The Voice of Insurance

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/

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/

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/

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. NOTES I 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/

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/  

Mark Wheeler is a Lloyd’s market person through and through. In this interview he even refers to himself as a “Lloyd’s groupie” That’s why it was great to meet him face to face in his London office within 100 metres of the Lloyd’s building. We went deeply into what his new venture Mosaic is really all about. The vision is original and the plan is incredibly ambitious. Mosaic is trying to bring the core advantages of London syndication and very detailed specialty know-how much closer to clients around the world through localised international distribution. That’s quite an undertaking. Listening back Mark is clearly in his element and our knockabout conversation is a testament to that. There were no taboo subjects. Mark’s last words of the interview were “we’ve covered a lot of ground, it’s thought-provoking and I really appreciate it” I agree with Mark. Let’s see whether you do too. NOTES: Mark refers to “G and A” a couple of times. I’m pretty sure he is talking about general and administrative expenses – i.e. the part of the expense ratio that is in the control of the carrier, as opposed to acquisition costs, which are external. 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/

There are two types of journalist – there are those who really don’t like or trust anyone they write about and then there are those that are the opposite and seem to like everyone. I am one of the latter – my natural bias is to get a positive vibe from most of the people I interview. Because of this I make sure I try and balance this inbuilt positivity with a reality check from others around me. But now I don’t work in a large business any more it’ll be you the listener who has to help me out. I’m only mentioning all of this because I found today’s guest off the charts in the likeability stakes. Richard Watson is the co-founder and CEO of Inigo Insurance – a specialty insurance and reinsurance start-up at Lloyd’s. The business is growing rapidly in this transitioning market and is looking to build something highly focused that seeks to deploy the best new thinking and analysis to big-ticket specialty risk. In this discussion we get right to the heart of what it is like to be building a differentiated new Lloyd’s franchise in the 2021 market, Lloyd’s market reform and the applications  of algorithms and other smart technologies. Richard is a London Market veteran and his 33 years at Lloyd’s Blue-chip Hiscox culminated with an 8-year stint as its Chief Underwriting officer, so his views carry a lot of weight. We also examine Richard’s ideas on how to create a new business that attracts smart, curious and fun people and makes them want to stay. Richard gives the impression of someone having the time of their life making the most of a rare opportunity to put a career’s learning into practice. I had a great time – but then I always do – so it’s over to you to tell me anything I’m missing. 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/

It really matters what today’s guest thinks. This is because he has one of the biggest and most influential underwriting and insurance and reinsurance management jobs in the world. Stefan Golling serves on Munich Re's Board of Management and until recently was its Chief Underwriter. He also looks after Global Clients, the North America Division and oversees HSB and American Modern as well as the Lloyd’s and Bermuda markets. What I enjoy about talking to Stefan is his disarming frankness. He speaks very clearly for someone in such an elevated position in our industry. In our chat we cover everything anyone would want to know ahead of the first of January 2022 renewals. Up until now many have described reinsurers as a relatively benign influence, content to ride on the coat-tails of their cedants as they remediated their books and brought pricing back into line. Now I’ll leave you to decide if this is just a little bravado on Stefan’s part ahead of upcoming renewal negotiations, but from this encounter I would expect to see reinsurers digging in a little more than they have been up until now. 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/

Patrick Tiernan Chief of Markets at Lloyd’s has the broadest job description of almost anyone in insurance. He is responsible for whole abstract ideas such as ‘Underwriting’ and ‘Distribution’ at a vast global insurance marketplace which can make it sometimes hard to know where to start. My job as a journalist is to take the abstract and turn it into something really specific and so listening back to today’s interview I must admit I was sometimes a bit annoyed with myself for not diving into every secondary and tertiary line of questioning that our discussion was throwing up. But then I decided to stop beating myself up. There was so much to talk about. With unlimited time we could have done a series of at least five separate podcasts. The unanswered questions are there to be asked next time in subsequent encounters. Always leave them wanting more… But what this interview is - is a really useful walk around one of the biggest jobs in insurance and an introduction to the person tasked with taking that role on. We get to know a little of what makes him tick and there is enough here to get a feel for what sort of reign Patrick’s is going to be over number 1 Lime Street, London, in the coming years. Patrick is incredibly accessible and transparent and comes across as a very level-headed, logical, thoughtful and reasonable person. It is clear he has already listened to what the market wants and thought very deeply about what needs to change to keep Lloyd’s relevant, influential and competitive in the future. He isn’t top-down or dictatorial and with perhaps the exception of when he talks about sustainable underwriting profitability across the cycle, he doesn’t seem in any way dogmatic. He’s also a great communicator and his delivery is laden with considerable Irish wit and charm. It is very hard not to like him. As a first portrait it’s a broad-brush one, but I think listening to this podcast will give you a good idea of the big picture LINKS We thank our naming sponsor AdvantageGo - enabling an enterprise view of exposure: https://www.advantagego.com/ We also thank Claims Direct Access (CDA) and Bolton Associates for their support today: https://www.claimsdirectaccess.com/ https://www.bolton-associates.co.uk/  

I love catching up with Robert Lumley (Top) and Stephen Brittain (Bottom) from the Insurtech Gateway because whenever we do we always have a really fascinating conversation. But I found recording today’s podcast not just fascinating but actually inspiring and energising. First of all a huge amount has been going on since we last spoke and the pace and maturity of insurtech investment is accelerating. So at the beginning of the podcast we spend a little time catching up with where the regulated Insurtech Gateway Incubator and Venture Capital Fund is with its growing and maturing portfolio of investment companies. Then in the second part we start to examine insurtech’s role in improving the world’s resilience to natural catastrophe. We hear a lot of talk about resilience in the sector and much of it is really well meaning but often lacking in effective vision. For example at any big insurance conference we will hear very senior leaders talking about how we must close the protection gap. That’s something we can all agree on – but we rarely hear any of those same leaders sell their vision of how exactly we are going to do it. And that’s why I found this podcast so uplifting. Technology has a lot of the answers to many of the world’s problems and so does insurance. Yet we have often been going about things the wrong way. Instead of solving real problems for real people we have tended to try and find new ways of selling them insurance products. Today you’ll learn about a new model that is far more customer led. Ordinary people don’t wake up every day thinking “I must buy more insurance today” but they do worry that if there is a major storm or flood they will go bust. Insurtech is filling the gap by solving these client problems increasingly cheaply and efficiently and then bringing the insurance in behind, not the other way around. What’s more, 15 years ago, when the idea of microinsurance was first gaining currency, there was a sense that it wasn’t really supposed to make money for insurers – that it was an extension of Corporate Social Responsibility or international aid budgets. But of course loss-making businesses are not sustainable and they are definitely not scalable. These days insurtechs are coming with a sensible profit motive, acknowledging that everyone in the value chain has to get value and has to make money otherwise the protection gap is never going to be filled. That’s what is so exciting – it’s a much more mature idea and of course one that will help create potentially trillions of dollars in brand new accretive premium for the global insurance market. Listen on for some inspiring ideas