The Voice of Insurance

Some podcast interviews are really fulfilling to be involved with. Sometimes it’s the rapport I have with the guest and sometimes it’s the subject matter and the insights that I find the most satisfying. Today’s podcast is a rare combination because it’s both of the above. Jeff Radke Co-Founder and CEO at Accelerant Holdings, is clearly on top of the world in this interview. His business is absolutely flying; it’s now employing around 375 people and is connecting an amazing 190 MGAs with 12 insurers and 66 reinsurers on both sides of the Atlantic. The organisation wrote just over $1.7billion of premium in 2023. This is about four times the size the business was when we last spoke just over three years ago. Jeff is great fun to be around, but it’s the vision and understanding of how the whole structure of large parts of the specialty insurance sector is changing that is what makes this such a good listen. Back in the old days growth at this speed might have been frowned upon, or at least viewed with a certain amount of scepticism. Not now – these days technological change means that the ultimate capital providers can drill right down into as much detail of the risks their capital is supporting as they want and they can asses the quality of their book in almost real time. Jeff has had a career that has given him an incredibly detailed view of the insurance value chain and his vision for how the new ways the constituent parts of that chain are sharing out the value that they create in much more meritocratic ways is fascinating. So If you have been spending time wondering why the MGA boom seems to have continued unabated even with a hard insurance market and a major reset in reinsurance, this is easily the most eloquent and enjoyable explanation you’ll hear on the subject. You’ll also learn of Accelerant’s plans around captives, his thoughts on Lloyd’s as well as underwriting classes as diverse as fish drying and credit LINKS: We thank our naming sponsor AdvantageGo: https://www.advantagego.com

Today’s guest runs a business that this year is set to quadruple in size since the first time he was on the show just over two years ago. What’s more it is looking to more than double again in the medium term. Tanguy Touffut CEO and co-founder of Descartes Underwriting is one of the indispensable leaders in the burgeoning parametric insurance sector. Descartes is probably the best-funded and certainly most ambitious of a cohort of peers to emerge in the last 5 years on the back of the insurtech boom. It has made a large strategic bet on the sector, building a global network of offices and now employing over 200, with more offices and hires still likely to come. Now that the sector is beginning to mature and the field of start-ups begins to thin out and parametric products are joining the day-to-day toolkit of major brokers and commercial risk managers, it was great to catch up. Much has changed since we last spoke, not least a huge shift in the state of the reinsurance market and the emergence of artificial intelligence into the global psyche, so we had an awful lot to talk about. In an industry where conservatism and scepticism are not only endemic but often valued character traits, Tanguy has a clear vision of how the right parametric solutions applied in the right places are going to transform insurance for the better, in consistency and transparency of pricing and coverage as well as in speed of claims handling and payment. My job for large parts of this podcast was to play devil’s advocate and challenge Tanguy on this new modus operandi of insurance and whether it is a genuine disruptive challenge to the commercial insurance sector as a whole or something of a passing fashion. Tanguy came though extremely convincingly. He may be a visionary, but Tanguy is also a realist who knows that if this relatively new method of risk transfer is to succeed long-term, it must have a genuine technical edge over traditional indemnity insurance in terms of its understanding and pricing of risk – hence Descartes’ huge investment in scientific and technological talent. This is someone who has thought deeply about the whole insurance value chain and knows where it might be improved and that’s what makes this a fascinating conversation. Listen on for a grand tour of an exciting and fast-moving new insurance sector with one of its principal architects. LINKS: We thank our naming sponsor AdvantageGo: https://www.advantagego.com

I have the best job in the world. That is, it’s the best job for someone like me, who really likes talking to people and finding out what they are doing and thinking – but also as a bi-product finding out what they are really like. The reason I am saying this is because today’s episode was so much fun to make that it didn’t feel like a standard day at the office. I have had Warren Downey (left) and Lee Anderson (right) of London-headquartered intermediary Specialist Risk Group (SRG) on the show before and really enjoyed their company, good humour and the openness and ease with which could discuss their strategy and business philosophy, but the interview you are about to hear is exceptional. This is because rarely do I interview two senior executives who finish each other’s sentences so regularly and enjoy each other’s company so much. The trigger for our podcast was a change of investors that has brought Blue Chip players Warburg Pincus and Temasek into the fold at a reported valuation of over £1 billion pounds, so perhaps that is why the conversation was so animated. Whatever the reason, what follows is a very enjoyable romp outlining the strategy and culture of an incredibly successful broking duo. What is SRG going to do with its new investment? The answers are all in here. And that’s because of the two people in the room with me. A minute ago I said I have the best job in the world for me – and it seems obvious to me that these two would say exactly the same about their jobs. NOTES: Warren is the first to speak. The football team owned by Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney is Wrexham. LINKS: We thank our naming sponsor AdvantageGo: https://www.advantagego.com

Today’s guest is a leader in one of the most innovative and interesting businesses in the market. He was last on the show as part of a duo but is now here in his own right. This should all make much more sense when I tell you that I am talking about Dan Burrows, the Group CEO of Fidelis Insurance Group. Since we last met Fidelis has successfully split into the balance sheet insurer that Dan runs and the MGA the Fidelis Partnership led by Richard Brindle, in a move to a hybrid structure that is the first of its kind. Fidelis Insurance Group has also floated as a public company, completed a secondary capital raise and is to back the launch of a Fidelis Partnership syndicate at Lloyd’s. Many of the above events are once-in-a-lifetime occurrences for most executives, but Dan moves quickly and the person I spoke to for this interview gave the impression of already being settled into his new roles and doubtless exploring his business’s next moves. A listen back to this podcast has confirmed that time spent with Dan is enormously productive. We cover a huge amount of ground, from the state of the market all the way through to the best application of Artificial Intelligence in the insurance value chain. But I think one of the most valuable aspects of this encounter is that we get to hear Dan speaking clearly for himself and the interests of his shareholders. He does so incredibly frankly and candidly. His views are never ambiguous. So if you would like to spend some very productive time with a key player in one of the most successful underwriting organisations of its generation, please listen on. LINKS: We thank our naming sponsor AdvantageGo: https://www.advantagego.com

Today’s podcast is all about the insurance of political risk and violence and we are going to come at this subject from all angles. This episode is intended to be an all-round masterclass for anyone with an interest in these fascinating and fast-growing specialist lines of business. Is the world a riskier place and are risks going to remain insurable? And where is most of the new demand of the coming decades going to be coming from? All is examined in detail. Much has been made of the exceptional number of elections taking place in global democracies in 2024 as another possible source of political complications and conflict. Africa has also been highlighted as a potentially huge new source of demand, driven by the global transition to net zero carbon emissions and this goal’s need for the rare earth metals that are to be found in abundance in many of its Southern and Eastern States. But it’s no secret that many of Africa’s most mineral-rich nations with the largest development potential are also places where political stability can be in short supply. For this reason, I talk to Lara Wolfe, Senior Sub-Saharan Africa Risk Analyst at risk consultancy BMI, which is part of the Fitch Group. (Pictured Top) This market sounds like the ideal territory for brave underwriters to be operating in and this is where the expertise of Roddy Barnett (Pictured bottom), Head of Political Risks and Trade Credit at Beazley is invaluable. Finally, with the help of Beazley’s Head of Political Risk and Violence Claims, Alex Hill, (pictured middle) we’ll learn how the political risk product actually works on the. I am very pleased with how this first thematic documentary-style podcast has turned out – I do hope you enjoy it and find it useful. NOTES: Here’s the link to the Navigating political risk in an era of heightened global tensions report: https://www.beazley.com/en-US/news-and-events/geopolitical-risk-snapshot-2024 There’s a great summary, but I highly recommend downloading and reading it in its entirety.

Today’s Podcast is all about innovation and today’s guest has been responsible for doing more of it than most. James Slaughter is Chief Underwriting Officer at Apollo Group, a Lloyd’s business that has been behind collaborations and new product launches galore in recent times. Be it exploring semi-automatic underwriting and the application of artificial intelligence, the development of its own ibott syndicate, helping launch a parametric syndicate, or other specialist start-ups focusing on risks as diverse as Cyber, Drones, employee parental benefits or unlocking new business from Africa, Apollo has become one of the go-to market enablers for innovation in the London Market in recent times. James is always incredibly direct as an interviewee – and what you see is what you get – I find he’s exactly the same person whether the microphones are switched on or off. And that’s why this Episode is such a treat, James always says what he thinks - and it’s clear he thinks a lot more than most. Listen on and you’ll learn a lot about what is coming down the track, how some of the vanguard technologies are best being exploited and which of the newest developments at the insurance cutting edge James is most excited about. It’s breathless stuff – I had a lot of fun recording this one and I think you’ll enjoy a listen.   NOTES: Abbreviations: UNL – Ultimate Net Loss. In this context it is shorthand for traditional contract-of-indemnity insurance versus a parametric insurance structure. GUA – the General Underwriters Agreement, which is a leading underwriters agreement designed to govern and streamline how amendments to subscription market placements can be carried out, often allowing a leader or leaders to bind on behalf of following markets. ICX and TCX – Lloyd’s class of business codes for innovation and the energy transition respectively. LINKS: We thank our naming sponsor AdvantageGo: https://www.advantagego.com

Today’s guest carries out an incredibly important role representing the whole London Market in the UK’s corridors of power. That means looking out for a market that wrote over $100bn in core gross written premium and controlled just under $160bn in all in 2022, increasing its global market share to over 8 per cent. That also means representing a market that now employs some 60,000 people and produces two percent of UK GDP and eight-and-a-half percent of London’s GDP. Caroline Wagstaff, CEO of the London Market Group, was born to do a job like this. She’s passionate and very difficult to say no to, but she’s also a great communicator and is very good at reading a room and understanding a collective mood. The London Market Group (or the LMG) allows Lloyd’s, Liiba, the IUA and the LMA to speak with one voice on broad London Market-related topics and in this Episode we dissect the LMG’s latest London Matters Report and catch up with what is now top of the LMG’s busy agenda. The Report is an essential companion to this episode and there will be a link to it in the Notes – I highly recommend a read – it isn’t long and is packed full of very useful facts about the London market’s place in the global risk ecosystem, as a well as its direction of travel. Caroline is on excellent form in this discussion and the podcast is crackling with energy. I for one am extremely glad that we have been able to get someone of her calibre to represent us as an industry. London has been doing relatively well of late but listening back to this recording it’s clear that there is zero complacency at the LMG. It’s clear that Caroline is not going to rest until the UK government and regulators are working harder to make it do even better. NOTES: The Latest London Matters report can be found here: https://lmg.london/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/London-Matters-2024-Data-Pack.pdf LINKS: We thank our naming sponsor AdvantageGo: https://www.advantagego.com/

Today’s guest is in charge of a team of around 400, writing a book approaching $3 billion in gross written premium in the largest wholesale insurance market in the world I have had many CEOs on the show who run significantly smaller operations. And that’s what gives this podcast so much weight. Wendy Houser is Chief Wholesale Officer of Markel Specialty and is one of a select group of people with day-to-day visibility of the booming US Excess and Surplus lines (E and S) market. So today we are going to go into quite a lot of detail about the state of this huge and dynamic segment. An unprecedented level of business flow and rate rises has produced something of a golden age for E&S and we’ll be trying answer how much longer this state of affairs can continue. Wendy is great company, so along the way we’ll be getting to know a remarkable and charismatic insurance leader with a huge amount of knowledge and insight, who isn’t afraid of making difficult decisions and certainly doesn’t duck any of my more probing questions. LINKS: We thank our naming sponsor AdvantageGo: https://www.advantagego.com/

In this engaging discussion, Alex Maloney, an executive at Lancashire Group known for his straightforward insights into global insurance, shares the company's recent strategic moves. He dives into Lancashire's entry into the U.S. casualty treaty and excess & surplus markets. Alex emphasizes the importance of selective growth, sound underwriting, and the agility of smaller firms in adapting to market changes. He also highlights the need for a strong company culture to attract and retain talent in a competitive insurance landscape.

Today’s episode is a masterclass with two leaders in the North American professional liability market. Often on this show we talk about the big picture in very broad brushstrokes, but today is refreshing because we are getting into specific and specialist detail about some of the most broad-reaching and dynamic classes of business anywhere in the world. Danielle Librizzi, Head of Professional Liability, and Chris Cooper, Head of Media Liability, at QBE North America have a lifetime of market experience between them and this is a lively discussion. Casualty is under the spotlight the world over, but nowhere more so than in North America, so these two senior underwriters are right at the frontline in the battle to keep on top of new perils and trends in the world’s fastest-moving and highest stakes market. Here I ask what Danielle makes of casualty rate adequacy and I ask Chris how the pandemic, the trend to digital platforms and the writers’ strike have affected the media liability risk landscape. How is QBE’s professional liability division responding to the call for the globalisation of QBE’s offering and far great collaboration between departments? And how is QBE utilizing Artificial Intelligence on the ground in its own underwriting processes and, perhaps more importantly, how does Chris view it as an emerging media liability and potentially systemic general E&O peril? I got all the answers I was looking for and if you stay tuned so will you. Danielle and Chris are excellent company and this will be a very rewarding listen for anyone wanting to get a better perspective on the North American professional liability market LINKS: We thank our naming sponsor AdvantageGo: https://www.advantagego.com/