovate and to refresh the sector. And in the venture he founded four and a half years ago he has made it his business to do just that. John Cavanagh is the chairman of Lloyd’s incubator, underwriter and investor Beat Capital Partners and in this interview we get right to the heart of what Beat is all about. In this podcast we find out the biggest secular trends in specialty insurance and how Beat is on a mission to ride and grow with them to its advantage We are most lucky to get the benefit of a lifetime of market knowledge and understanding delivered in a completely no-nonsense way. You can hear the conviction coming out of every sentence – I challenge you not to find John’s insights hugely useful for your own business. There’s something about the combination of strong passionate leadership and positivity that is really infectious.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/

Ep 107 David Walsh and Graeme Newman of CFC Underwriting: Build your own

Today’s podcast is a really lively one. As I was listening back I found that there are parts of this recording that are almost breathless. That’s entirely down to the energy levels of who I am interviewing. When I met David Walsh (Group CEO, picture left) and Graeme Newman (CEO, picture right) of London-headquartered MGA CFC Underwriting they were still buzzing after a significant fundraise that has given their business a valuation of roughly three and a half billion dollars on a multiple that makes CFC look more like a tech company than an insurer. To put this into context, this valuation is 10 times the what it was in the last investment round just over four years ago and probably more than double when they were first on the show just over a year ago.David and Graeme had also just come through a calendar year in which they had posted 50% GWP growth and in which they had set up a Lloyd’s Syndicate to support their underwriting, which is projected to breach the $1bn GWP barrier in 2022.We talk about the pair’s ambitious growth plans in the ultra-dynamic and dislocated cyber insurance space and how they feel the market is bifurcating between those carriers that are doubling down on the product and really grappling with the ransomware epidemic and those that frankly are not. But perhaps more interesting than the all the valuable details, in this podcast we get a deep view into this duo’s growth mindset and their firm’s almost unique relationship with technology that makes it one of the industry’s very few native insurtechs. From what follows if anything the business’s growth looks likely to accelerate more from here.
NOTES:I mention an interesting report on systemic cyber loss costs. This indeed came from CFC itself and was attributed to CFC's head of Cyber, James Burns, speaking at his company's Cyber Forum in December 2021. It was reported by the Insurance Insider: (Subscription needed) https://www.insuranceinsider.com/article/29eg3lhzopfx8r3rvr2f4/cfc-real-life-systemic-cyber-events-challenging-model-assumptions?utm_content=189971317&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter&hss_channel=tw-129610827
LINKSWe 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 106 Lucy Clarke President Marsh Specialty and Global Placement, Marsh: Enough is enough

Lucy Clarke is a dream interviewee. Of course, her position as President of Marsh Specialty and Global Placement, Marsh gives her a view of the market that only a very few peers would be able to rival, but it is her smart, no-nonsense and direct personality that immediately stands out. Given the global market is in such an agitated and interesting state, this makes for a really compelling and enlightening podcast. Lucy is a breath of fresh air and a really lively and charismatic interviewee. If I was a client I would love to have her fighting my corner with underwriters. I am really glad to get her on the show and highly recommend this episode to anyone wishing to navigate the late stages of this extremely challenging hard global insurance market.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/

Ep 105 David Flandro: Secondary perils driving just about everything at 1.1

Today’s interview is one of the most all encompassing I have ever done. That’s all because of the interviewee and his research team who have just produced one of the most comprehensive 1st of January renewal reports I have ever read. The 2022 renewals have been much more interesting than usual with reinsurers undertaking a fundamental rethink of how they view Property Cat alongside taking a view on casualty trends, Covid and the long-term likely effects of both the social and economic forms inflation. Meanwhile Cyber insurance has been undergoing a huge dislocation and a wholesale re-rating and we have also had the effects of the class of 2020 and record industry capital levels to take into account. For this reason I was delighted to catch up with David Flandro Head of Analytics at Howden’s HX unit to try and make sense of it all. David is one of the smartest analysts dedicated to the insurance world and he is also a great communicator and great fun to spend time with. The report is out now and I would highly recommend a read to accompany your listen here There are some things that only a well-constructed graph can explain!LINKSHowden 1.1.22 renewal report Times are a-changin’:https://www.howdengroupholdings.com/assets/documents/howden-times-are-a-changin-report.pdfWe 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 104 David Ibeson Apollo: Success brings the right to remain independent

Todays’ guest is David Ibeson the CEO of Apollo Syndicate Management. David is a Lloyd’s veteran with over twenty-five years in the market, twenty of which he has spent in the CEO role at Lloyd’s managing agencies. In an era when so many bemoan the lack of strong personalities, David is an exception that proves the rule. David is also another extreme rarity – that’s because he is a qualified actuary but one who is also a born communicator. In this podcast we examine David’s view of the market and Apollo’s strategy within it. From our chat it soon emerges that Apollo is as exceptional as David.That’s because whilst Apollo is in many ways quite a traditional Lloyd’s business, the risks it is looking to take on and the products it is looking to develop are anything but. Here we discuss everything from Nat Cat appetites to the sharing economy and the prospects for algorithmic underwriting – all with a huge amount of energy and good humour. NOTE: In the podcast I mention David’s ‘other hat’ that he wears at Howden group’s international MGA Dual. That is a reference to David being the Chairman of Dual.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 103 Adrian Cox CEO Beazley: No natural endgame to where we can be

Historically in our business fast growth has been a red flag and a sign that something might be wrong. The fastest growth has often been followed by a period of significant underperformance later on as the chickens come home to roost.But there are some major exceptions to that rule and today I’m speaking to one of them. Beazley has been one of the most successful, innovative and fast-growing specialty companies of the past two decades. Adrian Cox has been part of that journey over the same period and has just taken over the CEO role. In this podcast we get right into Adrian’s vision for what the next twenty years might be like. Growth is definitely a big part of the story. But in this lively interview you really get to know what Adrian is like and how he thinks. This is an organisation that has a tendency to run towards problems, not away from them and in doing so bakes growth into the business. After all, if you can solve the toughest problems you can get well paid to do so and that is my overriding impression from this encounter.As Beazley gets bigger it has greater resources to deploy on solving more sophisticated problems in more areas and should be able to continue to grow at impressive rates, even as it becomes quite a large business. The only brake on growth would be if we suddenly started running out of new problems to solve – and we already know that that is not going to happen any time soon.In our talk, amongst other things Adrian runs us through Cyber market dislocation and how that might be resolved, the logic behind Beazley’s ESG syndicate and the opportunities and threats of algorithmic underwriting. He does all of this with infectious enthusiasm and a smile on his face. I am really pleased with how this episode has turned out.
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 102 John Fowle CEO Chaucer: A great time to be someone‘s growth engine

Today’s guest is John Fowle the CEO of Chaucer. John’s in an enviable position. He has a very large long-term backer in the form of new owner China Re that is effectively providing almost unlimited permanent capital to his business.Chaucer’s new ownership brings the ability to write almost anything as well as access to the vast Chinese-backed Belt and Road global investment initiative But just because you can do something, it doesn’t necessarily mean that you should.This interview turned into a really open and fun discussion. John’s thoughtful and good humoured personality shines throughout this podcast as I probe him on everything from how ESG and algorithms are going to change underwriting to where Chaucer’s plans to be China Re’s international P&C insurance and reinsurance growth engine will take them.
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 101 Caroline Wagstaff CEO The LMG: Always a campaigning body

Todays’ guest is a formidable professional with whom I have been sparring on and off for the last 16 years. But most of the time that sparring would have gone on behind the scenes and not while notebooks were open, or indeed, the microphones switched on. That’s because Caroline Wagstaff, who has just been confirmed in post as the permanent CEO of cross-industry body the London Market Group (LMG), has spent her career working on the media relations and strategies of top players in the industry. In this interview we run through what the LMG is all about and what its top priorities are.We talk about lobbying government departments and regulators and selling the benefits of the London Market to brokers, customers and future talent from around the world.There is also a lot of detail around the recent success the LMG has had in getting the UK Government to give regulators an obligation to consider the impact of regulatory activity on the globally competitive position of the market.Caroline says that a big part of this job is about corralling all the hugely varied and often disparate parts of the market together under common banners. This job needs a very strong character to bring all the different players together. Listen to this and I think you’ll see straight away why the LMG board felt Caroline was going to be a good fit for the role.I always enjoy spending time with Caroline because she is so direct and there is no ambiguity – I think you will too.NOTESI refer to The LMG 5-point plan early in the podcast and I think I should have introduced it a bit better, so here it is in all its glory:https://lmg.london/news/lmg-launches-5-point-plan-to-help-seize-new-global-trade-opportunities/
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 100 Sian Fisher CEO The CII: The strategy is already on the wall

Today’s guest is Sian Fisher.Sian has had an illustrious career in international insurance and this has culminated in a 6-year period as CEO of the UK’s well-renowned professional standards and qualifications body the Chartered Insurance Institute (the CII). Sian is a strong and vocal female leader in our sector and in her tenure has been a dynamic and effective agent of change at this venerable trade body. I think it’s fair to say that she has shaken things up in this time.Now her departure has been announced I caught up with her to reflect on her modernising work ,the highs and lows of running a high-profile organisation through Brexit and then Covid and her vision for keeping a hitherto very traditional institution relevant in the 21st century.We also discuss things that with hindsight she might have done differently and what the future might hold for this highly experienced senior executive. Sian is great to talk to – she thinks and communicates clearly, she’s eloquent, she’s never shy and she’s always direct.
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/