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Insurance is a maze. Don’t get lost. Mark Geoghegan asks directions from all the top people in the Global Insurance and Reinsurance Industry
Episodes
Tuesday Jun 30, 2020
Tuesday Jun 30, 2020
This episode's guest is the CEO of one of Lloyd’s standout performers of the past two decades.
Beazley is a blue-chip Lloyd’s business that has consistently maintained top quartile performance while growing fast and continuing to innovate.
Because of this any time in the presence of Andrew Horton is time well spent.
In this episode we talk about the hardening market, the world that awaits the Class of 2020, Lloyd’s reforms, including syndicate in a box, lead-follow and the use of automation to remove costs from the syndicated market.
We also discuss, the prospect of the big three brokers becoming the big two, Andrew’s total aversion to bold transformational M&A – except when it doesn’t involve Beazley and of course, Covid-19 and how long a tail it is likely to be.
It’s a great way of getting a feel for what is front of mind at one of the specialty insurance and reinsurance world’s top outfits.
Today’s episode is very kindly supported by Claims Direct Access (CDA)
https://www.claimsdirectaccess.com/
and Bolton Associates
https://www.bolton-associates.co.uk/
Tuesday Jun 23, 2020
Tuesday Jun 23, 2020
Not many people have ever been entrusted with hundreds of millions of dollars and the promise of more to come if it is needed with instructions to go an create a brand new broker from scratch.
But today’s guest has persuaded blue chip investors to do just that.
These investors have also given him the multi-year time horizon he needs to achieve his goals.
With a glittering career right at the top of global intermediaries, he could have stayed where he was and continued to do extremely well for himself. That’s what most people would have done.
But Steve McGill clearly isn’t like you and me.
In this podcast we dissect his vision for a new type of intermediary, we check in on his progress just over a year into his business plan and look at the transformed broking landscape in the wake of the MMC-JLT and Aon-Willis mega M&A deals.
We also talk about building the right culture and get this broking veteran’s take on the extraordinary situation we find ourselves in with Covid-19, the hard global insurance market and the class of 2020.
With thanks to our sponsor Claims Direct Access (CDA)
https://www.primeis.com/services/claims-management/
CDA is part of Prime Insurance Company:
Tuesday Jun 16, 2020
Tuesday Jun 16, 2020
Today’s guest brings with him a difficult message for our industry in this Covid 19 crisis
Quite simply we’re not doing well enough.
We’re not being consistent enough, we are inflexible and some of our decisions are being driven purely by cost and profit considerations.
We are too distant from the customer, we are letting small businesses down and are restricting cover going forwards where we shouldn’t be.
Listening to me say this you would think he was a radical plaintiff lawyer looking to whip up publicity for a class action – but As CEO of the UK risk manager’s trade body AIRMIC John Ludlow is anything but a firebrand.
His members are the global corporations that are the biggest buyers of insurance in the UK and pay billions in premiums. They are sophisticated professionals who rarely raise their voices.
In this podcast John describes AIRMIC as a critical friend of the insurance industry.
This may be painful listening, but IN the next 20 minutes, wherever you are I recommend you take detailed notes of what our friend has to say.
NOTES:
Link to Airmic position paper on Covid-19:
https://www.airmic.com/news/press/airmic-calls-change-approach-insurers%E2%80%99-pandemic-response
Tuesday Jun 09, 2020
Tuesday Jun 09, 2020
Julian Tighe is the CEO of Asta, the Lloyd’s market’s biggest and best-known turnkey managing agency.
Turnkeys are firms that incubate fledgling Lloyd’s businesses, helping them learn the ropes before they stand in their own right
Because of that anyone looking to enter the Lloyd’s market is very likely to have met with him or people from his organisation before taking their idea any further.
That means he gets an unparalleled view of what ventures are vying to become part of lloyd’s future as well as some of the ideas out there that might not make the cut.
That in turn means he is someone you really must get to know if you want to have you finger on the pulse of what is going on in Lloyd’s
Julian is excellent company and in this discussion we look at the Lloyd’s pipeline of new entrants and the syndicate in a box concept which Asta has just got involved in with the Launch of Carbon underwriting’s Syndicate forty seven forty seven.
We also discuss the likelihood of Lloyd’s getting a bigger share of the upcoming class of 2020 -2021 new carrier formations than it did in 2001 and 2005, Lloyd’s reforms, its reputation under covid-19 and staff moral and management during a pandemic.
It’s a discussion that I can highly recommend
Tuesday Jun 02, 2020
Tuesday Jun 02, 2020
One of the main aims of this podcast is to introduce you to some of the exceptional people I have been lucky enough to meet during the course of my work as an insurance journalist.
Some are not the CEOs and public-facing executives, but the strategic visionaries and innovators who work behind the scenes doing extraordinary things.
Today’s guest is just one such character. Oliver Schofield has had over 30 years in insurance working at brokers Alexander Howden and Aon and then RKH and RFIB.
He is now an independent consultant working in the captive space at a business called RISCS.
https://www.riscs.org/
As you’ll soon find out Olly is as bright an insurance brain as you will find working in the sector.
And because captives are vehicles that can insure almost anything they allow all his creativity to shine through.
Listen on and you’ll find out how they are an excellent way of covering systemic risk - including pandemics - as well as all sorts of uninsurable enterprise risk that the traditional market would run a mile from because of the problem of moral hazard.
One of the other aims of the Voice of Insurance is to give us all a chance to learn about parts of the market that we don’t often get to interact with.
I think captives fall into that category – we all know what they are but there are a lot of things we think we know about them that just don’t stand up to close scrutiny so we will be doing a bit of myth-busting in this session.
It soon became obvious that I should get back to Olly to talk about Covid-19 and how captives might play a role in filling in the large gaps in pandemic cover that have since emerged.
Tuesday May 26, 2020
Tuesday May 26, 2020
Dennis Mahoney is a broking industry legend.
A consummate intermediary and negotiator he rose to be a trusted councillor at the top of the global broking world and right at the peak of the Aon chain of command.
Since relocating to Bermuda he has taken on a wider range of executive and non-executive roles.
The latest of these saw him steady the ship at independent London -based wholesale and reinsurance broker RFIB ahead of its eventual sale to Integro/Tysers.
Dennis is always honest and forthright in his opinions and has never been afraid to rock the establishment boat in his career – particularly in his zeal for market modernisation.
He doesn’t duck questions and he always tells you exactly what he thinks, warts and all.
But Despite a fearsome reputation he is actually incredibly easy to get on with and is very happy and comfortable in his own skin as I think this interview shows.
I found Dennis on excellent form and buzzing with ideas about the world in which insurance finds itself and the prospects for its future.
Do enjoy the listen
Wednesday May 20, 2020
Wednesday May 20, 2020
Tim Gardner is the relatively new CEO of Lockton Re and has been tasked by the Lockton group with building up a challenger reinsurance broking operation of significant scale.
The MMC-JLT and now Aon-Willis M&A activity has given this venture a significant timing boost and there is a palpable sense of a once in a generation opportunity for independents to stake their claim on a share of this lucrative global market.
I quizzed Tim on every aspect of his strategy to make Lockton Re a credible new player in the reinsurance broking space.
He was clear and forthright in all his answers, so I commend this episode to anyone looking to get an inside view of the current reinsurance intermediary landscape.
Friday May 15, 2020
Friday May 15, 2020
I spoke to Managing Director of QBE Re Stephen Postlewhite about hardening rates at the mid-year renewals, capital crunches, squeezes in ILS and retro and the long-term insurability of pandemic risk.
I also asked him about what might change at QBE Re now that the former actuary and Aspen executive has taken the reins.
I found someone freshly reloaded with capital and risk appetite and full of expansion plans.
Watch this space – QBE Re is keen to engage with this global hard market.
It was refreshing – have a listen.
Tuesday May 12, 2020
Tuesday May 12, 2020
We live in incredibly uncertain times and its at times like this that we value clarity above all else.
My interviewee in this episode makes himself crystal clear.
Julian Enoizi is the CEO of the UK’s government backed terrorism insurance mutual Pool Re.
Born hastily as a response to the successful mainland UK bombing campaign of the IRA 27 years ago, it has since evolved into a far more sophisticated entity managing a substantial surplus, opening a commercial relationship with global reinsurers and liaising with similar global terror pools and mechanisms around the world.
In recent years it has immeasurably improved its modelling and underwriting capabilities and also developed new covers in the form of non-damage business interruption.
Julian has in the past made no secret about wanting to broaden the scope of Pool Re to new perils such as cyber and made it clear he would have preferred UK flood to also have come under his remit.
In this chat he sets out his vision clearly and succinctly. I commend the next 20 minutes to you
Tuesday May 05, 2020
Tuesday May 05, 2020
I first met this episode’s interviewee in the queue for a Latin American treaty underwriter back in 1993 and have been interviewing him as an insurance journalist since 2005.
It probably shows in this encounter. Jason Howard, CEO of Beach & Associates is a great person to talk to.
He has had a long career as a business leader and more importantly he is a big personality who always says exactly what he thinks, even if this occasionally gets him into hot water.
Here of course we talk about covid-19 and how the June renewals are going to be crucial, but we have a long discussion about the crunch in the casualty market, the future for independent distribution in the post MMC-JLT, Aon-Willis environment and the best parts of the future at Lloyd’s reform programme.
If you want strong, direct views on the state of the market, look no further!
Thursday Apr 30, 2020
Thursday Apr 30, 2020
In this wide-ranging debate we cover the the economic, asset-side, risk-side, pricing dynamics and psychological effects of Covid-19 on the reinsurance market, guided by Willis Re's recent report.
Andrew Newman, President, and Printhan Sothinathan, Co-Head of Global Analytics, at
Willis Re are two very smart, very senior and very engaging figures.
The report is the most comprehensive and far-sighted produced by any market participant to date and if you like this podcast (which I think you will) I recommend you take time to read its 70 pages for a rounder experience:
https://www.willistowerswatson.com/en-GB/Insights/2020/04/covid-19-willis-re-impact-report
Tuesday Apr 28, 2020
Tuesday Apr 28, 2020
The second in our series of special Covid 19 episodes brings together a trio of trade body Chief Executives: Steve White of the British Insurance Brokers Association (Biba), Clare Lebecq of the London Market Group (LMG) and Christopher Croft of the London and International Insurance Brokers Association (Liiba).
These heavyweight trade body leaders debated the UK insurance industry’s Public relations performance, its relationship with regulators and the UK and international body politic, the insurability of pandemics and even Brexit, whose negotiations are approaching a crunch point behind the scenes.
It is a lively and unusually frank discussion and shows the huge range of work that your trade bodies are getting up to at this difficult time.
This second SRG Voice of Insurance Covid-19 special episode comes highly recommended.
Here are links to the original news stories mentioned in the introduction:
https://insuranceinsider.com/articles/132927/bill-to-mandate-future-bi-coveage-proposed-in-congress
https://insuranceinsider.com/articles/132906/aon-execs-take-50-salary-cut-with-broader-staff-also-set-for-curbs
https://www.postonline.co.uk/claims/7529391/admiral-commits-ps110m-towards-refunds-for-motor-customers
https://insuranceinsider.com/articles/132698/reinsurers-on-notice-for-c-400mn-c-800mn-aviva-loss
Wednesday Apr 22, 2020
Wednesday Apr 22, 2020
This episode is all about the state of play in Bermuda and what is happening on the island.
Two weeks ago I had a Zoom call with Chris Bonard, CEO and John Turner, Chairman of Ed Broking Bermuda.
As independent intermediaries looking to capitalise on what the island’s insurance and reinsurance markets have to offer, their view is really interesting.
Each decade has seen a relative USP that Bermuda has been able to bring to the global insurance market.
In the seventies it was captives and in the eighties it was excess casualty.
In the 90s and noughties it was property cat and in the 20-teens it was ILS and alternative capital.
After the erosion of many of Bermuda’s offshore tax advantages I wanted to find out where the growth is most likely to come from on the island in the twenties.
Chris and John’s answers will probably surprise you.
As well as getting to grips with Bermuda’s likely future role in the global insurance sector, we inevitably looked at initial reactions to and likely long-term consequences of the Covid-19 crisis and went deep into the role that Bermuda is playing in the hardening global insurance and reinsurance markets.
Enjoy the listen!
Wednesday Apr 15, 2020
Wednesday Apr 15, 2020
How is the UK insurance industry really responding to the Covid-19 crisis?
The Voice of Insurance teamed up with Specialist Risk Group (SRG) and brought together three hugely experienced broking CEOs to find out.
Brendan McManus of PIB, Peter Blanc of Aston Lark and Warren Downey of SRG have traded through many crises in their careers, but probably nothing quite like this.
What's working? What's not? Who's showing their true colours, good or bad?
In this essential debate, the trio rated the sector’s own operational response to the crisis and discussed the UK insurance industry leadership’s public relations performance, political risks and whether pandemics are insurable.
They didn't hold back.
They also assessed the performance and financial strength of insurance carriers, the resilience of intermediaries exposed to premium finance credit risk and how the hit to the capital markets might affect debt and consequently the world of Broker M&A.
There was plenty of insight and no small amount of disagreement. You must listen to this now.
Many thanks to Specialist Risk Group (SRG) for making this happen
Links to news articles mentioned:
https://www.theinsurer.com/news/qbe-to-raise-a13bn-for-coronavirus-buffer/7997.article
https://insuranceinsider.com/articles/132599/california-regulator-orders-insurers-to-return-premiums
https://www.theinsurer.com/news/abi-responds-to-criticism-with-covid-19-charity-fund/7986.article
Thursday Apr 09, 2020
Thursday Apr 09, 2020
As a journalist one of the best things about my job is being allowed into the far flung and most fascinating corners of our industry to find out how things work.
Protection and Indemnity - P&I - is exactly one of those places.
And it would be easy to ignore were it not the source of so many of the biggest insurance stories of the past decade.
For example a mega claim like the Costa Concordia was a P&I event that captured the attention of the whole world over many months.
But most of us know almost nothing about this ultra specialist part of the insurance world and the 13 global marine liability mutuals that inhabit it.
In fact we are actually more ignorant - because most of what we think we know about P&I is probably wrong.
So that’s why I decided to record this episode with Dorothea Ioannou who is the Chief Commercial officer of the American Club.
If you don’t know Dorothea she is extremely well regarded and a strong character and I had a great time talking to her.
As well as mythbusting much of what the non marine world thinks it knows about P&I, we discuss the ongoing impact of Covid-19 and other major trends affecting the marine sector and the wider insurance world.
Tuesday Mar 31, 2020
Tuesday Mar 31, 2020
One of the most eye-catching parts of the Lloyd’s of London Blueprint reforms has been the Syndicate in a box initiative.
The idea of a fast-track, light-touch, low-cost, fast-fail Syndicate has gone down very well with the market.
This is because over the past two decades many players have bemoaned the steadily increasing cost of starting a new Lloyd’s business and have wondered where the next generation of new Hiscoxes, Kilns, Catlins and Beazleys might come from given that barriers to entry are now prohibitively high.
The received wisdom over that time has been that MGAs had become to the go-to place for entrepreneurial underwriters to prove their mettle.
But while the Syndicate in a box initiative was well received as an idea, the only trouble was that many in the market were a little confused about what the new structures can and cannot do in practice.
And that is why I tracked down this episode’s guest.
As the active underwriter of the first and currently only Syndicate in a box, Stuart Newcombe of Munich Re innovation Syndicate 1840 is uniquely positioned to enlighten us all on this exciting new departure for the Lloyd’s community.
Stuart is an engaging and personable character with over thirty years experience in the market.
I really enjoyed chatting with him and exploding some of the myths around the new structures.
But what I liked more was hearing all about what the syndicate is up to.
This includes guarantee products for solar panels and energy saving schemes, ideas to insure the gig economy and autonomous vehicles, as well as lots of interesting angles on the use of parametric insurance to fill in the gaps left by traditional indemnity cover.
I think you’ll enjoy it too...
Tuesday Mar 24, 2020
Tuesday Mar 24, 2020
This podcast is a new feature - I’m calling it Voice of Insurance Solo.
It is really an editorial in podcast form – let me know what you think.
Is insurance going to get unfairly punished by governments and judiciaries for the systemic global failures exposed by the Covid 19 pandemic?
And if so might state-backed Pandemic Reinsurance vehicles be the logical result of the new deal that will follow any government raids on our coffers?
Listen on for thoughts and opinion...
Monday Mar 23, 2020
Monday Mar 23, 2020
How well prepared is the 2020 global insurance industry for the challenge of the Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic?
The best thing about being a journalist is about being able to access the top minds and experts to make sense of the world.
So today with economies and our clients being forcibly shut down, events cancelled, sovereign and corporate bonds undergoing spectacular gyrations and share prices tumbling globally, (with insurers stock falling more than the market average), I wanted to talk to someone smart to help ordinary people like me and you to understand a little bit of what is happening and what might be at stake.
So that is why I’m delighted that this episode’s guest is David Flandro Managing Director, Analytics at Hyperion X.
Longstanding listeners will remember David from Episode 3 where he was talking about the 1st of January renewals.
I originally had this interview with David slated to be about the fourth quarter and full- year 2019 results season that has just past. But given the circumstances I thought that that would be inappropriate.
Listen on for a state of David’s thinking about how the industry is likely cope with the covid-19 crisis on the risk and the asset side of its balance sheet.
There are plenty of caveats of course but David gives us a lot to think about, somethings to worry about and some measure of assurance.
in times of crisis I always seek out the brightest and most eloquent and David is certainly both...
Tuesday Mar 17, 2020
Tuesday Mar 17, 2020
The hardening market and the upcoming renewals, ILS, the vexing casualty question and of course the mega-brokers getting bigger - this interview doesn't miss anything out.
Jonathan Parry is a highly experienced and well-regarded underwriter with many decades of experience. He knows the insurance and reinsurance markets inside and out. If you don’t know him already I think you’ll like him – and you will learn a lot from him
He’s also quite a rare character in that he spent the first half of his career as a broker.
This gives him a really well rounded perspective on how insurance and reinsurance works and what clients really want from their underwriters.
He is always polite and good humoured but he is firm and has strong convictions and he doesn’t pull any punches. Jonathan is handing over the QBE Re underwriting mantle at the beginning of April and plans to retire next year.
This candid interview gives a career long perspective on what is happening in reinsurance today and what is right and what is wrong...
Tuesday Mar 10, 2020
Tuesday Mar 10, 2020
This episode’s guest is Toby Esser, chairman of independent London wholesale broker AFL.
Toby is a veteran of the London market broking scene and is the former CEO of Cooper Gay which grew manyfold under his ambitious and energetic leadership both organically and by high-profile M&A.
I have interviewed Toby many times over the years and it shows in this interview.
Toby is not shy and his personality shines through.
We have a really wide ranging discussion from growing an independent business and handling the precocious prima-donna-like talent without which no broker could function, AON-Willis and MMC-JLT as well as the coronavirus, insurtech, market reform and culture change in insurance!
I really enjoyed this one and I think you will too!
Friday Feb 28, 2020
Friday Feb 28, 2020
In this episode I’m talking to Nicolas Aubert, Head of Great Britain at Willis Towers Watson and CEO of Willis Limited.
As a Frenchman who has forged a successful career in London, in many ways he is a personal embodiment of the kind of global, multi-faceted and diverse marketplace that London would like to present to the world.
The insurance market has been through a lot of soul searching in the past 12 months as every aspect of its culture has been examined in minute detail .
Stories of bad behaviour and discrimination have filled the mainstream media and been broadcast all around the world.
But starting quite a few years before the scandals started to break, the insurance sector has embarked on a huge programme of education, self-examination and change around the subject of diversity and inclusion.
Nicolas has been right at the heart of that major shift for many years and that is the topic of our discussion today.
He is also currently in charge of 4500 people, so he is pretty well qualified.
If you’re the sort of person who would rather not engage with this topic I would urge you to tune in.
That’s because you are actually exactly the sort of person who really must listen the most!
Tuesday Feb 18, 2020
Tuesday Feb 18, 2020
Dan Trueman is global Head of Cyber at Axis Insurance and is one of the true cyber market pioneers with a 20 year career centred on insuring unconventional enterprise risks.
He has developed into an industry spokeperson and an ambassador for the cyber class globally.
In our wide-ranging discussion we got to the heart of what has triggered the explosion in cyber growth and the latest in price, demand and loss trends.
Listen and discover why Dan thinks that cyber cover will never again be as cheap as it is today.
We also dissected all the innovations around cyber modelling and the work going on to maximise the reinsurance and alternative capital that can be brought to bear on this potentially systemic global risk so that its growth story can continue.
We also looked at regulation and the thorny issue of silent or non affirmative cyber cover.
I really enjoyed our talk and I’m sure you will too.
Wednesday Feb 12, 2020
Wednesday Feb 12, 2020
If you are not a techie but want to be properly informed about what is coming down the Insurtech track and want to know how analogue insurance folk should be reacting, this podcast is 100% designed for you.
I caught up with Matthew Grant and fellow Instech London founder Robin Merttens earlier in the month.
Matthew and Robin are decades-long veterans of what we now call Insurtech and have spent careers bridging the often sizeable gap between insurance and technology.
They do it so we don't have to.
Back in 2015 they founded Instech London which hosts a regular monthly get-together for entrepreneurs, venture capitalists service providers, early adopters and people working in the incumbent insurance industry who are curious about new technologies and how they will affect insurance.
In this episode we have a wide-ranging discussion that includes a debate about the difference between merely digitising and going fully digital, as well as an examination of insurance’s often difficult relationship with technological change.
I think it's a really useful listen...
NOTES:
Start-up companies mentioned:
Concirrus: https://www.concirrus.com
Exante: https://www.exante.io/
Blink: https://blinkblink.io/
Riskbook: https://riskbook.com/
Friday Feb 07, 2020
Friday Feb 07, 2020
There is a lot to play for in 2020
The reinsurance market has a lot invested in the major 2020 renewals and has high expectations of re-pricing in April, June and mid-year.
Japanese Typhoon has been active in the last couple of seasons and loss development has re-written the models and taken everybody by surprise.
Florida has been busy developing its losses of 2017 and 2018 in new and surprising ways.
And of course tension has been building in the US casualty world which renews in mid-year. Original rates have moved sharply upwards and loss trends and reserving have been coming under a bright spotlight.
That’s why I was really lucky to catch up with Steve Arora the CEO of Axis Re at Axis’s fantastic London offices in the shiny and angular new skyscraper in the building opposite Lloyd’s known colloquially as the Scalpel.
Axis Re wrote $3.2bn of gross premium in 2019 and has an ambition to break into the top 10 global reinsurers.
Steve took up his post at Axis Re just over 2 years ago.
In our talk we dissect all the dynamics of the big 2020 renewal seasons in a lot of detail - and much more besides...
Monday Feb 03, 2020
Monday Feb 03, 2020
The Voice of Insurance was lucky enough to catch up with Phil Smaje the CEO and Marcel Chad the President of newly-launched London-based aviation challenger broker Piiq Risk Partners.
Piiq is part of BGC Partners, which is also the owner of wholesale brokers Ed Broking and Besso.
It is an interesting new addition to the line-up of London specialty intermediaries because Phil and Marcel are both aviation veterans with long careers at the major brokers.
The timing is also fascinating because whilst other segments of the global market are merely hardening, there is no doubt that all parts of the aviation insurance and reinsurance market are in full correction-mode and are experiencing the kind of genuine hard market that doesn’t come along very often.
Do enjoy the listen.
Phil and Marcel tell a really interesting story about their plans for Piiq at a pivotal time for the aviation market.
My first question was to Phil, asking him to tell the story behind the formation of Piiq and explain what it was all about.
The word disprupt is overused in our industry but Phil got straight to the point with his first answer...
Notes and links:
www.piiqrp.com
Wednesday Jan 22, 2020
Wednesday Jan 22, 2020
Following Gallagher's deal to buy out 100% ownership of Capsicum Re - the reinsurance broker it founded as a joint venture with former Benfield boss Graeme Chilton and colleagues back in 2013 - The Voice of Insurance caught up with Capsicum Re CEO Rupert Swallow and Simon Matson, the CEO of Gallagher’s UK Broking & Underwriting division.
What were Gallagher's plans now that it had finally broken successfully into reinsurance after decades of trying?
What would Capsicum do with major human and financial resources at its disposal?
Would it stay specialist or have a go at the big three brokers? What would happen to the Capsicum name?
With new owner Gallagher such an accomplished serial acquirer, was more dealmaking a likelihood?
How would the executives keep the Capsicum founding entrepreneurs motivated after the deal?
Tune in for the answers.
This was a relaxed and friendly discussion.
As you’d imagine there’s plenty of talk about what the plans are for Gallagher’s new reinsurance intermediary but there are a lot of other market insights blended in...
Wednesday Jan 15, 2020
Wednesday Jan 15, 2020
This week saw the launch of the World Economic Forum’s Global Risks Report 2020 at a big set piece media event in London ahead of the major annual summit in Davos, Switzerland.
MMC has been one of the risk report’s longstanding sponsors and I was lucky enough to grab a brief catch up with John Drzik Chairman of Marsh & Mclennan Insights for a dive into the report and what it means for the world of insurance in 2020.
Long-term environmental risks of many forms had moved right to the top of the agenda and the cyber threat was still business leaders’ top risk.
The full World Economic Forum’s Global Risks Report is available here:
https://www.weforum.org/reports/the-global-risks-report-2020
Tuesday Jan 07, 2020
Tuesday Jan 07, 2020
Rick Lindsey is the CEO of US E&S insurer Prime Insurance Company.
The US E&S market has the most interesting dynamics anywhere in the insurance world.
Contrasting heavily with the soft global market of the past few years, some of its more stressed classes have experienced capacity withdrawal and consistent compound rate rises.
That is why I was delighted to catch up with Rick in London. Rick has been in the E&S market all his working life and knows everything there is to know about the ups and downs in this specialist field
Prime is a fast-growing, and very well performing E&S player and writes in all 50 US states
Being an owner of part of his own balance sheet gives Rick huge credibility.
He also has strong views and doesn’t pull any punches!
That’s why I can highly recommend the interview that follows:
Friday Jan 03, 2020
Friday Jan 03, 2020
David Flandro is Managing Director, Analytics at Hyperion X.
I caught up with him following the publication of Hyperion-X's 1.1 2020 renewal report.
He is one of the smartest people I have ever met in insurance. He is also good at explaining complicated ideas.
If you don't already know David I would highly recommend listening to him on any insurance topic that you want to master.
So if you want to know more about the big trends behind the most interesting 1.1 reinsurance renewal for many years, this podcast is essential listening.
The Hyperion X 1.1 renewal report can be accessed here
Background:
David started as an analyst at Merrill Lynch and for the past 15 years has worked for many of the major (re)insurance broking groups.
Over that period he has produced many of the most insightful reports on the global insurance and reinsurance sectors.
He has since joined Hyperion's exciting new Hyperion-X venture where he is building new data products and engaging heavily with the world of Insurtech.
Happy Listening!
Thursday Jan 02, 2020
Thursday Jan 02, 2020
Willis Re is the big 3 global reinsurance broker behind the excellent and timely 1st View reinsurance renewals reports.
Given the shifting global market, the 1.1 2020 1st View has been the most keenly awaited such report for over a decade.
From a first read the key words this year are Divergent, Judicious, Discerning and Client-centric to describe reinsurance markets and reinsurer behaviour.
The Voice of Insurance caught up with James Vickers, Chair of Willis Re International to dig a little deeper.
As sellers found backbone and walked away from unattractive business and strong long-term trading relationships became more important, did aggressive cedants finally get their comeuppance?
Listen here to find out and put some colour into the excellent report
The report can be downloaded here:
Friday Dec 06, 2019
Friday Dec 06, 2019
Mark Geoghegan talks to Sheila Cameron to dig into the detail of the much-discussed Lead-Follow reforms proposed in the Lloyd’s Blueprint One plan.
Myths are busted and misconceptions set straight as the CEO of the Lloyd's Market Association and one of the principle architects of this process, explains what the new proposals concerning the future of Syndication of Risk at Lloyd’s are, as well as what they are not.
For instance those that worry the reforms are just going to give bigger managing agents even more influence are in for a pleasant surprise.
Confused about what Lead-Follow is all about and what it might mean for the future of the market?
Anyone who works in Lloyd’s or places business there will benefit from a listen to this concise interview.
Recorded 6th December 2019.