In this episode of Making Risk Flow, host Juan de Castro interviews Meghan Hannes, the Head of US Underwriting Management, Cyber Risks at Beazley. As a highly accomplished executive leader, Meghan has demonstrated success in portfolio management, actuarial and data science, and cyber risk management services. During the course of the discussion, Juan and Meghan cover the dynamic cyber insurance market, the evolving role of underwriters, and the role of risk controls and loss behaviour in...

In this podcast episode, Juan de Castro interviews Jeffrey Hayman, a CEO, Chairman, board member, and entrepreneur in the global insurance industry. Hayman has an impressive track record in executive roles at carriers like AIG and, more recently, in non-executive roles, including his current position as Chairman of the Board at R&Q Insurance Holdings Ltd.  They discuss various topics, including the state of the market, the board-level conversations about AI adoption,  and the use of...

In this episode of Making Risk Flow, host Juan de Castro sits down with three friends in the underwriting and insurance space to discuss the importance of underwriters in the insurance industry and how technology can improve their efficiency and effectiveness. They mention the need to digitise data, automate processes, and provide decision support to underwriters. The importance of a customer-centric approach and the role of external data in understanding and evaluating risks is also on the...

In this episode of Making Risk Flow, host Juan de Castro sits down with Bryan Falchuk, the President and CEO of Property & Liability Resource Bureau, and David Gritz, the Co-Founder and Managing Director of InsurTechNY. Drawing upon research gathered from the Insurance Collaboration Index, the trio discuss the impact collaboration can have in the insurance industry. Juan, Bryan and David also cover key lessons for nurturing successful partnerships, why it’s important to maintain a...

Making Risk Flow is back for it's fourth season! In the first episode of the new series, host Juan de Castro is joined by his good friend and Deputy CUO and Head of Third Party at Inigo Insurance, Craig Knightley. During their conversation, the pair discuss just how data analytics and insights can play a pivotal role in gaining a competitive advantage in insurance and ensure underwriters are more accurate in risk selection. Plus, Craig outlines the five pillars of Indigo's strategy: great...

In the last episode of Season 3 of Making Risk Flow, host Juan de Castro highlights some of his favourite moments from the series. During the season, Juan has hosted 15 excellent guests from brokers, insurers and advisors. Looking back at the season, Juan, with the help of insightful clips, talks about the three common challenges that have spanned across all 12 episodes. The first is efficiency, and how manual processes can result in inefficient workflows that affect productivity and...

In this episode, Juan is joined by Nathália Bellizia, Managing Director at Boston Consulting Group (BCG), to analyse the BCG's upcoming Value Creation Report. The eagerly awaited document shall help identify the patterns of insurers that have created value over the last five years compared to those that have destroyed value. Juan and Nathália also discuss the three key themes which have contributed to value creators and value destroyers: GenAI, sustainability and the talent war.  Our...

In this episode of Making Risk Flow, Juan is joined by analytics expert Paul Mang, Innovation Advisor at Guidewire and former global CEO of Analytics at Aon, to discuss the use of analytics in insurance and how to get better returns on such investment. Juan and Paul also address how the industry can make progress through interoperability, ways in which analytics can improve efficiency whilst driving down costs, and why the insurance industry needs to focus on increasing its relevancy. Our...

In this episode, Juan is joined by both Neil Peters, the National Director of Branch Network at Arch International UK, and Arvind Drubhra, the Director of Operations for the UK and Ireland at HDI Global SE. During the course of their conversation, Juan, Neil and Arvind discuss how to leverage data to drive growth, the steps and target states to achieving full digitisation, and how technology might allow businesses to accelerate the onboarding of new underwriters. Our previous guests...

This time, we are wanting to shine a light on a previous episode from our back catalogue. Recently, insurers have been focussing more and more on implementing digital risk flows. So, here's an episode on that very topic. The goal of digitising risk flows is to enable automated decision making on the best course of action for each submission, characterising each risk with granular risk information and ensuring that underwriters only work on winnable, decision-ready risks. In this episode,...

This time on Making Risk Flow, host Juan de Castro is joined by Paul Brand, the CEO of Convex Insurance. In the episode, Juan and Paul discuss the three pillars of Convex’s success in the insurance industry: creating the perfect company culture, optimising technology to make data-driven decisions, and how operational excellence can give businesses a competitive advantage. Our previous guests include: Bronek Masojada of PPL, Simon McGinn of Allianz, Richard Coleman of Ecclesiastical, Steven...

In this episode, Juan is accompanied by Sheila Cameron, CEO of Lloyd's Market Association, to discuss digitising the London insurance market. Over the course of their discussion, the pair talk through how the London insurance market is changing, ways to drive change in the complex environment, and the importance of standardising data across the industry. Our previous guests include: Bronek Masojada of PPL, Simon McGinn of Allianz, Richard Coleman of Ecclesiastical, Steven Wilkins of Hiscox,...

In this episode, Juan is joined by Mandy Hunt, the Chief Underwriting Officer of Commercial Lines at RSA, to discuss the crucial role of data in the underwriting process. During their conversation, Juan and Mandy consider how automated and structured data can aid risk selection consistency, help underwriters understand the data at their fingertips, and how to identify new sources of data. Our previous guests include: Bronek Masojada of PPL, Simon McGinn of Allianz, Richard Coleman of...

In this episode, Ben Luckett, Chief Innovation Officer at Aviva, joins host Juan de Castro to share how continuous internal innovation at Aviva has helped establish it as a global name in insurance. Also, Juan and Ben discuss the three core elements of Aviva’s innovation process, the importance of investing in innovation even if it does not have an immediate payoff, and the three big trends leading insurance innovation right now: mobility, AI, and an increasingly connected world. Our...

In this episode, Juan discusses implementing ESG with Simon Tighe, Group Head of Investments, Treasury and Credit Risk at Chaucer Group, and Paul McCarney, Senior Director of Insurance Product Strategy at Moody's. Together, the trio talk through the relevance of ESG data in insurance, the need for standardised data, and how the industry can unite to create a more sustainable future. Our previous guests include: Bronek Masojada of PPL, Simon McGinn of Allianz, Richard Coleman of...

In this episode, Juan is accompanied by Matthew Grant, CEO of InsTech, to discuss the three major topics that everyone in insurance is talking about right now: digitising insurance to remove friction, the impact of climate change, and actively reducing or mitigating risk. Plus, Juan and Matthew touch on the potential impact AI and ChatGPT might have on the insurance industry. Our previous guests include: Bronek Masojada of PPL, Simon McGinn of Allianz, Richard Coleman of Ecclesiastical,...

In this episode, Juan is joined by Jason Howes, Director of Business Transformation at Allianz Commercial UK, and Jonathon Gray, Transformation Business Owner at Allianz Insurance. With the guests coming from the same company, the trio discuss the vision and structure of the transformation initiatives taking place at Allianz, how risk prioritisation can help companies win business, and why digital risk flows might be the future of insurance. Our previous guests include: Bronek Masojada of...

In this episode, Juan is accompanied by Paolo Cuomo, the Executive Director of Gallagher Re. Over the course of the show, Juan and Paolo discuss the challenges with data in reinsurance, how cyber development is learning lessons from the CAT property space, and why large amounts of data can actually be ineffective for insurers. Our previous guests include: Bronek Masojada of PPL, Simon McGinn of Allianz, Richard Coleman of Ecclesiastical, Steven Wilkins of Hiscox, and Thierry Daucourt of...

In the first episode of Season 3, Juan invites Philippe Lutgen, the Chief Operating Officer for Howden Broking in Europe, onto Making Risk Flow. The pair discuss the four key areas to success in broking, how data automation could be integrated into broking processes, and how the industry could make strides in underinsurance. Our previous guests include: Bronek Masojada of PPL, Simon McGinn of Allianz, Richard Coleman of Ecclesiastical, Steven Wilkins of Hiscox, and Thierry Daucourt of...

In this episode of Making Risk Flow, Juan is joined by Bronek Masojada, the former CEO of Hiscox and the current Chairman at Placing Platform Limited (PPL). Their conversation ranges from discussing Bronek’s time at Hiscox and his reflections on the challenges he faced, to talking about how PPL works, how it is being received by the market, and its successes.

In this episode, Juan is joined by Simon McGinn, CEO of Allianz Commercial UK, and Richard Coleman, Managing Director, UKGI at Ecclesiastical Insurance Group, on a panel discussion at a Making Risk Flow live event. With the guests coming from two contrasting insurers, in terms of scale, Juan asks the guests how their companies are approaching digital transformation, what avenues they are prioritising, and any vital lessons they’ve learned throughout the process.

In this episode, Juan is accompanied by Steven Wilkins, Senior Vice President and Head of Casualty at Hiscox USA, to discuss how Hiscox successfully underwrites for smaller businesses. Amongst other things, their conversation covers how to handle renewals, ways to deal with mid-term adjustments, and the creative work that goes into profiling potential clients.

In this episode, Juan is joined by Roman Itskovich, Co-founder and Chief Risk Officer at At-Bay, and Jay Rajendra, Chief Strategy and Innovation Officer at Arch Capital Group, on a panel at ITC Vegas 2022. The trio discuss the current landscape of the insurance market, how data-driven cyber underwriting is helping to open up new opportunities for the sector, and the prospects and challenges of cyber underwriting.

In this episode, Juan is joined by Thierry Daucourt, Head of P&C Commercial Lines European Markets at AXA, to discuss how digitisation is upending the underwriting value chain. The pair discuss how the underwriter's role has changed in the production, management, and valuation of information, and how technological advancements can free underwriters to concentrate on activities that generate additional revenue. www.cytora.com

In this episode of Making Risk Flow, our host, Juan de Castro, joined Helen Troman, Chief Underwriting Officer Small Commercial at Chubb, and Ian Fantozzi, Chief Executive Officer at Beazley Digital, on a panel of the Commercial Lines Innovation Europe 2022. They discussed how insurance can embrace flexibility and digitization to deliver a better service.  https://cytora.com/ Instructions on how to rate and review Making Risk Flow on Apple Podcasts can be found here.