The Voice of Insurance

Today’s guest is the CEO of an $8bn GWP global insurance business. Ivan Gonzalez has spent 25 years travelling the world within the Swiss Re organisation, from his native Colombia to New York and China. He now runs Swiss Re Corporate Solutions. After undergoing a turnaround process a few years ago this is an organisation that has regained its strategic direction and confidence and is now posting combined ratios in the 80s. So it is from a position of strategic strength that this conversation developed. Ivan is an excellent guest because his passion for the role shines through and won’t allow him to mince his words. He is demonstrative and you quickly understand where he stands on any given issue. Given Swiss Re Corporate Solutions’ global capabilities and market relevance, that means we could have long and very detailed discussions on all the key market issues of the day. As such, the Corporate Solutions strategy, the opportunities arising from the global data centre boom, the application of AI in insurance and AI as a newly emerging peril, as well as the growth in MGAs all get the same unambiguous treatment. Ivan is a strong and charismatic leader who is fun to talk to. He is a dream guest and this makes for a highly recommended listen for anyone looking for clues on how to navigate a global market now clearly entering a softening phase. LINKS: We thank our naming sponsor AdvantageGo, now part of Sapiens: https://www.advantagego.com

Today’s guest is Richard Milner, CEO of Chaucer Group. Chaucer is a global specialty insurance and reinsurance institution with a great pedigree and significant scale, both inside and outside the Lloyd’s market. Richard is coming up for two years in post as CEO and is beginning to make his mark on the business’s long-term strategy. Richard has had the sort of underwriting career that makes him a very relatable guest. He worked his way up from photocopying slips at a Lloyd’s box to travelling the insurance world. Now he’s in senior management he’s easy to talk to because he’s still unambiguously an underwriter to his core. As a result this interview is really down-to-earth and practical in focus. In it Richard lays out his five-year plan for Chaucer and we dissect the issues of the day in great detail and variety, ranging from how rates and business flows are holding up in a more competitive market, to an assessment of AI as a new emerging peril and potential new line of business. Richard is great company and I can highly recommend a listen. LINKS: We thank our naming sponsor AdvantageGo: https://www.advantagego.com

Today’s guest is one of the best qualified people in the London Market. In a thirty-year career he has been a senior executive right at the top of Lloyd’s and has either chaired or sat on the board of almost all the institutions that underpin the market and represent it to the outside world. Today Sean McGovern is the CEO of UK & Lloyd’s at AXA XL and has just taken over the Chairmanship of the Lloyd’s Market Association (LMA), the trade body that represents corporate capital in Lloyd’s. Sean will speak for both organisations at varying times in our chat today. The timing couldn’t be better. In recent years the LMA has really set the agenda on some of the most strategic developments in the way that underwriting takes place in the subscription market and this discussion goes right to heart of how a future Lloyd’s will underwrite, how business will be brokered and how capital and new talent will access the market. I have been interviewing Sean for twenty years and he has a great skill in communicating in a really eloquent, but also very direct and concise way. He is very good at speaking plainly and making complicated ideas easy to understand. Today’s podcast is no different and this is one of the most broad-reaching and enlightened conversations I have had with anyone since founding the podcast over six years ago. As Lloyd’s embarks on a fresh five-year strategic plan this is a great primer on what all the issues are, where the opportunities lie, and what strategic decisions have to be taken for the market to continue to prosper. NOTES: The latest LMA report is on Lead and Follow. I can highly recommend a read: https://lmalloyds.com/campaigns/lead-and-follow-in-the-lloyds-and-london-market-beyond-the-binary/ And if you haven’t already read the LMA’s seminal publication on Enhanced Underwriting you can access it here LINKS: We thank our naming sponsor AdvantageGo: https://www.advantagego.com

As regular listeners will know, the Voice of Insurance usually interviews people from the global wholesale, speciality insurance and reinsurance end of the market, insuring the type of risks that tend to have to cross borders to find the right type of coverage. Today’s podcast is a slight departure from the norm because I am talking to someone who is working in the general insurance space in the UK. But they are doing so from a wholly original wholesale and tech-enabled angle that also incorporates one of the hot trends of the past few years – embedded insurance. Mark Christer is CEO of Wakam UK, a firm that uses the business-to-business-to-consumer (B2B2C) and MGA models to go to market in niche lines of business where it can stay under the radar of the volume and scale players in the UK’s hyper-competitive market. Wakam UK is the UK subsidiary of the rebranded French insurance group which can boast an illustrious 200-year history as France’s oldest private insurer, La Parisienne. Mark came into insurance because of his work in IT and has enormous experience in the UK market He is the former managing director of personal lines for RSA in the UK, where he looked after the high-profile digital brand More Than. Given Mark’s background it is perhaps unsurprising that Wakam UK is aiming to bring technology, including AI, to speed up the insurance process and go live with new prospects within weeks rather than months. Wakam UK already had reasonable scale in its legacy form, but in its new tech-first guise seems likely to achieve substantial growth. I think regular listeners will learn a lot from Mark and find a lot in common with him. In a world of hype, here is someone with all the experience and knowledge to make the promise become reality. His enthusiasm and positive energy is infectious, so I can highly recommend a listen. LINKS We thank our naming sponsor AdvantageGo: https://www.advantagego.com

Today’s podcast is with the CEO of a reinsurer that wrote just under $8 billion dollars of Gross premiums in 2025. Miguel Rosa runs Mapfre Re, a Global Top-20 reinsurer with a reputation for long-term strategic thinking and consistency in an often unstable market. As the reinsurance market softens, at a significantly faster rate than many reinsurers were expecting, it is fascinating to hear Miguel’s view on the prospects for profitable growth in 2026 and beyond. With 2 decades of reinsurance experience, topped off with three years in motor insurance Miguel brings an exceptionally well-rounded perspective to his role. In this podcast we look at the dynamics affecting the reinsurance market and the growth opportunities remaining within it, but we also broaden the discussion out to include more specific themes such as the opportunity in MGAs and AI, both as an aide to operational efficiency and more skilful underwriting, but also as an emerging peril in and of itself. Miguel is great company and the time will pass extremely quickly. I learned a lot and I think you will too. LINKS We thank our naming sponsor AdvantageGo: https://www.advantagego.com

I really enjoyed today’s interview because it outlines what is quite an original proposition in a very competitive marketplace. Jonathan Tritton is the Managing Director of Burns & Wilcox Global Solutions, which is the London and International wholesale broking arm of the US-headquartered Kaufman Group. The group has been formed via the coming together of the Chesterfield and Lochain Patrick broking businesses. So far, so familiar, you might say – a US-led broking group with London operations is hardly a big deal. But Jonathan is a recent joiner and the pitch he makes for his new employer is compelling. As the insurance value chain becomes more technologically advanced and much more efficient at allocating the right risks to the right distribution channels and the right forms of underwriting capital, despite the headwinds of the softening market, Jonathan is very optimistic about the growth prospects for his business unit. With a good combination of, sufficient scale and resources to be in the game and an enormous amount of room to grow, Jonathan’s optimism has an authentic ring to it. In this podcast specific growth plans, the digitisation and facilitisation of the market and Jonathan’s ambitions for a Lloyd’s syndicate as well as his thoughts on AI all get a full airing. Jonathan has been on the podcast before and is a very relaxed, eloquent and energetic interviewee, so this is an episode that will fly by. LINKS We thank our naming sponsor AdvantageGo: https://www.advantagego.com

Today’s podcast is all about catching up with a business that was last on the show five years ago. And we’ve got an awful lot of catching up to do. Back then Carbon Underwriting was on the show because it was one of the first crop of Syndicates in a Box at Lloyd’s, laying out interesting ideas on how to modernise and optimise the underwriting of delegated authority business. Now it has matured into a carrier with GWP in the hundreds of millions that has built its own proprietary core systems and developed a broad and diverse capital ecosystem to support its underwriting. The last five years have also been transformative for the delegated underwriting sector, with explosive growth combining with strong results. That’s why this interview with Carbon CEO Jacqui Ferrier is so interesting. As the market turns and a potential reckoning may lie in wait for the unwary or unprepared, Jacqui is a rare domain expert with her feet firmly on the ground and her eyes fixed on detailed underwriting data. The secrets of outperformance in delegated underwriting are all discussed here in the open for anyone who cares to listen. Fast ingestion of data, swift analysis and feedback, as well as absolute transparency with all stakeholders are key features Jacqui can afford to be so open and candid about what constitutes Carbon’s edge, in part I think because what she and her team have managed to build is the sort of thing that is easy to talk about in theory but extremely hard to execute in practice. Jacqui is great company and there is a huge amount of underwriting experience and expertise packed into the next 45 minutes. What’s more, the possible future strategic directions for Carbon as it continues to scale are a revelation. NOTES & LINKS API stands for Application Programming Interface Here is a link to the first Episode I did with Carbon, almost six years ago: https://www.thevoiceofinsurance.com/podcast/episode/3878ea54/ep-42-coverholders-in-a-box-stephen-card-of-carbon-underwriting We thank our naming sponsor AdvantageGo: https://www.advantagego.com

Today’s podcast is a first for the Voice of Insurance as this is the first time I have had an interview with a sitting Lady Mayor of London. Sue Langley or, the Right Honourable, the Lady Mayor, Dame Susan Langley, DBE, to give her her full and formal title, has worked in the insurance industry for 28 years, with senior roles at Hiscox, within the Corporation of Lloyd’s and latterly as Chair of the board of Gallagher UK. I have known her for over 20 of those years and throughout that time she has always been strong, direct, completely straightforward and down to earth. So that’s why it was such a pleasure to meet her in her incredibly high-profile, but often misunderstood 800-year-old role. Many of us might go our whole careers working in the City of London but remaining almost wholly ignorant of the workings of some of its most longstanding institutions. So our talk demystifies what the Lord or Lady Mayor position means in 2026 and reveals how Sue discovered the path to becoming its 697th incumbent. Ostensibly an apolitical role, nonetheless the modern Mayoralty has tremendous soft influence in the corridors of power, and as the UK’s effective ambassador for Financial and Professional Services, Sue gets to travel the globe representing all of us. In this podcast we will learn what’s on top of Sue’s agenda for her year in post and I am sure what she says will give all the insurance practitioners listening plenty of good cheer. I am also pleased to report that holding this great office hasn’t changed Sue in the slightest, in fact it is Sue who is doing a lot to make the role more relatable and relevant to our times. Sue is also a physical representation of how the past decade has witnessed the Insurance sector stand up and be counted and start to take its rightful place in the Civic affairs of the City and country in which it trades. Sue certainly won’t be the last Lord or Lady Mayor to be sourced from within the Insurance community and we should take a lot of encouragement from this. So listen on to what is a really informal, enjoyable and enlightening discussion. NOTES & LINKS: More information on Sterling 20 can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/britains-biggest-pension-funds-back-regional-growth-drive And you can get involved in the Lord Mayor’s Appeal here: https://www.thelordmayorsappeal.org/ We thank our naming sponsor AdvantageGo: https://www.advantagego.com

Today’s episode is unique because my guest is pretty unique. Gabriel Holschneider was working as a lawyer 20 years ago when he uncovered a passion for, and an obsession with, captive insurance and started a consultancy and a very small reinsurer with his own money. Then ten years ago he founded an MGA group called XS Global. In 2026 that group is the biggest MGA in Latin America, is fully globalising and is set to write over a billion dollars in gross premiums, often from hard-to reach locations or via niche classes that others find difficult to underwrite. Gabe is a remarkable personality and is building something that is clearly out of the ordinary. I have interviewed lots of people behind fast-growing MGA groups but none of them quite like this, and that is partly because this is a business that wasn’t born out of the traditional Anglo-US axis, where so many of its peers are to be found. It’s refreshing and different. So listen on as Gabe explains the rationale behind the group, the main differentiation points in its modus operandi and where he expects the venture to be heading in the coming years. It’s a breath of fresh air and I can highly recommend a listen. LINKS: XS Global https://xsglobal.com/ Eureka Re https://eurekare.com/ We thank our naming sponsor AdvantageGo: https://www.advantagego.com

When the well-known banker J.P. Morgan was asked by a reporter to predict the future of the stock market, he gave this now-famous three-word reply: “It will fluctuate”. Here was someone wise enough to know that making predictions is a hazardous occupation at the best of times, and doubly so if those predictions relate to often fragile and volatile financial markets. But what the evasive and inscrutable Mr Morgan perhaps failed to realise is that the thought process required to produce a prediction is a very valuable exercise in and of itself. After all, you can only make a prediction if you have a very clear understanding of where you are, what is surrounding you and the nature and strength of the forces and influences that are being exerted upon the objects of your observation. The ultimate value of a prediction doesn’t lie in its accuracy, but the clarity of vision and quality of analysis and understanding that has gone into making it. What a successful prediction ultimately requires is a large slice of luck, whereas an insightful piece of analysis always carries substantial inherent value, and paints a useful picture of underlying truths, no matter the eventual outcome. With this in mind, I have interviewed six experts with a highly eclectic set of skills and specialist knowledge, ranging from Geopolitics at the highest macro level, all the way down to highly specific perils that affect individual companies and the directors and employees who work for them. These perils might be state-sponsored, man-made, environmental, political, legal, cyber-related or indeed from beyond the earth’s orbit entirely. They will all combine to paint a valuable picture of the state of the world today and the forces and trends likely to shape it, and the global insurance sector that serves it, in 2026 and beyond. My six bold predictors are: Beazley’s Strategic adviser in Cyber and AI, Alex Creswell, CEO of Beazley Furlonge Ltd and Beazley’s Group Head of Specialty Risks Bethany Greenwood, Head of Space Denis Bensoussan, Environmental Liability Focus Group Leader Jenny Han, Mandeep Gosal, Vice President of Global Professional Services at Beazley Security and, completing our line-up, Beazley’s Global Cyber and Tech Claims Leader, Marcello Antonucci. That’s a formidable group and a huge collective resource of expertise. So, listen on as we distil that collective wisdom and turn it into a useful and insightful podcast. NOTES & ABBREVIATIONS: IRGC is Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps LINKS: More 2026 predictions from Beazley’s experts can be found here: Predictions 2026 | Beazley

As the global insurance market becomes more competitive, the first place to notice the change is usually the wholesale segment, because it’s always at the margins where all the most dynamic pricing action occurs. But whilst falling rates can prove a headwind to growth, as long as submission flows hold up and deals keep being done a more competitive market can be a more attractive one for new business because it is more welcoming to innovative ideas. Today’s guest is perfectly placed to see what is happening because he runs a business with around $4 billion dollars of wholesale premiums running through it. So that’s why I’m delighted to welcome Nick Abraham CEO of Amwins Global Risks (AGR) to the show. As the International subsidiary of one the dominant trio of major US wholesale brokers, after entering the London Market via strategic M&A, over the past decade AGR has grown its position rapidly to become a major force in the London and global wholesale markets The discussion is very rich and deep in places but it is also broad-ranging, moving from detail on AGR’s overall strategy to the specific opportunities and challenges of current market conditions and the possibility of shifting alliances relating to retail broker consolidation, all the way through to the likely long-term impact of technological change on the way wholesale business will be transacted in the future Nick is a charming and eloquent guest who is easy-going, fun and engaging. He is full of passion for the job and this shines though in our interview. All this makes for a really enjoyable and informative Episode. LINKS: We thank our naming sponsor AdvantageGo: https://www.advantagego.com

I interview all sorts of people on this podcast but today’s guest is a candidate for one of the most exceptional entrepreneurs to have come on the programme to date. Most people have the talent, a lot of people have the instincts and the drive, but few can combine that with the breadth of knowledge and ability to connect up the insurance value chain all the way from a homeowner right up to the most sophisticated capital markets. Today’s guest Terry McLean combines all three attributes and the results speak for themselves. His MGA group SageSure is likely to be writing US$3.6 to 3.7 billion in gross premiums in 2026, almost all of which is sourced from the cat-exposed segment of the US homeowners market. Terry embodies the pioneering spirit in that when others are walking away from a risk, his first thought is to walk towards it because that’s where margin in likely to be found. And in a class like US Homeowners that seems doomed to produce negative aggregate returns year-in year-out, margin is a very precious commodity indeed. So I would add a fourth quality to the list: bravery. Terry’s got it in abundance. So listen on for a remarkable story with an exceptional insurance entrepreneur. I guarantee that even if you are feeling your most jaded, you will finish this podcast with a smile on your face and a spring in your step. LINKS: We thank our naming sponsor AdvantageGo: https://www.advantagego.com

Todays’ guest has done something that only happens once in a generation. He’s helped found a new insurance industry trade body. Most insurance trade groupings tend to feel as if they have been around forever. Rightly so, because in various shapes or forms most of them have. New bodies only tend to be born because something has changed in the market that requires them to come into existence. Here the big change is the growth in MGAs on the continent of Europe and the new trade body is called FASE, the Federation of European MGAs or more correctly in its French and Latin-language friendly version, the Fédération des Agences de Souscription Européennes. Today’s guest is FASE’s Executive Director Willliam Pitt and this podcast is all about finding out what has brought about FASE’s inception and what needs in the European MGA community it is intending to serve. William has had a remarkable career in insurance on both sides of the underwriting desk as well as in consultancy, insurance marketing and indeed insurance journalism. He is both passionate and articulate about the forum that FASE is looking to provide for the industry and the fundamental drivers behind the seemingly inexorable growth in this part of the global insurance value chain. This makes for a really informative and thought-provoking discussion. You’ll learn a lot and by the end of this podcast you’ll be wondering why FASE didn’t come into existence far sooner. NOTES: FASE's annual conference, the MGA Rendezvous will take place at the Hotel Arts in Barcelona on May 11 and 12 2026. https://fasemga.com/rendezvous LINKS https://fasemga.com/ We thank our naming sponsor AdvantageGo: https://www.advantagego.com

Today’s podcast forms the second and final update on the fascinating 1.1 reinsurance renewals we have just been through. Whereas Episode 283 with David Flandro was all about delivering a high-level analysis of the global macro picture, this one is designed to focus in on detailed market specifics from a reinsurance broker’s perspective. For that we need a broker of great renown and great experience. And that’s why I’m delighted that Lara Mowery, Chief Commercial Officer at Gallagher Re has been able to talk to me. Lara fits the bill perfectly and is not far off entering her fourth decade at the frontline of the global reinsurance market. I have been interviewing her on and off stage for over 15 of those years and she has always combined a great ability to capture the essential temperament of the state of the market with the skill to communicate what she sees to others in a straightforward, no-nonsense way. With Lara I have always come away with the impression that what you see is what you get. You may remember I spoke to her briefly as part of last year’s Monte Carlo Special documentary podcast, but I am absolutely over the moon to be able to devote a full Episode to her for the first time. Gallagher Re has a great 1.1 report out as part of its long-running First View series. These have become an institution and have been required industry reading for over 20 years. This one is no exception and is called Options and Opportunities. In this podcast Lara is on excellent form and a listen will give you a strong and detailed idea of current market dynamics and what course reinsurance has set itself upon for the rest of 2026 and beyond. LINKS: Gallagher Re’s Options and Opportunities First View report can be found here: https://www.ajg.com/gallagherre/-/media/files/gallagher/gallagherre/news-and-insights/2026/january/gallagherre-first-view-options-and-opportunities.pdf We thank our naming sponsor AdvantageGo: https://www.advantagego.com

Most of the time most of the people working in insurance and reinsurance are way too busy doing their jobs to stop and think and engage with the big ideas that are driving the markets they operate in. One of the great luxuries of being a journalist is that it is our day job to talk to the people with the big ideas and report back to you. And these days with the podcast medium you get to be right in the room with me when I talk to those people and you can hear and learn for yourself first hand. This 1st January reinsurance renewal pricing fell sharply: that’s interesting in itself, but it’s far more interesting to be able to talk to someone whose job it is to work out what made that happen and what this means for the rest of the year and beyond. We can all see when it has rained but it’s far more useful to know what forces are driving the weather and get some idea of whether we need to pack umbrellas for the morning commute tomorrow. David Flandro is the Head of Industry Analysis and Strategic Advisory at Howden Re. To put it simply he is one of the smartest people in our business and his job is to analyse and think hard about our sector and tell us and his clients what he sees. And if you’ve heard him on the podcast before you’ll already know that he’s also great fun to spend time with. Howden Re have an excellent 1.1 Renewal report out – it’s called Re-balancing. There’s a link to the report in the notes below. I recommend you stop and download it now and give it quick read. Then come back and listen to the podcast and then re-read the report. It’s really comprehensive and will prime you for the year ahead in globally important topics, way broader than just insurance and reinsurance. If your New Year’s Resolution was to learn more about how the industry you work in really works and how it really fits in with the global economy then this one is for you. LINKS: Howden Re’s Re-Balancing report can be found here: https://www.howdengroupholdings.com/sites/default/files/2025-12/howden-re-balancing-2026-FINAL.pdf A shout out should also go the report authors, Julian Alovisi and Peter Evans. We thank our naming sponsor AdvantageGo: https://www.advantagego.com

Our industry is a mature one and because of that, growth stories are highly valuable. So today, we're looking deeply into the best growth opportunity for insurance in decades. And to that end we are going to examine an industry experiencing exponential growth and looking to multiply the amount of capital that it deploys tenfold over the next five years. We are of course talking about data centres. The huge demand for computer processing power unleashed by the boom in the application of artificial intelligence is a key driver of this new demand. On a recent results call, Aon CEO Greg Case said that this new phenomenon could generate over $10 billion in new premium volume in 2026 alone. But whilst the opportunity is enormous, so are the challenges. We won’t get ten billion dollars in new premiums a year without taking on substantial new volumes of risk. The sheer scale of investment in new data infrastructure is staggering, putting immense pressure on traditional construction methods, supply chains, power grids, the environment, and of course the traditional insurance market that is being asked to provide insurance cover for this unprecedented surge in the construction of vast assets. To help us analyse this opportunity from all angles, we’ve convened four experts, each offering a unique perspective— from an investor owning and operating the centres, to the underwriters covering property, environmental, and renewable energy risks. So I’m delighted to be joined by Atul Roy, an investor in digital infrastructure at Cordiant Capital who is representing the customer in our discussions; Lindsay Shipper, Head of North American Commercial Property at Beazley; Ben Sheppard, a renewable energy underwriting expert; and Nicholas Pearson who is a specialist in environmental liability risk underwriting.

As an insurance journalist, sometimes I think we in our profession must be a leading indicator for the industry. When we are breaking news it certainly feels that way. But at other times it often feels like we are a lagging indicator. Today’s podcast is a case in point. From about 6 years ago the insurance media picked up on a long-term trend and told its story. The story was that transacting reinsurance within the Lloyd’s market was something that was on the wane. Somehow Lloyd’s had lost its attractiveness and its market share was in major decline, indeed perhaps terminal decline. But no sooner had that narrative become commonplace did events make us look somewhat foolish. Today’s guest is a prominent leader of a resurgence of the use of Lloyd’s as a platform for building a reinsurance business. Cathal Carr is CEO of Oak Global, a new business underwriting global reinsurance and retro from within the Lloyd’s platform. Before founding Oak, Cathal had a stellar career with RenaissanceRe spanning two decades, so his reinsurance pedigree is impeccable. In this podcast we get into the heart of what Oak is all about, but as we do we quickly uncover some long-term reinsurance demand trends that Cathal believes will drive his business and the reinsurance sector long into the future. Cathal is highly regarded among his peers and is representative of a new generation of insurance leadership now breaking through and setting up their own businesses. As such our discussions around how to design and attempt to future proof a new reinsurer in the age of cloud computing and nascent AI are fascinating and highly recommended listening. So listen on for an exceptionally well-rounded interview with the founder one of the market’s newest and most exciting young business. LINKS: We thank our naming sponsor AdvantageGo: https://www.advantagego.com

Listening back this is an almost breathless podcast. But what’s remarkable is that it should be breathless for just under an hour. Markel Insurance has been through enormous strategic changes in 2025 and its CEO Simon Wilson has been at the heart of them. The reinsurance business has been exited and management structures streamlined. Now that the heavy lifting has been done this podcast outlines the type of company Simon wants the new, revamped Markel to become. This Episode is a great advert for the podcasting medium because no amount of words or investor presentations can be anywhere near as expressive and vivid as an executive with a clear vision and the passion and drive to get on and execute. You can hear it in every sentence. Simon also attacks all our conversation topics with equal vigour and gusto, so AI, digitisation and facilitisation and the rise of portfolio underwriting, the fast growth of MGAs and fronting carriers as well as the prospects for the US casualty market are all analysed with great rigour in the coming hour. It’s all candid and transparent. Everything is out on the open and nothing is off limits. It’s genuinely refreshing to hear the CEO of a multi-billion-dollar premium unit of a public company talk in no-nonsense terms about their business and the market it operates in. I really enjoyed this one and I think you will too. LINKS: We thank our naming sponsor AdvantageGo: https://www.advantagego.com

Today’s guest is a living example of the London Market being a place where global talent can come and enjoy a varied and fulfilling career that doesn’t have a glass ceiling. He arrived in London over thirty years ago as a risk engineer and now oversees insurance businesses writing over $2.5 billion in premiums and employing around 400 people. Luis Prato is President of Liberty Specialty Markets in the UK & the Middle East and North Africa as well as being CEO of Liberty Managing Agency at Lloyd’s. Because he is an engineer by training he is exceptional in his grasp of the technical side of underwriting and insurance operations. But he is extremely well rounded and has absorbed and internalised the culture of personal relationships and mutual trust that underpins the London subscription market and allows it to keep reinventing itself. Luis instinctively knows that outperformance in underwriting is a combination of both science and art. He has the engineer’s analytical mindset to bring rigour and structure to his methods, but also knows that if change comes at the expense of the people who make the market what it is, it won’t succeed. So, as the market simultaneously softens, digitises, and adopts AI and varying degrees of automation, this is a compelling and highly relevant conversation that brings us right up to date. Luis is optimistic about the immediate, medium- and long-term prospects for the London Market and after listening to someone as technically gifted, credible and down-to-earth as he is talking in these terms, I think you will be too. NOTES I made a mistake when I mentioned Luis’s colleague Matthew Moore. Matthew last appeared on the show in his capacity as Chair of the London Market Group, that is the LMG, not the Lloyd’s Market Association - the LMA, which is what I said. LINKS: We thank our naming sponsor AdvantageGo: https://www.advantagego.com

It’s great to have a guest of the calibre of Greg Hendrick CEO of Vantage back on the show, not least because his relatively new and young businesses is still growing fast and there is a lot to catch up on. Now five years old Vantage is set to write around $1.6bn in gross insurance and specialty reinsurance premiums and is managing $1.5bn in ILS funds. But listening back it’s the quality and breadth of the discussion we have that I am really pleased with. Greg is hugely experienced and once he updates me on where Vantage is and how he sees the market and the firm’s strategy within it, the conversation quickly moves on and probably goes deeper into the art of underwriting and portfolio construction than I have with anyone on the podcast so far. We also dissect the best applications of AI and other major trends, such as the flow of business into Excess and Surplus lines, the boom in MGA and fronting and hybrid carrier formation and the phenomenon of algorithmic underwriting and facilitisation. Finally, as this is a business set up with a likely 5-7 or 8-year initial investor timeframe and the five-year threshold has now been crossed, we round off on where Vantage is in its development journey and the prospects for M&A to complete its platform as well as the chances of a possible future IPO for the business in the medium term. Greg doesn’t hold back on any of this. He’s a great communicator and knows exactly what he is doing. He speaks with the absolute confidence of someone completely on top of his brief. And I think you will be able to sense the big smile on his face coming through the audio recording. It’s rare to get an opportunity to put everything you have learned in a successful career into practice and Greg’s clearly been enjoying his time building Vantage. I really enjoyed talking to him and got a lot of this conversation. Listen on and I think you will too. LINKS: We thank our naming sponsor AdvantageGo: https://www.advantagego.com