InsTech - insurance & innovation with Matthew Grant & Robin Merttens

Wondering about how to create a podcast and best practices for recording sound? In Episode 75 of the InsTech London podcasts, we're kicking off a series of "Instech Investigates" - a look beyond the usual topics and a chance to learn more about the skills you or your team may need in today's world.   Matthew talks to former BBC Sound Engineer Peter Roach, who now runs VisualMonkeys and who is normally on the other side of the microphone editing our weekly podcast. Matthew and Peter discuss podcasting and recording techniques, subject types, what equipment to use and how to edit.  You can listen to all the previous episodes of our podcast on the InsTech London website. Continuing Professional Development - Learning Objectives InsTech London is accredited by The Chartered Insurance Institute (CII). By listening to an InsTech London podcast, or reading the accompanying transcript, you can claim up to 0.5 CPD hours towards the CII member CPD scheme. After listening to Episode 75 you will know: the equipment you need to record a podcast how to edit your audio  where to distribute your podcast online Complete the InsTech London Podcast Feedback Survey to claim your CPD time.     

Remember when we all got together and ran in person events? Recorded live at The Steelyard, Episode 74 features the highlights from our event with Google Cloud, including what their plans are for insurance and they type of companies they want to work with. InsTech London’s Robin Merttens and Matthew Grant talked to Damion Thompson, Head of Insurance UK, Google Cloud along with some of the partners they are already working with.  Take a trip with us down memory lane to hear more from Cytora, Quantiphi, Quantexa, Aviva and Apigee. A written summary of Episode 74, plus a gallery of photos for you to view, download and share, is available on the InsTech London website. Continuing Professional Development - Learning Objectives InsTech London is accredited by The Chartered Insurance Institute (CII). By listening to an InsTech London podcast, or reading the accompanying transcript, you can claim up to 0.5 CPD hours towards the CII member CPD scheme. After listening to Episode 74 you will learn: Why Google Cloud is interested in working with the insurance industry How its technology can help insurers What sort of partners they are looking to work with Complete the InsTech London Podcast Feedback Survey to claim your CPD time. 

This week's episode, recorded in February 2020 - is a great lesson in the "art of the possible" when it comes to having, and delivering on a bold vision.  CEO & founder Gary Hoberman and his team have raised more than $150m for Unqork since the company was founded in 2017, to provide "no code" solutions to insurers. Today the company is working with a number of insurers, and at scale. Wondering if legacy is still a problem? Keep listening.   Matthew Grant finds out how and why Gary founded the company on Episode 73 and why their no-code solution is capturing so much attention. Topics include: what no-code actually means how companies are managing the move from legacy systems making an impact with key decision-makers and investors building a business and team at speed A written summary of the key insights is on the InsTech London website podcast page Keep up to date with all of our podcasts and the latest news from InsTech London members by subscribing to our weekly newsletter. Continuing Professional Development InsTech London is accredited by The Chartered Insurance Institute (CII). By listening to an InsTech London podcast, or reading the accompanying transcript, you can claim up to 0.5 CPD hours towards the CII member CPD scheme. Complete the InsTech London Podcast Feedback Survey to claim your CPD time. 

This week we have a "pandemic podcast" special edition. A series of interviews recorded on Thursday 12 March, the day after the WHO had declared Covid-19 Coronavirus a pandemic. In this 40 minute edition Matthew Grant sets the scene for exploring the potential for new and established innovation, analytics and data to help manage the spread of the virus in the short term, and improve insurance offerings and understanding and mitigation of the risk in the future.  Matthew reviews the context of the pandemic to understand how what we are hearing in the news compares to medical opinion, talking to Dr Chris Martin. Whilst there has been modelling of pandemics and research in the medical community, it's been somewhat limited for insurance purposes. Robert Muir-Wood, Chief Research Officer for RMS, the catastrophe modelling company provides an overview of the issues, the impact from an insurance perspective and how Covid-19 can be modelled and losses estimated.  The impact on the insurance industry will be significant. Sam Casey from Insurance Insider, has been talking to insurers and provides an assessment of the breadth of covers affected, and some of the largest unknowns such as the potential for cancellation of the Tokyo Olympics. Nick Wildgoose, formerly responsible for supply chain at Zurich Insurance, explains some of the challenges and potential pinch points. SparkBeyond is providing AI tools to help the Italian government understand and manage the spread of the virus and Alex Easaw explains what they have been finding.  Matthew released a companion article to this podcast on Saturday, available here on Linkedin. We are planning to continue to review the lessons to be learnt from Covid-19, impact on the insurance industry, data sources available and opportunities for innovation.  Thanks to all our guests for taking the time to speak to us at a busy time, and Peter Roach of Visual Monkeys for the fast turnaround of this episode.   

Concirrus is one of the most well-known companies in London to have emerged in recent years, providing analytics for commercial underwriting to a growing list of insurers. CEO and Co-founder Andrew Yeoman joined Matthew on Episode 71 to talk about his motivation for starting the company, how Concirrus has grown and the future opportunities for helping insurers and companies with risk selection and risk prevention.   Topics include:  How to be relevant when talking to potential clients Finding relevance and insight in third-party data New technology and the challenges and opportunities facing the industry Developments in marine underwriting and commercial fleet insurance Read and share our summary here  You can hear more from Concirrus at our Lessons from Insurance Innovations in Motor, Mobility and Beyond evening event on 30 March, with Chris Gill among the speakers. More about what we are up to at: www.instech.london To keep up to date with future podcasts and news from other InsTech London members, sign up to our weekly newsletter.

After honing his skills and gaining experience in other industries, David King settled on insurance and, with co-founder Johnny Bridges set up Artificial Labs in 2013. Today Artificial is helping deliver major efficiencies for insurance companies in how they collect and analyse third-party data. David joined Matthew on Episode 70 of the InsTech London podcast and topics include: Why the insurance industry is a great place to launch a business The benefits of different accelerators and incubators Lessons learned from Ping An and the Chinese market Identifying the right technology mix for different clients When to bring in a CEO The importance of networking and relationship building You can read more key highlights from Matthew and David’s conversation on the InsTech London website. David also appeared on Episode 22 of the podcast, appearing on stage at our event in April last year to discuss the launch of Tarian’s new cyber MGA.  Membership details and other enquiries: hello@instech.london InsTech London Podcast Host: Matthew Grant Produced by Simon Fyles: simon@instech.london Edited by Peter Roach: visualmonkeys.co.uk  

Proving that it's never too late to start a new business, John Cavanagh retired as CEO from Willis Re in 2017 to set up Beat Capital with Tom Milligan (previously Co-CEO of Ariel Re). Today Beat Capital is supporting multiple underwriting businesses, set up by experienced and entrepreneurial underwriters. John has been working for over 45 years in insurance, including 21 years at international specialty reinsurance broker RK Carvill where he was joint CEO. In addition to running Beat Capital, John is Chairman of Slipcase, founded by Alex Hearn.  It was a real pleasure to speak to such an experienced and well known figure from the global insurance market. Matthew has known John for many years and he is a long time supporter of the use of technology, data and analytics to enhance underwriting and risk management.   This wide-ranging discussion includes: Launching a start-up The importance of Lloyd's in the global insurance market The balance between using analytics and underwriting intuition The role of the new "Syndicate in a box" at Lloyd's (and what that actually means) Why John got involved with Slipcase and why what they do is so relevant for insurance Getting the right work-life balance You can find, read and share the summary of this discussion, along with all our other podcasts at https://www.instech.london/podcasts Membership details and other enquiries: hello@instech.london InsTech London Podcast Host: Matthew Grant Produced by Simon Fyles: simon@instech.london Edited by Peter Roach: visualmonkeys.co.uk

As data becomes more widely available, underwriters may have more information to select and price the business they are taking on, but they don't have more time. This week Matthew Grant talks to Richard Hartley about how Cytora has grown since 2014, the challenges of being a founder and how the company helps insurers identify and focus on the accounts that are going to be more profitable. Topics include: Finding investors as a start-up and scale-up The challenges of building a team as the company evolves Cytora's clients Distributing through other platforms The role of accelerators and incubators  For a written summary of this discussion - and more information about Instech London go to https://www.instech.london/podcasts Membership details and other enquiries: hello@instech.london InsTech London Podcast Host: Matthew Grant Produced by Simon Fyles: simon@instech.london Edited by Peter Roach: visualmonkeys.co.uk   

Live highlights from the InsTech London "Future of Payments" evening at The Steelyard on 21st January 2020 hosted by Robin Merttens and Matthew Grant Mastercard's Ian Slater & Ruth Polyblank discuss:  Why Mastercard is so enthusiastic about the opportunities of working with partners in insurance  Lessons from the banks and fintech - and relevance for insurtech Why data will change perceptions of insurance How insurers can collaborate with Mastercard Followed by Laura Harvey, Strategic Director at Davies Group on the benefits of virtual credit numbers (VCN) to speed up payments to policyholders. A written summary of Ian, Ruth and Laura’s conversations is available on the podcast section of our website - https://www.instech.london/podcasts You can also download the full agenda and photos from our Past Events section - https://www.instech.london/past-events/future-of-payments-in-insurance Membership details and other enquiries: hello@instech.london InsTech London Podcast Host: Matthew Grant Produced by Simon Fyles: simon@instech.london Edited by Peter Roach: visualmonkeys.co.uk

Data is at the heart of many decisions in insurance - pricing, risk mitigation, claims and capital management. But data needs to be high quality - and that requires constant diligence.  CEO and founder of Atticus DQPro Nick Mair is Matthew’s guest on Episode 66. Nick talks about how he has successfully built a business, with no external funding, and which in only a few years has signed up a number of major insurance companies to help them manage and measure data quality. Their conversation covered: Awareness and adoption of data monitoring tools Building a business without external investment Make B2B sales to commercial insurers Learning how to define and build products Tips for aspiring founders Podcasts and book recommendations Pros and cons of accelerators and incubators Read (and share) the highlights from this episode on the Podcast section of the InsTech London website, along with all previous episodes.  If you are listening through a podcast platform and like what you heard, please leave us a review or comment.  Membership details and other enquiries: hello@instech.london InsTech London Podcast Host: Matthew Grant Produced by Simon Fyles: simon@instech.london Edited by Peter Roach: visualmonkeys.co.uk