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Christopher Quirk, VP & General Manager, MGA Markets: Insurity: The global push: Why US insurance tech is eyeing Europe (371)

Sep 7, 2025

Chris Quirk, VP and General Manager at Insurity, shares insights on the company's expansion efforts into the European market. He discusses the push for modernization in US insurance tech and the importance of interoperability in legacy systems. Quirk highlights insights into the role of private equity in mergers, potential pitfalls of exporting US tech to the UK, and the vital importance of structured data in the era of AI. He also explains where Insurity is directing its investments in the next year and envisions a distributed insurance ecosystem.

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INSIGHT

Strategic International Expansion

Insurity's international push started as a strategic expansion in 2019 to address intermediaries and the London/European market.
That strategy is now a major growth driver and focus for their London and U.S. offices.

INSIGHT

M&A Is Pushing US Firms Abroad

Private equity and M&A in the U.S. are driving companies to look internationally because domestic targets are scarcer.
Clients are buying into the UK/Europe to grow and deploy unified technology platforms across regions.

ANECDOTE

Acquisitions Brought London Expertise

Insurity's acquisitions already held deep London-market expertise and functionality, easing cross-border deployments.
Christopher Quirk notes this experience lets Insurity help customers move both into and out of the US and UK markets.

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What happens when a major US insurance tech player sets its sights on Europe? This week, Robin Merttens speaks with Chris Quirk, VP and General Manager at Insurity, to unpack the drivers behind the company’s international expansion and what it signals for the wider market.

Chris brings a unique cross-market perspective, working with carriers, MGAs and brokers on both sides of the Atlantic. He shares how Insurity is navigating the challenges of scaling legacy systems into modern, cloud-native platforms and why interoperability and open ecosystems are now critical in a post-consolidation world.

Key themes include:

Why the US market is looking to London and Europe for growth
The role of private equity and M&A in shaping cross-border expansion
Common pitfalls when exporting US tech to the UK and how to avoid them
How Insurity is balancing tried-and-tested functionality with modern scalability
The growing importance of structured data in preparing for agentic AI
Strategic partnerships with Viper, Coherent and OIP InsurTech
What a truly “distributed” insurance ecosystem could look like in the near future

Chris also offers insight into where Insurity is investing over the next 12 months and why the industry may be underestimating just how much technology has matured.

If you like what you’re hearing, please leave us a review on whichever platform you use or contact Robin Merttens on LinkedIn. You can also contact Christopher Quirk on LinkedIn to start a conversation!

Continuing Professional Development

This InsTech Podcast Episode is accredited by the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII). By listening, you can claim up to 0.5 hours towards your CPD scheme.

By the end of this podcast, you should be able to meet the following Learning Objectives:

Explain the role of structured data and cloud-native systems in enabling AI adoption in insurance workflows.
Define the concept of an “open ecosystem” in insurance technology and its advantages over closed platform models.
Identify key industry partnerships that support seamless data exchange and workflow integration across markets.

If your organisation is a member of InsTech and you would like to receive a quarterly summary of the CPD hours you have earned, visit the Episode 371 page of the InsTech website or email cpd@instech.co to let us know you have listened to this podcast.

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