Insurers must innovate amid changing risk landscape: IUA CEO

Geopolitical volatility, tariffs, supply chain disruption and a growing cyber threat show there is an ever-increasing need for risk managers and insurers to work together. That represents an opportunity for insurers to evidence how, against a backdrop of change, they can innovate to provide relevant products.

That is the view of Chris Jones, chief executive, International Underwriting Association (IUA). Speaking to AIRMIC Today ahead of the conference in Liverpool, he said he anticipates a thorough and detailed analysis of the changing nature of risk at this year’s event. 

“The agenda allows us to reflect on the current emerging risk and economic landscape facing multinational companies; that is another opportunity for insurers to evidence how they can adapt and innovate to provide products and distribution models that meet client demand,” he said. 

“From an insurance perspective, the market dynamics of softening conditions, continued push towards growth and improving risk management will no doubt be at the forefront of the debate.”

Collaborating with Airmic

Jones, who only took the reins of the IUA on May 1, also stressed his desire to work more closely with Airmic, especially on thought leadership pieces around emerging risk while working with the risk management community on policy wordings to meet its needs. 

“We’re in discussions with Julia Graham and her team on a collaboration on emerging risk and hope to develop something later in the year,” he said. “More generally, we are acutely aware that talking with brokers is not the same as talking with the risk management community and our engagement with Airmic gives us a perspective we otherwise wouldn’t have, and insight into what clients are focused on right now. 

“The earlier insurers are able to engage in the process of rolling our new processes, technologies etc. the better; Airmic is the ideal vehicle to do that. So, for us, it’s about strengthening that relationship.”

The IUA also hosted a masterclass on June 9 at the conference, covering insurance policy wordings and aggregations. Jones said the session was designed to give attendees the opportunity to hear directly from clients about their views on aggregation within their businesses and how their insurance programmes supported them. 

“In a changing world, and thinking about developments around AI, IoT and cloud computing, systemic risk and aggregation are ever more important. We have never been more connected,” he said. 

“We’ll use real-world case studies, such as wildfires and cyber-attack, to apply recent lessons learnt around aggregation language. When so much is changing, it is imperative to ensure that our policy wordings continue to provide clarity and certainty for clients – with total alignment in understanding between all stakeholders in the insurance process.”

Three focus areas

When he became CEO, he identified three key areas to focus on: underwriting and claims excellence, risk, and retention of talent. 

On the first, he notes that the IUA has some 1,000 practitioners on its underwriting and claims committees, which is a huge level of engagement. “London as a global hub lives or dies by its underwriting and claims expertise and we will bring that front and central to our operations by identifying and promoting technical excellence on key underwriting and claims issues, developing our thought leadership work and looking at risk more holistically. Topics for study will include assisting members in managing market cycles, maintaining growth and improving risk management in challenging market conditions,” he said.

In terms of the focus on risk, he said the challenge currently is this is quite siloed. He wants to revisit how his association views risk and develop a more integrated approach, whether this means looking at emerging risk, systemic risk or bringing new products/trends to the forefront.

Finally, the focus on talent will be driven by its IUA Futures initiative, which involves providing networking, training and education opportunities for practitioners in the first five years of their careers. 

“We will develop a more co-ordinated approach to our education and training offering and a key part of this is the IUA Futures initiative. We are focusing on keeping talent in the market through education and peer engagement – so targeting the 0-5 year experience range. This will be complementary to existing work in the market,” he explained.

In addition to these initiatives, he said the IUA will be adding focus and strategy to its claims offering by appointing a specific director of claims. “This will give prominence and direction to the value the claims service has to the reputation of the industry and the need to drive technical excellence, efficiency and the next generation of talent,” he said. 

He also wants to showcase better the excellent work within the IUA and the membership to reflect the increasing diversity in the business profile of its members. It is attracting more MGAs and more niche providers in addition to the traditional large, multinational carriers. 

Another priority is to evolve the committee model to reflect a less hierarchical environment, where younger professionals can contribute fresh thinking. “Establishing younger-member committees will be key to creating a more holistic, future-facing approach.”

For more news from AIRMIC Today, click here.

Did you get value from this story?  Sign up to our free daily newsletters and get stories like this sent straight to your inbox.