The Voice of Insurance – Details, episodes & analysis

I really enjoyed recording this podcast. That’s probably because since I last spoke to Mark Wheeler, Co-founder and Co-CEO of Mosaic Insurance, a full three-and-a-half years ago, he has been able to execute and begin to reap the rewards of all the plans he laid out in Episode 99. There’s nothing like a sub-80 combined ratio to put a spring in your step and validate the vision you had when you founded the business, particularly when it comes relatively early in a start-up’s life. Mosaic has now built out its global platform and wrote over 660 million dollars in gross premiums in 2024, with that number set to grow as the group continues to scale. This interview distils the group’s highly-specialist added-value underwriter-led philosophy in excellent detail. But at its core, this podcast is really all about a real Lloyd’s expert making the most of all the advantages of the market’s unique syndicated underwriting and capital platform. It’s about the deep understanding of risk and the many shades of diversified capital that that risk can be connected to to create a sustainable ultra-specialist insurance business. Mosaic has its own capital, third-party capital, specialist reinsurance relationships and a large group of syndicated insurance partners underwriting alongside it. It is highly diversified and is set to diversify more. It’s capital-efficient, but certainly not capital-lite. Today this is an almost unique model but at the same time it will be a very familiar one to anyone who knows Lloyd’s longer-term history. As the market splits into leaders, followers and data-heavy portfolio managers, here’s as good a summary of the 21st century lead underwriter model that you are likely to hear anywhere. Mark is a charming guest and this is one of those interviews that just crackled along of its own accord, without prompts. I can highly recommend a listen. NOTES: Mark Mentions a Toby. This is Toby Smith, Mosaic’s CEO of the Americas He also mentions Burkhard, which is Burkhard Keese, former CFO of Lloyd’s. FAL (Pronounced as a word) = Funds at Lloyd’s CISO = Chief Information Security Officer LINKS: We thank our naming sponsor AdvantageGo: https://www.advantagego.com

When I meet someone to record an interview they often ask me how long the podcast is going to be. My stock answer is that it entirely depends upon them. Some people talk more than others and some people pack an awful lot into a lot less time, while others take longer to fully express themselves. You also never quite know where the conversation is going to go and that is a huge variable. Today’s podcast is lively, fun and gets straight to the point. That’s because it entirely reflects our interviewee. Kevin Gill is the Chairman of IRLA, the Insurance and Reinsurance Legacy Association. IRLA is the UK trade body that represents insurance and reinsurance legacy management professionals and this interview will bring you right up to date with everything that is happening in this increasingly mature and sophisticated segment of the marketplace. As legacy becomes ever more embedded as an essential, trusted service provider and capital partner for the live market we discuss how that relationship is evolving and where it might end up in the long term. The legacy market also has its own cycles independent of the live market and so we look at the relative state of the two markets and how this affects dealmaking. We also take the temperature of how the legacy sector feels about some of the more problematic recent live underwriting years, as well as looking at emerging loss trends and prospects for the application of emerging technology such as Ai to the sector. The portrait that emerges is of a confident, professionalised and vibrant segment  that is ready to trade and is looking at interesting growth opportunities as some of the soft-market underwriting years begin to mature.   Kevin is a breath of fresh air and there are no subjects left off the table. My bet is that you’ll finish this episode wanting more. NOTES: ADC = Adverse Development Cover LINKS: We thank our naming sponsor AdvantageGo: https://www.advantagego.com

This might be turning into a bit of a running theme, but today’s podcast is another really positive, really forward-looking encounter with the CEO of a global balance sheet business who is reaping the early benefits of a turnaround and transformation plan. President and CEO of AXIS Capital Vince Tizzio is on really strong form in this interview. In it we tally up where he feels AXIS is currently placed on the journey towards its stated aim of becoming the best specialty underwriter in the world. It’s clear that large strides have been made and in our chat Vince details the ongoing programmes, both strategic and operational that he feels are going to help the business achieve his ambitious goals. We also check in on where the best market opportunities currently lie and how AXIS is planning on making the most of them, as well as how the group is navigating opportunities such as AI and the volatile state of global risk of all descriptions. Vince is a great interviewee because he is authentic and wears his heart and his passions on his sleeve. I certainly came away with the feeling that with him what you see is what you get. Listen on an I think you’ll be able to hear for yourself. LINKS: We thank our naming sponsor AdvantageGo: https://www.advantagego.com

Today’s guest is someone pretty unique for our sector because he’s a software engineer who became a senior actuary and then founded his own insurance-focused technology business. Amrit Santhirasenan, Co-founder and CEO at hyperexponential’s story is a classic of the entrepreneurial genre: Frustrated with a lack of an insurance-specific decision-making platform to bring together underwriters, actuaries and the exponentially growing datasets that an increasingly digital world is producing, Amrit decided to build his own. The longer I am around, the more I find that an unorthodox combination of skills and experience often unlocks extra value and Amrit is a great example of this. He’s also not a stereotypical actuary because, amongst his many talents, he has the sort of communications skills that would put many top brokers to shame. So this podcast is an incredibly eloquent summing up of hyperexponential’s business model and a wider and very detailed examination of the state of insurance today. Ironically you could argue that underwriters and actuaries used to work closer together until technology started to get in the way. Amrit is on a mission to bring back a much tighter feedback loop between the actuaries who interrogate the data to uncover insights and the underwriters who have to take those insights and turn them into decisions out in the real world. Pricing is at the intersection of all the most exciting things that are happening in insurance today – it’s where data, brain power and market savvy all come together to try and give carriers an edge over their competitors. Amrit’s great company and a dream guest, so technologists and technophobes alike do listen on as we set the world to rights. You certainly don’t need any tech knowledge to get the benefit of Amrit’s insights. LINKS: www.hyperexponential.com

Today’s guest is someone with a fascinating story to tell. Today Antony Erotocritou is the CEO of Ardonagh Specialty but he has ridden the Ardonagh story all the way from its origins in the debt-for-equity swap for troubled UK retail consolidator Towergate in 2015. Ardonagh has since been on a journey to build its specialty and international operations, which included 2021’s transformational deal to buy the newly-formed Corant Global Group, comprising the brokers Ed and Besso. The organic and inorganic investment continues at high speed. Over the last eight years, perhaps the only part missing from this story has been a clear narrative from the broking group itself. It has given the impression that it is too busy with its head down to worry about what others might think of it. Ardonagh seemed happy to leave a vacuum that many of its peers have been eager to exploit. It’s fair to say that media coverage of the group in the past few years has been chequered, with as many negative stories of team defections as positive ones around new hires or acquisitions. Well, this podcast gives me the sense of being the start of the group getting out on the front foot. Ardonagh Specialty has consolidated its many brands into Price Forbes and Bishopsgate and Antony has a very positive growth story to tell. As a former CFO he is absolutely on top of the numbers and strategy and we have a very detailed discussion about the economics of scaling up an expansive broking platform. He’s excellent company and as someone who arrived to rectify one of UK broking’s most serious mis-steps, here is someone who knows in great detail how expansion should not be done. Here we learn how he thinks it should be done properly and given his unique experience, it’s really worth hearing him out. There’s a lot to learn and plenty of myths to be exploded. LINKS: We thank our naming sponsor AdvantageGo: https://www.advantagego.com/

Today’s guest is someone I should have had on the show a long time ago, but I’m really glad has finally got an episode to himself. Tony Ursano is the Managing Partner and Co-founder of Insurance Advisory Partners and is someone who has been right at the top of deal-making in our industry for more than three decades. With roles at blue-chip firms on Wall Street and at Insurance brokers, he’s one of the few people who really excels at making the connection between the insurance industry and the global investment community and has had a hand in a large proportion of the most significant M&A transactions of the last 20 years. Because of this he is a fount of knowledge and is someone whose counsel and analysis it is always worth seeking out. For example if I ask: What will it take for investors to come back to reinsurance in significant volumes? Will higher interest rates take the shine off broker valuations? Or whether the boom in MGAs will run out of steam? With Tony I know I am going to get straight answers and a real feel for where the market is headed that comes from direct and constant experience. He’s also now his own boss and that independence just seems to make it easier for him to speak his own mind. In this discussion I asked all these questions and a lot more besides, and I wasn’t disappointed. And neither will you be. I’ve interviewed and chaired Tony many times over the years and I think our easy and good-humoured rapport comes across clearly in this conversation. So, sit back and get ready for a vintage episode with a real market player. Whether a buyer or seller - or a business looking to raise debt or equity finance or an investor looking for good opportunities in the insurance sector, Tony one is of the first people I’d advise anyone to call. NOTES: I let an abbreviation through. It was SaaS, which stands for Software as a Service. LINKS: We thank our naming sponsor AdvantageGo: https://www.advantagego.com/

Today’s guests are Paul Templar CEO and Sebastian Prosser, Head of Account Management at insurance technology solutions specialist VIPR. VIPR started out in the London Market 14 years ago. From day one its core offering was to provide a software solution to the endless administrative problem of the ingestion and checking of data in the Delegated Authority (DA) space. With around 40% of the business at Lloyd’s transacted this way, it started life in a very fertile environment that was drowning in a mass of spreadsheets, emails and stray documents. Today it has grown enormously to be the largest player in this segment with over 400,000 bordereaux processed annually relating to around £5 billion of gross premium. This business is at the real coal face of digitisation in our industry and its development is following a ruthless logic: If you can ingest, verify and cleanse insurance data on a large scale, the next step is to start to analyse that data and gain genuine insights into the business you are writing.  And once you can do all this you can also speed up the process of onboarding new partners from a compliance perspective. My chat with Paul and Seb comes as VIPR is making large strides internationally into the US and European markets on the back of significant new blue-chip investment. With digital initiatives gaining traction and prominence all over the insurance world it’s an exciting time for the market and for VIPR. Here we talk about the prospects for a far more efficient, digital and data-driven marketplace, the world of insurance software ecosystems and the exciting expansion opportunities opening up for VIPR and its clients. Paul and Seb are great company and I recommend this episode to anyone looking to learn how to climb the first rung of the digital ladder. NOTES Naturally we mention DA a lot. That’s the abbreviation for Delegated Authority. There is also TPA, which stands for Third Party Administrator (usually for claims). LINKS https://viprsolutions.com/

Today’s guests are Warren Downey Group CEO and Lee Anderson, Group Deputy CEO of UK-headquartered intermediary Specialist Risk Group (SRG). Warren was last on the show as part of two very early Special Episodes that SRG sponsored over three years ago. Back then SRG was just about to get a new private equity backer in the form of HGGC. Since that change of ownership the growth has been impressive, with SRG increasing its intermediated premium threefold via a combination of organic and inorganic growth. So far this makes SRG sound like it is treading a well-worn path of PE-backed consolidation, but that would be to fundamentally misunderstand what Warren and Lee are trying to do with this singular organisation. SRG is a fast-growing broking and MGA platform with very high ambitions, but it is in no way a conventional scale-up play on the hunt for market leverage and cost removal. SRG is best described as a growing collection of very specialist businesses that are all operating in niches where it is the depth of its specialist knowledge and relevance to very specific markets and not its scale that allows it to compete. Warren and Lee are a brilliant double act and this is a fascinating and fun insight into a broking group that is building something intentionally different and going out of its way to do unexpected and surprising things. From being agnostic about channels to market, doing M&A differently, running a shadow board or giving staff access to accelerated management programmes and share ownership, there is a huge amount to admire in what this duo is trying to achieve. So listen on – Warren and Lee talk about preferring to show people what they have already done as opposed to telling them what exciting, but as yet unexecuted, plans they have for the future and this podcast is full to the brim of excellent examples. And on a personal note I don’t think I have had a more fun, lively and down-to-earth duo on the podcast in a very long time – the time will fly by. NOTES: Warren refers to growth to 600 million in premium volume. That’s in £ pounds, or $785mn in US Dollars. LINKS: SRG’s website is here: www.specialistrisk.com You can contact Warren Downey at Warren@specialistrisk.com

Today’s guest is Chris Killourhy, Managing director of QBE Re. The reinsurance market has been through some comprehensive changes in the last 12 months and so has QBE Re. In this podcast we delve right into the evolving appetites and re-vamped strategy at this well-respected medium-sized reinsurer. In the past QBE Re was viewed as a highly competent and nimble trader in the markets in which it operated. Today it is evolving into a player that is looking to become a long-term across-the-board partner for the right kind of cedant. Chris hopes that this strategy will deliver a growing, balanced portfolio and a more predictable and less volatile level of earnings than in the past. Chris is a qualified actuary and has had a really varied career to date, which has already included multiple roles within the wider QBE group. But, unlike the apocryphal actuary to be found as the butt of hundreds of insurance jokes, he lays out his stall with great eloquence and his ideas on how to build a more balanced portfolio make for fascinating listening. Listen on for many wise insights and a clear vision for how a mid-sized reinsurer should navigate this market and how it can best compliment and benefit from its ownership by a major global insurance parent group. NOTES: Chris refers to a Jamie. That’s Jamie Cook, QBE Re’s Chief Partnership Officer. LINKS: We thank our naming sponsor AdvantageGo: https://www.advantagego.com/

Asta is the largest third-party manager of Lloyd’s Syndicates by quite a long way. As such, today’s guest Lorraine Harfitt CEO of Asta, almost certainly has a better view of what types of new business entrepreneurs and major insurers alike are looking to set up. She also has the best view of Lloyd’s changing appetites around what type of businesses it is looking to allow into - and keep out of - the marketplace. So this podcast is a great temperature gauge on the Lloyd’s and wider international insurance and reinsurance markets. I’m happy to report that I found Lorraine full of optimism and enthusiasm, with a long and diverse pipeline of business in prospect on many fronts, be it new Syndicates in boxes, Captive Syndicates, traditional syndicates, other alternative vehicles or MGAs. As Lorraine puts it, there is always a fear that the appeal of the Lloyd’s and London Market may one day wane. On this showing there is no evidence of this happening any time soon. Lorraine is a an industry professional of vast experience who has worked her way from the Lloyd’s Policy Signing Office in Chatham all the way up into the heart of the market. She knows this business inside and out, she’s great company and this podcast is packed with lots of really nuanced observations. NOTES: Lorraine mentions a Julian. That is of course Julian Tighe, former CEO of Asta and now its Group Director and Chief Commercial Officer at Davies Insurance Services. ICAS, the UK forerunner of the Solvency II regime, stood for Individual Capital Adequacy Standards. LINKS: We thank our naming sponsor AdvantageGo: https://www.advantagego.com/