The Voice of Insurance

Today’s episode is all about another syndicate in a box. Back in episode 16 I interviewed Stuart Newcombe, the active underwriter of the Munich Re innovation Syndicate 1840 and the discussion was all about technology and the implementation of pioneering concepts such as parametric products. This episode is also about the application of technology but this time it is being applied to one of the most traditional elements of underwriting at Lloyd’s - delegated authority. This route accounts for 40% of Lloyd’s premiums and so any plan to revolutionise this method of distribution will have repercussions that reverberate across the London market and beyond. Stephen Card is the Founding partner and CEO of Carbon Underwriting which has founded syndicate 4747. A London market broking veteran, I first met Stephen 13 years ago when he was running PWS, the London broker that was acquired by THB in 2008. Stephen knows the Lloyd’s market inside and out and this show and tell on what Carbon Underwriting is doing is a very useful primer of what the future might look like for anyone involved in the $18bn plus global Lloyd’s coverholder supply chain. Abbreviations: DA= Delegated Authority LINK: We thank Claims Direct Access (CDA) for their support today. Here is a link to their website: https://www.claimsdirectaccess.com/

Today’s guest is an executive with a big job to do. The broad market turn, driving improved performance, tidying up back years and dealing Covid-19 are enough for most executives, but on top of all that this new leader’s company has had the fallout from an acrimonious public dispute with an activist investor to deal with. As part of Argo Group’s new management team, Chief Underwriting Officer Tim Carter has a lot on his plate. Yet he is unfazed. In this encounter I found someone really calm, easygoing, and infectiously optimistic. He’s also a rare combination – an actuary who is an excellent communicator and someone who comes across as a strong people person. The next 20 minutes should leave you in little doubt that Argo is going to re-focus on its core niches in specialty where it can produce the best growth and underwriting results. LINK: We thank Claims Direct Access (CDA) for their support today. Here is a link to their website: https://www.claimsdirectaccess.com/

This episode’s guest is a journalist’s dream. He has deep, long and broad industry experience, he is very intelligent, he has very strong and clear opinions about how insurance works and why he is doing what he is doing. More importantly he is never afraid of expressing those opinions and he does so with great enthusiasm and charisma. Even better for us is that he has a new role heading a company that plays in one of the most interesting hard markets anywhere in the world. He is Andrew Robinson, the company is Houston International Insurance Group (HIIG) and the market is US specialty lines. HIIG is the business founded by maverick industry entrepreneur Stephen Way in 2006 after leaving HCC, so Andrew has some big shoes to fill. I don’t need to pre-empt what we talk about here – the market and how Andrew wants to position HIIG within it are plenty to be getting on with and he won’t leave you with any doubt about what he thinks about all the issues of the day. LINK: We thank Claims Direct Access (CDA) for their support today. Here is a link to their website: https://www.claimsdirectaccess.com/

Today’s episode is all about legacy. Legacy used to be called run-off and run-off conjured up slightly negative connotations of difficult old greyhairs in dusty out of the way offices eking out a dwindling pot of claims until retirement. I used to think that its keenness to rename itself was a sign that it wanted to rehabilitate itself in some way and that the change was merely cosmetic or aesthetic. But over the years it has become obvious that the words run-off had themselves to be put into run-off. This is because legacy has developed into a sophisticated capital management tool and is far more about adding value and operational efficiency than the handling of intractable old claims. Today’s guest is the embodiment of that leap in sophistication over the past two decades. Tom Booth is the CEO of Darag, a legacy player with access to capital and global growth ambitions. His background is high finance and I think it really shows through in this encounter. Legacy is becoming a very useful long-term partner of the industry and people like Tom are only going to make it more relevant in the future. We slay a lot of myths in this episode, so stay tuned. LINK: We thank Claims Direct Access (CDA) for their support today. Here is a link to their website: https://www.claimsdirectaccess.com/

I always think one of the main missions of the Voice of Insurance is to give you access to industry leaders so you can find out how they think and what they think about the big issues of the day. These are people that you’ve almost certainly heard of but not necessarily heard from. But there is a second mission which is to introduce you to people who you almost certainly don’t know but who I think have got some very interesting things to say. In my line of work I get to meet lots of fascinating and very talented people and it’s nice to be able to introduce some of the less well known ones to you. Todays’ guest is one of these. We have heard an awful lot about the Insurtech phenomenon over the last 4 years. A whole industry has grown up around it. Frankly some of it has been very poorly explained and executed. Stephen Brittain’s job is to provide a link between the insurance folk and the tech people who often seem to inhabit completely different planets. I always enjoy talking to Stephen because he is incredibly smart and is buzzing with big and challenging ideas. The conversation always takes an unexpected turn or two. But unlike so many bright sparks he is really good at explaining himself to people less intelligent than he is. So if you’re not a techy here is someone I can highly recommend you listen to – I’m pretty sure it will make you think differently about insurance. And if it does that that is another one of my missions complete.   LINK: We thank Claims Direct Access (CDA) for their support today. Here is a link to their website: https://www.claimsdirectaccess.com/

Today’s guest is a broker right at the top of her profession. She is someone industry leaders turn to for advice and assistance around the most fundamental commodity in our industry – capital. Her contacts are superb and if you need support her insight and connections could be the difference between getting what you need and coming up short. Vicky Carter is Guy Carpenter’s Chairman of Global Capital Solutions, International and is also a member of the Council of Lloyd’s. In our discussion we examine every facet of capital and the industry’s financial health, investor appetite for the insurance sector and the prospects for the emerging class of 2020. It’s why I’ve called this episode a capital masterclass. We also look at the work she is doing on Lloyd’s ReStart SME pandemic solution and examine diversity and inclusion from the perspective of one of the most senior women in the industry.   NOTES: Abbreviations. LPT = Loss portfolio transfer FAL (pronounced as a word rhyming with 'pal') = Funds at Lloyd's   LINK: We thank Claims Direct Access (CDA) for their support today. Here is a link to their website:   https://www.claimsdirectaccess.com/

I have been watching the development of the intermediary whose executives you’ll meet in this episode since before it was founded back in 1994. Now over a quarter of a century later, a lot of organic growth and a lot of M&A, this business is many thousands of times larger than it was then. It spans much of the globe and is one of the best poised to make the most of the opportunities thrown up by the latest round of mega-consolidation in the broking space. It is just about to merge its Howden retail and RKH wholesale and reinsurance arms together under the Howden name. This will be under the leadership of Chairman Barnaby Rugge-Price and CEO José Manuel González. This is a very frank interview and one that I think reveals a lot about the passion, culture and enduring ambition at the broking business that bears the name of its founder and parent Group Hyperion’s CEO David Howden. NOTES: Abbreviation glossary: I’m sure you knew this already but in case you don’t, EB stands for Employee Benefits. (José Manuel mentions this in the context of a recent acquisition in Spain). LINK: We thank our supporter, Claims Direct Access (CDA) for their support today. Here is a link to their website: https://www.claimsdirectaccess.com/

The Aspen story is one that in many ways mirrors the global wholesale specialty insurance and reinsurance markets that we know and love so much. After a few years of relative underperformance – nothing catastrophic or life-threatening but underperformance nonetheless – Aspen now finds itself in the hands of private equity in the form of serial industry investor Apollo. Mark Cloutier is in post to turn Aspen around for its new owner just at the time that much of the market is taking similar remedial action to improve performance. Mark and Apollo have done this successfully before and that’s why this is such a good episode to get wrapped up in. After all If you are openly turning something around for a sale you have to be building the sort of long-term value that a new owner is going to be looking to acquire. Finding out how Mark plans to do this gives a lot of insight into how one of the smartest investors in our sector thinks. LINK: We thank our supporter, Claims Direct Access (CDA) for their support today. Here is a link to their website: https://www.claimsdirectaccess.com/

In the insurance media we talk about classes of new carriers being formed in mass flowerings of capitalism after the bursting of prolonged soft markets, but we never apply this term to the birth of intermediaries. This is because the distribution side of our industry tends to renew itself more organically and less in dramatic waves. Except that right now the conditions are perfect for a mass expansion in this space. The consolidation of Marsh & McLennan and JLT and the prospect of Aon and Willis coming together are providing a once in a lifetime strategic backdrop for independents that can attract the right talent. A sustained hard market has taken hold in core lines of business, giving a second boost and market reforms in hubs such as London are giving a chance for operational efficiencies and competitive advantages to be built into new businesses from day one. Add to this record low borrowing costs, high valuations and a growing view from the investor community that broking houses have more in common with annuities than venture capital investments and you have a heady cocktail. Into this mix I welcome Mike Reynolds the new CEO of Oneglobal Broking, a London wholesaler born of the merger between SSL and Endeavour and fueled by an investment from JC Flowers. Mike has had a very long career in the insurance business and most recently ran reinsurance broker JLT Re. In this interview we learn about Oneglobal’s major worldwide plans and Mike’s vision of how to build a global challenger in the wholesale specialty and reinsurance space. Mike is good company so I think you will enjoy spending the next half hour or so with him. NOTE: Mike mentions a Jonathan. He is of course referring to Jonathan Palmer-Brown, the Chairman of Oneglobal Broking LINK: We thank our supporter, Claims Direct Access (CDA) for their support today. Here is a link to their website: https://www.claimsdirectaccess.com/

In the wholesale specialty and reinsurance end of the global P&C market we can easily make the mistake of focusing too exclusively on the North American and European markets that make up the lion's share of worldwide premiums. We can easily fall into the error of thinking that hard markets are universal and that whenever the US sneezes the rest of the world catches a cold. That’s why It’s great to get a different perspective with a CEO who has been building a business in the world’s fastest growing markets in Asia for the last seven and a half years. I learnt a lot from my chat with Franz Hahn of Peak Re. For instance, the Covid-19 crisis means that credit markets are a great opportunity as are product liability covers for exporters, particularly high added value ones such as pharmaceuticals Asia’s prior experience of Sars, bird and swine flu and Mers mean that insurance wordings here are crystal clear and the Covid-19 disputes that are littering Western courtrooms are simply not an issue. I also learned that the market conditions are stratified between its developed and emerging markets There’s a lot of really useful information packed into this interview – I think you will enjoy it. LINK: We thank our supporter Claims Direct Access (CDA) for their support today. Here is a link to their website: https://www.claimsdirectaccess.com/