What began as curiosity about autonomous AI agents has evolved into a much more practical discussion about implementation, governance, economics and competitive advantage. 

In this special solo episode, InsTech's Zoja Wojcik reflects on the developments that have shaped the market since InsTech's first Agentic AI event in November 2025. Drawing on conversations with insurers, brokers, MGAs, technology providers and industry leaders, she explores how the industry has moved beyond experimentation and towards a more challenging question: where does the commercial value actually come from? 

Along the way, you'll hear insights from Simon Torrance, Erdal Atakan, Gina Gill, Elena Maran, Max Richter and Ian Thompson, alongside examples of how organisations including CFC, McGill & Partners, AIG, Duck Creek and hyperexponential are bringing Agentic AI into real insurance operations. 

Whether you're still trying to understand what Agentic AI means for insurance or already evaluating deployment opportunities, this episode offers a practical snapshot of where the market stands today and the questions leaders should be asking next. 

Want to continue the conversation? Join us in London on July 7 for 'The age of Agentic AI: from strategy to commercial value'.

00:00 - What is Agentic AI and why has it become one of insurance's most discussed technologies? 

03:15 - Looking back at the industry's first major Agentic AI event in November 2025 

05:45 - Simon Torrance on why Agentic AI should be viewed as a new workforce, not simply another software tool 

06:20 - Early deployment examples from across the insurance market: 

• CFC's Lane Assist  
• McGill & Partners and Salesforce Agentforce  
• AIG's AI-driven underwriting initiatives  
• Federato's agentic underwriting platform  
• hyperexponential and Banyan Risk  
• Duck Creek's insurance-native Agentic AI platform  

08:15 - Why moving from pilot projects to production remains difficult 

10:00 - The defining question of 2026: proving commercial value and ROI 

12:15 - Intelligence Capital, competitive advantage and why buying AI tools may only create parity 

13:30 - Orchestration, governance and maintaining trust in agentic systems 

15:00 - Workforce transformation and practical lessons for insurance leaders 

16:00 - What questions should insurance organisations be asking next? 

• The industry conversation has shifted from experimentation towards implementation and measurable business outcomes.  
• Many of the biggest barriers to adoption are organisational rather than technical.  
• Boards increasingly expect clear economic justification for AI investment.  
• Competitive advantage may come less from AI models themselves and more from institutional knowledge and decision-making expertise.  
• Governance frameworks must evolve alongside increasingly autonomous systems.  
• Organisations that focus on specific business problems are more likely to succeed than those pursuing AI for its own sake.  

• Simon Torrance, AI Risk  
• Erdal Atakan, Inigo  
• Gina Gill, Apollo  
• Elena Maran, Alethesis AI  
• Max Richter, Mea platform  
• Ian Thompson, IMT Advisory 

For listeners looking to explore the themes discussed in this episode: 

Agentic AI & insurance 

• Podcast episode: Where is the industry today? – a view from the C-suite (A rare C-suite perspective on Agentic AI: what it is, how it’s being deployed and why senior leaders are walking a tightrope between bold innovation and operational risk.) 
• CFC launches Lane Assist, a live agentic underwriting pilot 
• McGill & Partners becomes first London Market broker to deploy Agentic AI 
• McGill + AIG collaboration using AI-driven underwriting 
• Duck Creek launches insurance-native Agentic AI Platform 
• Federato RiskOps and Agentic underwriting platform 
• MGA Banyan Risk deploys hx’s full agentic underwriting suite 

Strategy & commercial value 

• Simon Torrance's work on Intelligence Capital  
• AI Risk research on Agentic AI and enterprise transformation  
• InsTech & ServiceNow New York event: The future of insurance will be orchestrated, not built 

Governance & Responsible AI 

• Article: The New Frontier: Managing and insuring generative and agentic AI risks with Edinburgh Futures Institute 
• Podcast episode: Creating a new kind of assurance & insurance framework for AI-related risks (This episode unpacks one of the most ambitious research initiatives currently shaping the future of AI risk in insurance.) 

In this episode, Matthew Grant is joined by Harry Vardigans, Head of Insurance at Fathom, for a conversation that spans Atlantic Ocean rowing, catastrophe modelling and the evolving nature of risk in insurance. 

Later this year, Harry will join three teammates in an attempt to row 3,000 miles across the Atlantic Ocean, travelling from the Canary Islands to Antigua in a nine-metre boat. What starts as a discussion about one of the world's toughest endurance challenges quickly becomes a fascinating exploration of how individuals and organisations prepare for uncertainty, manage risk and make decisions in complex environments. 

Drawing on both his upcoming expedition and his work helping insurers better understand flood risk, Harry reflects on the parallels between navigating an ocean crossing and navigating today's insurance market. From weather forecasting and route optimisation to insurance availability and regulatory change, the conversation highlights how better data and improved modelling can transform previously uninsurable risks into manageable opportunities. 

In this conversation, Harry shares: 

• What it takes to prepare for a 3,000-mile Atlantic rowing race 
• The practical realities of managing risk in one of the world's most demanding endurance challenges 
• How weather forecasting and climate intelligence influence decision-making at sea 
• Why ocean rowing has become a more insurable risk over time 
• The role regulation plays in creating new insurance opportunities 
• How Fathom and Swiss Re are combining expertise to advance flood modelling capabilities 
• Why flood risk assessment has changed significantly over the last five years 
• The benefits of maintaining a consistent global approach to catastrophe modelling 
• Lessons from scaling a specialist insurtech business in a competitive market 
• How the philosophy of continuous improvement can apply to both sport and business 
• Why ambitious projects often begin with simply committing to the first step 

Follow Harry's Atlantic crossing

Harry and his crew, Rogue Wave, will be sharing updates as they prepare for and complete their Atlantic crossing.

• Instagram: @rogue_wave2026
• LinkedIn: Rogue Wave Atlantic Row 2026
• YouTube: Rogue Wave Vlog Episode 1 – Introductions

The team is also raising money for two charities, The HALO Trust and the Cocktower Foundation, with donation links available through their social channels.

Harry's recommendation

Harry recommends Will It Make The Boat Go Faster? by Ben Hunt-Davis and Harriet Beveridge. The book explores how a relentless focus on actions that directly contribute to your goal can drive exceptional results, a philosophy that has shaped both his approach to business and his preparation for crossing the Atlantic.

If you like what you’re hearing, please leave us a review on whichever platform you use or contact Matthew Grant on LinkedIn. 

Sign up to the InsTech newsletter for a fresh view on the world every Wednesday morning.

While much of the insurance AI conversation has focused on underwriting automation, Agentiv-x is taking a different approach: helping brokers make faster, more consistent and more explainable placement decisions in increasingly complex commercial markets. 

Drawing on backgrounds in financial services regulation, governance and insurance technology, Mark and Rob explain why they believe the next generation of AI tools must go beyond black-box automation. Instead, they argue the future lies in combining the pattern recognition power of large language models with structured reasoning and transparent decision-making. 

The discussion centres on the practical application of neurosymbolic AI, an emerging approach designed to deliver the benefits of generative AI while improving explainability, consistency and regulatory accountability. Through their placement copilot platform, Agentiv-x is aiming to help brokers compare policies more effectively, evidence the quality of their recommendations and reduce the risks associated with manual decision-making. 

Set against a backdrop of growing regulatory scrutiny, increasing compliance demands and rapid AI adoption across financial services, the conversation explores what responsible AI implementation in insurance could look like over the next decade. 

At the heart of the episode is a key question: as brokers become increasingly reliant on AI-assisted decision-making, how can the industry balance automation with transparency, accountability and human judgement? 

In this conversation, Mark and Rob share: 

• What neurosymbolic AI is and why it matters in insurance  
• How Agentiv-x combines large language models with symbolic reasoning  
• Why they chose to focus on brokers rather than underwriting workflows  
• The challenges brokers face when comparing complex commercial policies  
• How explainable AI can help reduce E&O exposure and improve client outcomes  
• Why consistency and traceability are becoming central regulatory concerns  
• How AI-native insurance businesses could disrupt incumbent market models  
• Why brokers remain essential in AI-assisted decision-making processes  
• How Agentiv-x is approaching claims advocacy using the same technology foundations  
• What success looks like as the business moves towards its next funding round 

If you like what you’re hearing, please leave us a review on whichever platform you use or contact Robin Merttens on LinkedIn. 

Sign up to the InsTech newsletter for a fresh view on the world every Wednesday morning.

From storytelling and interview technique to AI-assisted editing and the evolving role of podcasts in B2B marketing, Matthew shares an honest look at what works, what doesn’t and how InsTech is thinking about the future of content in an increasingly crowded landscape. 

Rather than focusing on technology alone, this episode explores something more fundamental: why people listen, what makes conversations memorable and how meaningful stories cut through industry noise. 

Listeners will hear Matthew’s practical insights on: 

• Why storytelling matters more than expertise alone  
• The power of keeping interviews simple, focused and human  
• How educational content outperforms the hard sell  
• What separates memorable podcast guests from forgettable ones  
• How AI tools like Claude and NotebookLM are changing podcast production and research  
• Why audio remains such a powerful medium for busy professionals  
• The importance of preparation without over-scripting conversations  
• How personal stories unlock better discussions and stronger audience connection  

Matthew also reflects candidly on his own interviewing habits, what AI revealed about his style and why continuous improvement matters even after hundreds of episodes. 

Along the way, he highlights standout conversations from previous episodes, including discussions with Sasha Haco of Unitary and serial entrepreneur Mark Cunningham of PriceHubble, both examples of how compelling personal stories can bring complex insurance innovation to life. 

Whether you host a podcast, appear as a guest or simply want to communicate ideas more effectively, this episode offers a thoughtful masterclass in creating content people actually want to listen to. 

If you like what you’re hearing, please leave us a review on whichever platform you use or contact Matthew Grant on LinkedIn. 

Sign up to the InsTech newsletter for a fresh view on the world every Wednesday morning.

Recorded at a moment when Agentic AI was beginning to dominate conversations across insurance, the discussion explores what the industry might look like three to five years into widespread AI adoption — and what it will take to get there. 

The panel examines where insurers are already deploying AI agents, from claims investigations and underwriting support to real-time risk analysis and customer servicing. But alongside the optimism sits a more cautious conversation around governance, regulation, data complexity and the growing gap between experimentation and operational reality. 

Throughout the discussion, there is a recurring tension between ambition and execution. Some panellists argue the winners will be organisations willing to move quickly with focused, incremental deployments. Others warn that poorly governed AI systems, unrealistic expectations and “fear of missing out” decision-making could create entirely new risks for the sector. 

The conversation also raises broader questions about how insurance itself may evolve as AI capabilities mature — from the rise of highly automated brokers and MGAs to changing expectations around service, talent and human expertise. 

With InsTech and AI Risk returning on 7 July for this year’s expanded Agentic AI event in London, this episode offers a useful opportunity to look back at the predictions, concerns and opportunities shaping the conversation just one year ago. 

In this conversation, the panel discusses: 

• Where insurers are already deploying AI agents across underwriting, claims and servicing  
• Why governance and human oversight remain critical in regulated industries  
• The operational challenges of implementing AI at scale inside large organisations  
• Whether Agentic AI will augment teams or significantly reduce operational headcount  
• How leadership, culture and change management will influence adoption  
• Why incremental deployment may outperform large transformation programmes  
• The growing importance of AI governance, accountability and security controls  
• How customer expectations and service models could evolve over the next five years  
• Why talent shortages may accelerate demand for AI-enabled workflows  
• Which organisations are most likely to benefit from the next wave of insurance innovation

Sign up to the InsTech newsletter for a fresh view on the world every Wednesday morning.

Having spent years working closely with insurers, Carrie brings a rare dual perspective, both as an industry insider and as a homeowner navigating one of the most challenging insurance markets in the world. After relocating from the Carolinas to Florida, she found herself caught in a system where cover is not only harder to access, but increasingly difficult to justify. 

The conversation centres on her experience trying to secure homeowners and flood insurance in a state where carriers are withdrawing, pricing is volatile and eligibility rules create unexpected gaps. Despite not being in a designated flood zone, Carrie faced rising premiums, limited options and ultimately the decision to go without flood cover altogether. 

Set against the backdrop of Hurricanes Helene and Milton, she shares what it is like to experience storm risk first-hand, from uncertainty around evacuation to the aftermath of storm surge and its impact on communities.  

At the heart of the episode is a difficult but important question: when the cost of protection continues to rise, how do individuals, insurers and governments respond? 

In this conversation, Carrie shares: 

• Why insurers are pulling back from markets like Florida and what that means for customers 
• How flood risk, eligibility and pricing can create unexpected protection gaps 
• What it feels like to navigate insurance decisions during active hurricane seasons 
• The trade-offs between state-backed cover and private market alternatives 
• Why insurance costs are becoming a key driver in relocation decisions 
• How catastrophe events are reshaping perceptions of risk at a household level 
• Why improved data does not automatically lead to more affordable insurance 
• How initiatives like Elevate Florida are attempting to adapt to increasing flood exposure 
• What insurers are focusing on as they balance claims pressure with long-term sustainability 

Carrie’s recommendations: 

• Podcast: The Rest is History 
• Book: Millennium by Tom Holland 

If you like what you’re hearing, please leave us a review on whichever platform you use or contact Matthew Grant on LinkedIn.

In this episode, Robin Merttens is joined by Max Richter, EMEA CEO and Global Growth Leader at the mea Platform, to explore why AI in insurance is finally moving from theory into real operational impact. 

After years advising insurers on transformation at Accenture, Max made the shift to building technology inside the workflows he once analysed. His view is clear: the industry doesn’t need more AI strategy, it needs systems that actually execute work. 

The conversation focuses on a fundamental shift, from using AI to generate insights to using it to get work done. From underwriting to claims and servicing, the opportunity is no longer about reading data faster, but about automating the workflows that sit behind it. 

Max also shares why previous waves of automation fell short, what’s changed in the technology landscape, and why this moment feels different. With stronger models, better integration and growing cost pressure, AI is becoming an operating model question, not just a technology one. 

In this conversation, Max shares: 

• Why the industry is moving from AI experimentation to execution  
• The shift from automating tasks to automating entire workflows  
• Why “ingestion” is only the starting point, not the end goal  
• Where AI agents are already delivering real impact in underwriting and claims  
• How incumbents and new entrants are approaching adoption differently  
• Why starting with a clear pain point is key to scaling AI successfully  
• The difference between AI theatre and production-grade outcomes  
• Why collaboration with underwriters and operations teams is becoming essential 

If you like what you’re hearing, please leave us a review on whichever platform you use or contact Robin Merttens on LinkedIn. 

Sign up to the InsTech newsletter for a fresh view on the world every Wednesday morning.

In this episode, Matthew Grant speaks with Mark Cunningham, Managing Director at PriceHubble, about how insurers can move from fragmented data to genuinely informed decision-making. 

Despite decades of investment in data and analytics, many insurers still lack a clear understanding of the assets they are covering. Mark offers a candid view of where the real problems lie, and why improving outcomes starts not with more data, but with better data. 

He introduces a simple but powerful framework, seeding, signalling and selling, which reframes how insurers should approach risk. From establishing a reliable baseline of what is actually on risk, to identifying meaningful signals and acting on them, the model highlights the gaps that continue to hold the industry back. 

The conversation explores the practical challenges of property data, including inconsistent addressing standards and the underuse of unique identifiers such as UPRNs. Mark explains how solving these foundational issues unlocks a far richer understanding of exposure, enabling insurers to assess risk with far greater precision. 

Looking ahead, the discussion turns to emerging pressures. Mark shares analysis suggesting that up to 500,000 UK properties could become effectively uninsurable within the next decade due to the combined impact of flood and subsidence. It is a stark example of how climate risk is becoming financially visible and why insurers need to rethink how they model long-term exposure. 

The episode also highlights missed opportunities across the wider financial ecosystem. Despite working with similar data, insurers and mortgage lenders remain poorly aligned, creating friction in customer journeys and limiting the potential for more integrated risk assessment. 

Mark also reflects on where generative AI is already making a difference, from reactivating historical leads to improving customer interactions and product recommendations. The impact is less about transformation and more about strengthening existing processes in practical, measurable ways. 

At the heart of the discussion is a consistent theme: better decisions depend on better foundations, and the industry still has work to do to get the basics right. 

In this conversation, Mark shares: 

• Why data in insurance is either useful or useless, and the risks of relying on anything in between 
• How the seeding, signalling and selling framework helps structure better risk assessment 
• Why many insurers still do not fully understand what they have on risk 
• How UPRNs can act as a common language for property data, and why adoption remains limited 
• What new data sources are revealing about construction risk and evolving exposures 
• How combining climate perils and property economics points to a growing insurability challenge 
• Why insurers and mortgage lenders are still not aligned, and what that means for customers 
• Where generative AI is delivering practical value today across operations and distribution 

Mark’s recommendation: 

• Book: The Miracle of Castel di Sangro by Joe McGinniss

If you like what you’re hearing, please leave us a review on whichever platform you use or contact Matthew Grant on LinkedIn. 

Sign up to the InsTech newsletter for a fresh view on the world every Wednesday morning.

In this episode, Matthew Grant speaks with Rachel Delhaise, Chief Sustainability Officer at Convex, about what climate sustainability really looks like inside a modern insurance business. 

While attention may have shifted elsewhere, the underlying challenges have not gone away. Rachel offers a clear view of how insurers are continuing to respond through underwriting decisions, risk modelling and long-term investment thinking. 

Rachel joined Convex in the early stages of the business to build its sustainability approach from the ground up. Her role spans three core areas: identifying opportunities in the transition, strengthening how climate risk is understood and managed and supporting cutting-edge carbon science research. Together, these reflect a broader shift in how insurers are positioning themselves as active participants in enabling change. 

The conversation explores how insurance is supporting emerging technologies such as carbon capture and storage, where underwriting plays a critical role in making projects viable. Rachel also shares how the industry is approaching increasingly complex risks, from wildfire to flood, in a world where historical data is no longer a reliable guide. 

Drawing on her experience across underwriting, investment and industry collaboration, she explains why the fundamentals of risk still matter, even as new tools and models emerge. She also highlights the growing influence of insurance thinking across the wider financial system, as banks and investors begin to grapple with physical climate risk in more sophisticated ways. 

At the heart of the discussion is a simple but important idea: insurance has a unique ability to enable progress, but only if it is brought into the conversation early and used intelligently. 

In this conversation, Rachel shares: 

• Why sustainability remains a core strategic priority, even as public attention fluctuates  
• How insurers are supporting the transition through underwriting and investment, not just policy statements  
• What it takes to insure emerging areas like carbon capture and storage  
• Why pricing, rather than capacity, is often the real constraint in renewable energy insurance  
• How insurers are adapting to climate risk with limited historical data  
• Why understanding exposure and vulnerability is still fundamental to modelling future risk  
• What the protection gap reveals about global resilience and economic stability  
• How insurance expertise is shaping how banks and investors assess climate risk  
• Why involving insurers earlier can significantly improve the success of large projects  

Rachel’s recommendations 

• Podcast: Fossil vs Future  
• Book: The Ministry for the Future by Kim Stanley Robinson 

If you like what you’re hearing, please leave us a review on whichever platform you use or contact Matthew Grant on LinkedIn. 

Sign up to the InsTech newsletter for a fresh view on the world every Wednesday morning.

Sasha’s route into the industry is far from typical. With a background in astrophysics and no prior experience in insurance, she set out to build something tangible using AI, focusing on real-world problems rather than theoretical ones. 

What began as a mission to make the internet safer has evolved into a fast-growing platform that automates some of the most manual and time-consuming processes in insurance. From bordereaux handling to claims and policy administration, the focus is on removing repetitive work without requiring insurers to overhaul their existing systems. 

Drawing on her experience building Unitary from the ground up, Sasha shares a clear and practical perspective on where AI is delivering value today, how insurers can get started quickly and what it takes to stand out in an increasingly competitive market. 

At the heart of the discussion is a simple idea: meaningful progress often starts with tackling the most overlooked and operationally painful tasks. 

In this conversation, Sasha shares: 

• Why coming from outside insurance can unlock new ways of solving entrenched problems  
• How virtual agents can replicate human workflows across legacy systems without integration  
• Where insurers are seeing the fastest returns from automation today  
• Why speed to ROI is becoming a defining factor in AI adoption  
• How trust and customer outcomes are emerging as key competitive advantages 
• What it takes to build and scale in a crowded AI landscape  
• Why the biggest barrier to automation is often mindset, not technology

If you like what you’re hearing, please leave us a review on whichever platform you use or contact Robin Merttens on LinkedIn. 

Sign up to the InsTech newsletter for a fresh view on the world every Wednesday morning.

What follows is a sharp, unscripted reflection on how the industry has evolved from early insurtech scepticism to today’s surge of enthusiasm around generative AI. But beneath the milestone moment is a more interesting story, how insurance has shifted from resisting technology to almost over-embracing it, and what happens next when the tools are no longer the problem. 

Drawing on years at the centre of the market’s innovation community, Matthew and Robin explore the move from experimentation to execution, why “grown-up AI” is now the real challenge and where genuine commercial value is starting to emerge.  

In this conversation, Matthew and Robin share: 

• Why the industry has gone from fighting technology to actively chasing it 
• What “grown-up AI” really means and why governance and orchestration now matter more than new tools 
• How underwriters and brokers are finally seeing immediate value from AI in their day-to-day work 
• The risk of being overwhelmed by point solutions and what happens without a coherent strategy 
• The two very different playbooks for building AI businesses and which one is gaining traction 
• Why revenue is arriving faster for startups and how that is reshaping investment dynamics 
• What is fuelling the current boom in MGAs and why now feels like a defining moment 
• The contrasting rise of younger founders and experienced operators launching their own ventures 
• Why much of the market is still writing familiar risks and what that says about true innovation 
• Whether insurers are losing their appetite for harder, more unusual risks 
• How community, curiosity and shared learning continue to underpin real progress in insurance 
• And why, despite everything, face-to-face conversations still matter more than ever 

If you like what you’re hearing, please leave us a review on whichever platform you use or contact Matthew Grant or Robin Merttens on LinkedIn. 

With a background spanning FinTech, InsurTech and risk analytics, Martha brings a practical perspective on how data and technology can improve decision-making, not just automate existing processes. At Reserv, she’s helping build a claims model that combines operational efficiency with quality, while challenging long-standing assumptions about how claims should be handled and paid for. 

In this conversation, Martha shares: 

• Why the most valuable AI in claims is “boring but brilliant”, not flashy  
• How continuous monitoring is quietly improving claims outcomes at scale  
• Why efficiency alone is no longer enough, and what it takes to deliver quality alongside it  
• How claims data is becoming a critical input into underwriting and pricing decisions  
• The challenge of legacy systems and why data fragmentation still holds the industry back  
• What real AI adoption looks like, and why execution is starting to outpace strategy  
• How AI is exposing misaligned incentives in traditional time-and-expense TPA models  
• Why insurers need to rethink how they pay for claims services in an AI-driven world  
• The shift from technology transformation to human and workflow transformation 
• How reducing administrative burden can refocus claims handlers on empathy and judgement  
• Why better claims operations ultimately matter for affordability and customer outcomes

If you like what you’re hearing, please leave us a review on whichever platform you use or contact Robin Merttens on LinkedIn. 

Sign up to the InsTech newsletter for a fresh view on the world every Wednesday morning.

While tax is often viewed as a back-office concern for finance teams, it can have a significant strategic impact on how insurance businesses operate, scale and ultimately exit. From the complexities of VAT and Insurance Premium Tax (IPT) to the opportunities created by R&D tax incentives and the Patent Box regime, the conversation highlights both the risks of getting tax wrong and the upside of approaching it proactively. 

Richard brings more than two decades of experience advising insurers and intermediaries on indirect tax. He explains why VAT behaves differently in insurance compared with most industries, and why misunderstandings around exemptions, commissions and international services regularly create costly problems for growing businesses. 

Candy focuses on the more positive side of the equation: how innovation incentives can help companies recover the cost of developing new technology. For InsurTech firms investing heavily in product development, these incentives can represent a meaningful source of funding and cash flow if captured correctly. 

At the heart of the discussion is a simple message: tax is not just about compliance. Managed properly, it can influence profitability, operational efficiency and investment decisions across the insurance value chain. 

In this conversation, Richard and Candy share: 

• Why VAT behaves differently in insurance and why exempt supplies can quietly increase operating costs 
• The common misconception that commission structures automatically determine VAT treatment 
• How the reverse charge mechanism on overseas services often creates unexpected liabilities 
• Why start-ups have a strategic advantage when designing tax processes from day one 
• How R&D tax credits can return meaningful cash to companies investing in innovation 
• Why capturing technical challenges and development work early is critical for successful claims 
• How the Patent Box regime can reduce corporation tax on profits linked to patented technology 
• Why tax incentives should be considered alongside broader decisions about where companies locate teams, IP and development hubs 

KPMG are also hosting post-ITI drinks in London with Insurtech UK to navigate the headwinds of today's economic and regulatory challenges facing insurers and insurtechs alike over cocktails, food and conversation. Click here to register your interest: https://insurtechuk.org/events/0319-one-last-stop-from-headwinds-to-happy-hour/ 

Additionally KPMG Actuarial have released a white paper on Smarter Pricing, Smarter Insurance. How integrated data, AI and governance transform underwriting and growth. Download to read here: https://m.marketing.kpmg.uk/webApp/Smarter_pricing_Smarter_insurance_whitepaper 

If you like what you’re hearing, please leave us a review on whichever platform you use or contact Matthew Grant on LinkedIn. 

Sign up to the InsTech newsletter for a fresh view on the world every Wednesday morning.

As algorithmic underwriting and portfolio solutions reshape the London Market, insurers, brokers and reinsurers are rethinking how risk is placed, followed and managed at scale. Facilities are multiplying, digital trading models are emerging and data is becoming the foundation of increasingly automated underwriting decisions. 

Drawing on perspectives from underwriting, broking and reinsurance, the panel explores what portfolio underwriting really looks like in practice today. They discuss how facilities are evolving, why broker strategies are changing and what it takes to run sustainable portfolio capacity in a market that is becoming more digital and more data-driven.  

At the centre of the discussion is a growing tension between ambition and infrastructure. The market wants faster placement, smarter capital allocation and more algorithmic decision-making, yet many firms are still wrestling with fragmented data, legacy systems and inconsistent standards. 

In this conversation, Tessa, Emily and Jonathan share: 

• Why portfolio solutions have become one of the fastest-growing models in the London Market 
• How brokers are evolving their placement strategies as facilities and pre-placed capacity expand 
• Why selecting the right portfolio leader is critical for long-term facility performance 
• How improving data quality is becoming a prerequisite for digital trading and algorithmic underwriting 
• Why incentives across brokers, carriers and reinsurers matter when it comes to better data 
• How AI is reshaping risk, creating new liability exposures and changing how insurers analyse emerging threats 
• Why capital providers are increasingly demanding greater transparency and portfolio insight

If you like what you’re hearing, please leave us a review on whichever platform you use or contact Robin Merttens on LinkedIn. 

Sign up to the InsTech newsletter for a fresh view on the world every Wednesday morning.

Five years into building an AI-driven data cleansing platform for carriers and brokers, Nicola and Alex have seen the market shift from scepticism to urgency. Boardrooms are now asking how AI is being embedded into underwriting workflows, and whether those capabilities should be developed internally or sourced from specialists. 

Drawing on their experience building deterministic AI models for exposure data and catastrophe modelling, they offer a grounded perspective on what works, what breaks and where the real risks sit. 

At the heart of the discussion is a simple truth: getting to 80% is easy. Getting the final 20% right is where strategy, domain expertise and long-term thinking matter most. 

In this conversation, Nicola and Alex share: 

• Why Build vs Buy has intensified as generative AI moves from experimentation to executive priority 
• How investor pressure and board-level scrutiny are shaping AI strategy inside large carriers 
• Why generative AI can accelerate development but does not remove the complexity of insurance data 
• The danger of plausible but wrong outputs in exposure management and catastrophe modelling 
• Why deterministic AI still plays a critical role in delivering consistent, renewal-ready data 
• How inconsistent data cleaning can distort underwriting decisions and renewal pricing 
• The hidden cost of technical debt when insurers attempt to build internally 
• Why maintaining and iterating ai tools is often harder than building the first version 

If you like what you’re hearing, please leave us a review on whichever platform you use or contact Matthew Grant on LinkedIn. 

Sign up to the InsTech newsletter for a fresh view on the world every Wednesday morning.

From founding an insurance business himself to leading a technology company serving specialist MGAs across Europe, Frank brings a rare dual perspective. He understands both the pressure of getting premium through the door and the responsibility of building systems that underwriters actually want to use. 

As private equity capital accelerates into the sector and niche, digital-first MGAs proliferate across continental Europe, the conversation turns to speed, integration and the quiet evolution of the underwriting workbench. 

In this conversation, Frank shares: 

• Why technology literacy is now firmly in the hands of business users, not just IT departments 
• How the rise of highly specialised MGAs is reshaping what underwriting platforms need to deliver 
• Why “rip and replace” transformation programmes are giving way to orchestration and coexistence 
• How AI is materially accelerating integrations and onboarding, cutting rollout times from months to days 
• The difference between generic AI tooling and insurance-specific intelligence 
• Why speed of execution is becoming a defining competitive advantage 
• What a tightening market cycle will mean for operational efficiency 
• Why continental Europe may offer the next major growth wave for MGAs 
• How culture and domain expertise can matter as much as code in a crowded market 

If you like what you’re hearing, please leave us a review on whichever platform you use or contact Robin Merttens on LinkedIn. 

Sign up to the InsTech newsletter for a fresh view on the world every Wednesday morning.

Moderated by Matthew Grant, CEO of InsTech, the panel features Simon White, Chief Claims Officer at Apollo, Aidan O’Neill, Founder and CEO of DOCOsoft, and Zoe Woods, Claims Improvement Manager at Lloyd’s. 

Specialty claims have long been viewed as too bespoke, too nuanced and too reliant on human judgement for automation to play a meaningful role. But as underwriting becomes algorithmic and distribution turns digital, claims can no longer lag behind. 

This conversation moves beyond theory to evidence. Automation is already embedded in live workflows across the market. The firms adopting early are seeing measurable operational gains. 

In this conversation, they share: 

• Why the myth that specialty claims cannot be automated is finally breaking down 
• How Apollo processed more than 23,000 claims through automated checks, cutting handling times to under a working day 
• What happens when you ask claims handlers to map every task they repeat on each file 
• Why automation should augment decision-making rather than create black boxes 
• How structured data and integrated dashboards unlock meaningful AI use cases 
• What Lloyd’s is doing to balance innovation with oversight in a syndicated market 
• Why modular, plug-and-play services are replacing large-scale transformation programmes 
• What specialty can learn from automation in motor and property lines 
• Why starting small with repeatable processes creates fast, tangible wins 
• How claims is shifting from cost centre to strategic differentiator 

If you like what you’re hearing, please leave us a review on whichever platform you use or contact Matthew Grant on LinkedIn. 

Sign up to the InsTech newsletter for a fresh view on the world every Wednesday morning.

In this episode, three early movers in automated underwriting share hard-earned lessons from building digital underwriting propositions that have survived real market cycles. Rather than theory or hype, this conversation digs into where technology genuinely creates advantage, where it does not, and how underwriting judgement remains central even in highly algorithmic models. 

Drawing on experience across cyber, US property and digital facilities, the panel explores why complexity, not commoditisation, is often where automation delivers the greatest edge. From AI-driven cyber underwriting to high-cat surplus lines property and digitally distributed specialty products, each speaker explains how they chose their focus and what they learned along the way. 

Key themes include the role of data discipline in sustaining AI-led underwriting, why platform design matters more than speed to market, and how underwriters’ roles are shifting from generalists to specialists embedded in algorithmic decision making. The discussion also tackles unstructured data, submission quality and why “no data, no deal” may become a defining principle of future underwriting models. 

What you’ll learn in this episode: 

• Why complex risks can be better suited to automated and augmented underwriting than simple, commoditised ones 
• How AI and machine learning are being applied in live underwriting decisions, not just analytics 
• The importance of volume, homogeneity and risk differentiation when building algorithmic models 
• Lessons from re-platforming early digital products and avoiding long-term technical debt 
• How generative AI is changing data cleaning, exposure management and submission handling 
• What enhanced underwriting means for underwriter skills, careers and decision making 

Featuring perspectives from Marek Shafer of Vave, Tom Squires of AEGIS London and Jonathan Spry of Envelop Risk, moderated by Matthew Grant of InsTech. 

You can also watch the video version of this panel here. 

If you like what you’re hearing, please leave us a review on whichever platform you use or contact Matthew Grant on LinkedIn. 

Sign up to the InsTech newsletter for a fresh view on the world every Wednesday morning.

With candid insights into Fadata’s AI strategy, Liselotte reveals how the company is using AI to accelerate software development and reduce implementation costs while improving quality. She tackles the big question: will AI make policy admin systems obsolete? Her answer offers a pragmatic view on cost, complexity, compliance and collaboration. 

In this conversation, Liselotte shares: 

• How AI is already streamlining configuration, documentation and testing in core systems
• Why the true opportunity lies in faster implementations and reduced transformation costs
• How the role of developers is shifting, and what this means for insurance talent
• Why insurers should invest in AI to enhance - not replace - their core platforms
• What the smartest insurers are doing now to future-proof operations in an AI-first world

If you like what you’re hearing, please leave us a review on whichever platform you use or contact Robin Merttens on LinkedIn. 

Sign up to the InsTech newsletter for a fresh view on the world every Wednesday morning.

Tobi shares why the shift from traditional to generative and agentic AI has outpaced current risk frameworks, leaving insurers exposed to risks that are poorly defined, difficult to monitor and impossible to price using historic loss data. He explains how his team is exploring dynamic underwriting models, parametric solutions and novel assurance techniques like LLM-based judges and automated red teaming, all with the goal of enabling safer, more accountable AI adoption. 

Ahead of the Agentic AI Half Day event, hosted in collaboration with AI Risk, Tobi Schneider and Lukasz Szpruch wrote an article The New Frontier: Managing and insuring generative and agentic AI risks, further exploring this topic.  

In this conversation, Tobi shares: 

• Why AI systems that function “correctly” can still produce harmful or costly outcomes 
• How traditional insurance models fail in the face of opacity, model drift and dynamic learning 
• What makes AI risk so difficult to price and how parametric triggers can help bridge the gap 
• Why better assurance leads to better insurance, and how incentives can drive safer AI deployment 
• How continuous monitoring tools are being developed to audit AI models in real time 
• What today’s early AI insurance offerings (from the likes of Munich Re and Relm) are actually covering 
• The role of non-profit research in supporting commercial innovation without commercial bias 
• What insurers can do now to prepare for an AI-driven future even without historical data 

If you like what you’re hearing, please leave us a review on whichever platform you use or contact Robin Merttens on LinkedIn. 

Sign up to the InsTech newsletter for a fresh view on the world every Wednesday morning.

Matthew’s route to growing InsTech wasn’t typical. With a background in risk, analytics and around 400 podcast episodes as a host, he brought a deep understanding of the insurance sector and what it takes to build a commercially viable, insight-led business. The result? A thriving community of over 30,000, a high-margin membership model and a successful exit achieved through discipline, focus and clear-eyed decisions. 

In this conversation, Matthew shares: 

• Why he sees bootstrapping as risk management, not risk taking
• The importance of paying yourself from day one and how that shaped InsTech’s trajectory
• Lessons from testing (and killing) products that didn’t deliver
• Why hiring curious, early-career talent paid off
• What most founders get wrong about option schemes and equity
• How to handle financial stress without losing your team or your sanity
• Why co-founders matter and why investors aren’t a substitute
• The hard truth about building the business your customers want, not just the one you’d love to run 

If you like what you’re hearing, please leave us a review on whichever platform you use or contact Matthew Grant on LinkedIn. 

Sign up to the InsTech newsletter for a fresh view on the world every Wednesday morning.

Andy shares the thinking behind Concirrus’ pivot from ship tracking to full risk lifecycle processing, what it takes to build end-to-end technology in just 18 months, and why underwriters, not just CTOs, are now leading the charge on system change. 

In this conversation, Andy shares: 

• Why marine was just the beginning and why modern platforms must serve multiple lines with depth, not just breadth 
• What today’s insurers really want from core systems: speed, interoperability and business outcomes 
• How Concirrus became an AI-first company and what that’s meant for product delivery, talent and culture 
• The rise of the tech-fuelled MGA and why they’re now the “risk entrepreneurs” to watch 
• How verticalised platforms are winning over underwriters by solving for class-specific nuance 
• What the shift from admin-heavy roles to empowered underwriting means for job satisfaction and talent retention 
• Why managing change is as important as building tech and what Concirrus learned from its own internal AI adoption 
• What’s next for insurance infrastructure as constraints fall away and innovation accelerates

If you like what you’re hearing, please leave us a review on whichever platform you use or contact Robin Merttens on LinkedIn. 

Sign up to the InsTech newsletter for a fresh view on the world every Wednesday morning.

Matthew Grant is joined by David Wood, Managing Director at JBA Risk Management, and Jochen Papenbrock, Head of Financial Technology (EMEA) at NVIDIA, to explore how accelerated computing is unlocking new ways to simulate and manage flood risk.

JBA has long been a pioneer in flood modelling, while NVIDIA’s GPU technology has helped drive the recent breakthroughs in AI and generative modelling. Together, they discuss how high-resolution simulations, new ensemble methods and open-source tools are pushing the limits of what’s possible in climate and catastrophe analytics.

Key Talking Points:

• The early bet – how JBA’s adoption of GPU computing over a decade ago made national-scale flood mapping possible
• From gaming to GenAI – how NVIDIA's evolution from graphics to AI led to the development of physics-informed weather models
• Ensemble power – why running 1,000+ simulations helps capture more extremes than the historic record ever could
• Event sets reimagined – how AI models are enabling richer, more diverse flood scenarios for Europe and beyond
• Real-time relevance – the potential to use AI models to simulate how a flood might unfold, as it’s happening
• Making AI usable – how Earth-2 Studio and open-source frameworks are opening up generative models to catastrophe modellers
• Proving value – how NVIDIA and JBA worked together to quantify the benefits of faster, more flexible modelling approaches
• Looking ahead – why cross-sector collaboration will be essential to turn acceleration into real-world impact

If you like what you’re hearing, please leave us a review on whichever platform you use or contact Matthew Grant on LinkedIn. 

Sign up to the InsTech newsletter for a fresh view on the world every Wednesday morning.

Agentic AI promises transformative value, but for decision-makers at the top, it also brings real uncertainty. What do you build vs. buy? How do you prove ROI? And how do you prevent over-trusting agents that are inherently probabilistic?

In this conversation, Thomas, Ed and Vincent share:

• Why Agentic AI is different from past tech trends and why this one feels real
• The cultural and leadership challenge of balancing excitement with governance
• How AXA and HDI are enabling safe experimentation at scale across complex organisations
• How Qover is building 20+ AI agents to automate claims micro-tasks — and when they build vs. buy
• What customers really think about AI agents  and why nearly none opt out
• The risks of shadow AI and why IT needs to move faster than ever
• Why “human in the loop” is flawed and how user trust in AI could become a blind spot
• What’s missing: industry standards, agent evaluation tools and new roles like “agent managers”
• The case for cautious iteration, deep collaboration and constant re-evaluation

Sign up to the InsTech newsletter for a fresh view on the world every Wednesday morning.

As new specialist model vendors emerge and market expectations evolve, the panel unpacks a growing demand for transparency, interoperability and smarter ways to adopt models that fit real-world portfolios. At the heart of the conversation is a shared belief: the industry doesn’t just need more models, it needs better ways to evaluate and use them.

In this conversation, they explore:

• Why traditional model validation no longer meets the needs of modern risk teams
• The shift from 'black box' outputs to meaningful model evaluation that supports business decisions
• How tools from Maximum Information and Verisk’s Model Exchange reduce the burden on small or lean teams
• The role of Oasis as a framework for opening up access across multiple model vendors
• Why standardisation and open data formats are essential for meaningful interoperability
• The growing role of niche vendors in reshaping perceptions of model transparency
• How automation is changing the regulatory and investor reporting game
• Why this is more than a tech upgrade—it's a cultural reset in catastrophe modelling

Sign up to the InsTech newsletter for a fresh view on the world every Wednesday morning.

With decades of combined experience across underwriting, model development and scientific research, the panel discusses how climate change, regulatory pressure and the need for portfolio-specific insight are pushing insurers to reconsider single-platform dependency. They explore how new vendors are filling gaps left by traditional models offering science-led, transparent and highly customisable solutions tailored to specific business needs.

Drawing on their respective roles across the risk ecosystem, the panellists explain why the return to multi-modelling is gaining momentum and how platforms like Oasis are helping democratise access to emerging tools.

In this conversation, the panel explores:

• Why “niche” models are proving critical in underserved perils, regions and use cases
• The evolution from black-box outputs to transparent, collaborative frameworks
• How science-first models enable faster innovation and user-driven risk views
• What’s enabling and blocking wider adoption of multi-modelling approaches
• How Fathom and Reask are using AI and machine learning to improve model fidelity
• Why regulatory scrutiny and climate change demand a more agile modelling approach
• The role of open platforms like Oasis in supporting innovation and vendor access
• What insurers need to consider when building a tailored, future-ready modelling strategy

Sign up to the InsTech newsletter for a fresh view on the world every Wednesday morning.

In this episode, Robin Merttens is joined by Jack Miller, CEO and Co-founder of nettle, to explore how generative AI is being applied to one of insurance’s most complex and resource-constrained challenges: risk engineering. Jack shares how his work at McKinsey, leading AI transformations for insurers, exposed him to the inefficiencies in assessing commercial property risks and how that inspired Nettle’s founding.

From mass retirements of risk engineers to the reality that most properties are never physically assessed, Jack outlines why the status quo is unsustainable and how AI can help underwriters make faster, more informed decisions without sacrificing depth or judgement. He explains how nettle is already working with insurers like Allianz to roll out configurable, production-ready tools that reduce manual burden, unlock previously inaccessible insights and integrate directly into existing underwriting platforms.

In this conversation, Jack shares:

• Why risk engineering is facing a capacity crunch and how that affects underwriting quality
• The surprising statistic that sparked nettle’s creation: 97.5% of properties are never visited
• How generative AI can enhance, not replace, expert judgement in high-value underwriting
• Why depth, not breadth, is the key to building meaningful AI solutions in insurance
• Lessons from building a product insurers can implement in weeks not years
• The importance of involving underwriters in AI adoption from day one
• What most insurers get wrong about pilots, procurement and “proper” GenAI strategies
• How nettle’s partnership with Allianz helped shape a scalable, enterprise-ready product
• Why commercial P&C is the perfect proving ground for next-generation InsurTech

If you like what you’re hearing, please leave us a review on whichever platform you use or contact Jack Miller or Robin Merttens on LinkedIn.

Sign up to the InsTech newsletter for a fresh view on the world every Wednesday morning.

Richard reflects on seven years at hyperexponential, starting as the first non-engineering hire to now leading a fast-growing US team in New York. He explains how hyperexponential has evolved from a pricing platform into a broader decision infrastructure provider, with tools spanning triage, portfolio intelligence and AI-powered underwriting support.

In this conversation, Richard shares:

• Why hx's "pro-code" platform sits between build vs buy, offering flexibility without compromising enterprise-grade credibility
• How the team landed major US clients before even setting up a US office
• The strategic lessons behind building trust with US insurers, from culture to communication
• The practical impact of generative AI and "vibe coding" in hx's product development and internal operations
• Why hx believes AI isn't about replacing roles but redrawing their boundaries to boost effectiveness
• What it's like to move across the Atlantic with a young family while scaling a tech business
• How New York's transient tech culture supports rapid networking and hiring
• His predictions on shifting insurer priorities from growth to profitability

Resources & Mentions:

• AI Daily Brief (podcast recommendation)
• Book: Papillon by Henri Charrière
• Previous guests: Amrit (hyperexponential Co-founder & CEO), Marcus Ryu (Co-founder and Chairman at Guidewire and Partner at Battery Ventures)

If you like what you’re hearing, please leave us a review on whichever platform you use or contact Richard Gunn or Matthew Grant on LinkedIn.

Sign up to the InsTech newsletter for a fresh view on the world every Wednesday morning.

Tim left a senior role at Hiscox to build a no-code platform for insurers at a time when most said it couldn’t be done. Ten years on, INSTANDA powers operations around the world and is gearing up for its next big leap. This conversation revisits the early sparks of that journey, including a memorable chat at the Royal Exchange, and dives into the personal and professional lessons Tim has gathered along the way.

In this conversation, Tim shares:

• Why the earliest versions of INSTANDA were built despite zero market demand
• How a falling out with a boss became the unexpected catalyst for entrepreneurship
• The reality of scaling a tech company in insurance including a motorbike sale to make payroll
• Why belief, timing and architecture were crucial to gaining traction
• How humility shaped both leadership style and product design
• What it means to lead through survival, scale and reinvention
• His view on legacy, moonshot AI and the importance of letting go
• What’s fuelling his passion ten years in and where the next decade might lead

This one is part retrospective, part roadmap and full of insight for anyone thinking long-term about change in insurance.

Sign up to the InsTech newsletter for a fresh view on the world every Wednesday morning.

Continuing Professional Development

This InsTech Podcast Episode is accredited by the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII). By listening, you can claim up to 0.5 hours towards your CPD scheme.

By the end of this podcast, you should be able to meet the following Learning Objectives:

• Describe the early challenges of launching a no-code insurance platform in a sceptical market.
• Explain how belief, architecture and timing contributed to INSTANDA’s success and scalability.
• Define the role of humility in effective insurtech leadership and product design.

If your organisation is a member of InsTech and you would like to receive a quarterly summary of the CPD hours you have earned, visit the Episode 382 page of the InsTech website or email cpd@instech.co to let us know you have listened to this podcast.

To help us measure the impact of the learning, we would be grateful if you would take a minute to complete a quick feedback survey.

Having met as consultants at Deloitte, Haris and Arved kept encountering the same themes: overworked underwriters, inconsistent submissions, and transformation efforts that rarely made a real difference. That frustration turned into action. Today, they’re building Novee — an AI assistant designed specifically for underwriters, combining insight generation with targeted automation.

In this conversation, Haris and Arved share:

• Why underwriting processes remain complex, fragmented and hard to standardise
• What makes specialty submissions so variable — and why every case feels like an edge case
• How Novee delivers value in two ways: by surfacing better risk insights and automating manual tasks
• Why underwriters are embracing AI tools now — not resisting them
• What it takes to get live in weeks, not months, with meaningful value
• The real-world impact of extracting information from unstructured submissions
• How they raised £1.6 million in seed funding and what they’re doing with it
• Why verticalised AI is outperforming generic solutions in insurance
• What it means to redesign underwriting interaction patterns — and why inbox to insight is the future
• The case for using AI before you fix your data, not after

Sign up to the InsTech newsletter for a fresh view on the world every Wednesday morning.

Continuing Professional Development

This InsTech Podcast Episode is accredited by the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII). By listening, you can claim up to 0.5 hours towards your CPD scheme.

By the end of this podcast, you should be able to meet the following Learning Objectives:

• Describe the real-world challenges underwriters face when working with inconsistent, unstructured submissions.
• Define the concept of verticalised AI in the context of specialty underwriting and how it differs from generic AI solutions.
• List the specific ways Novee supports underwriters through both insight delivery and task automation.

If your organisation is a member of InsTech and you would like to receive a quarterly summary of the CPD hours you have earned, visit the Episode 381 page of the InsTech website or email cpd@instech.co to let us know you have listened to this podcast.

To help us measure the impact of the learning, we would be grateful if you would take a minute to complete a quick feedback survey.

In this conversation, Jonathan shares:

• Why Swiss Re launched Risk Data Solutions and how it leverages internal analytics for client value
• How “certainty of insight” and real‑time decision‑making are redefining insurance workflows
• The differing risk‑analysis needs of large corporates versus insurers, and what each must prioritise
• How Swiss Re approaches partnerships: enabling versus enriching, and why you cannot go it alone
• The acquisition of Fathom (UK) and how model‑blending is raising the accuracy bar in catastrophe modelling
• His approach to leadership, maintaining balance outside work and keeping pace with change
• A bold prediction for 2026 — and the book he recommends to anyone interested in adventure, risk and innovation 'A Voyage for Madmen' by Peter Nichols

If you like what you’re hearing, please leave us a review on whichever platform you use or contact Jonathan Rake or Matthew Grant on LinkedIn.

Sign up to the InsTech newsletter for a fresh view on the world every Wednesday morning.

Continuing Professional Development

This InsTech Podcast Episode is accredited by the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII). By listening, you can claim up to 0.5 hours towards your CPD scheme.

By the end of this podcast, you should be able to meet the following Learning Objectives:

• Specify the tools and workflows that allow insurers to consume insights directly within underwriting platforms.
• Measure the business case for embedding analytics in risk workflows versus maintaining separate data functions.
• Produce a clearer understanding of how large insurers are operationalising resilience through data, modelling and partnerships.

If your organisation is a member of InsTech and you would like to receive a quarterly summary of the CPD hours you have earned, visit the Episode 380 page of the InsTech website or email cpd@instech.co to let us know you have listened to this podcast.

To help us measure the impact of the learning, we would be grateful if you would take a minute to complete a quick feedback survey.

In this panel from InsTech’s The future of catastrophe risk: where science meets reality, Alice Kaye (Inigo), Caroline McMullan (Verisk) and host Dickie Whitaker (Oasis LMF) confront the challenges of turning sophisticated risk models into clear, actionable decisions.

Together, they explore why uncertainty is often more valuable than the average, how human biases still cloud our understanding of extreme events, and what’s needed to close the communication gap between modellers, underwriters and boards. This conversation gets real about the behavioural, structural and cultural shifts the insurance industry must make to better navigate risk in an increasingly volatile world.

What you'll learn in this episode:

• Why point estimates often mislead decision-makers - and how scenarios can bring data to life
• The role of behavioural bias in catastrophe risk assessment (think hindsight, anchoring and mean reversion)
• How leading insurers like Inigo are integrating model outputs into daily underwriting and board-level strategy
• The importance of early-career training to build confidence in managing uncertainty
• How the interface between climate science, data science and vulnerability modelling is evolving
• Why pre-competitive collaboration with academia is critical for the industry's future

If you like what you’re hearing, please leave us a review on whichever platform you use or contact Matthew Grant on LinkedIn.

Sign up to the InsTech newsletter for a fresh view on the world every Wednesday morning.

Continuing Professional Development

This InsTech Podcast Episode is accredited by the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII). By listening, you can claim up to 0.5 hours towards your CPD scheme.

By the end of this podcast, you should be able to meet the following Learning Objectives:

• Identify gaps in skills and training that hinder effective risk modelling and decision-making.
• Produce more informed underwriting decisions by integrating multiple views of risk.
• Summarise best practices for bridging the gap between research, modelling and commercial application.

If your organisation is a member of InsTech and you would like to receive a quarterly summary of the CPD hours you have earned, visit the Episode 379 page of the InsTech website or email cpd@instech.co to let us know you have listened to this podcast.

To help us measure the impact of the learning, we would be grateful if you would take a minute to complete a quick feedback survey.

With over 25 years in catastrophe modelling and analytics, Matthew shares his view on where the real innovation is happening and where insurers are still facing friction. From the rising value of external data sources to the operational impact of generative AI, the conversation is packed with insights that go beyond the buzzwords.

InsTech is sharing this episode to highlight the practical challenges and opportunities facing carriers and reinsurers as they modernise their approach to risk.

• Why many insurers still struggle to access the most basic risk data
• What third-party data needs to prove before it’s trusted in underwriting
• How AI is changing both the speed and depth of catastrophe modelling
• When it makes sense for carriers to build proprietary models—and when it doesn’t
• What reinsurers have taught the market about effective model use
• The quiet power of improving underwriting efficiency, not just accuracy
• How better data and analytics can help insurers write more risk with more confidence

If you like what you’re hearing, please leave us a review on whichever platform you use or contact Matthew Grant on LinkedIn.

Discover more episodes of Tom Wilde's and Michelle Gouveia's podcast at Indico Data's Unstructured Unlocked.

Sign up to the InsTech newsletter for a fresh view on the world every Wednesday morning.

Continuing Professional Development

This InsTech Podcast Episode is accredited by the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII). By listening, you can claim up to 0.5 hours towards your CPD scheme.

By the end of this podcast, you should be able to meet the following Learning Objectives:

• Measure the practical value of generative AI in improving underwriting efficiency and catastrophe modelling accuracy.
• Specify the thresholds third-party data must meet—cost and confidence—before it can support underwriting decisions.
• Explain how insurers are approaching the build vs buy decision when it comes to proprietary AI models.

If your organisation is a member of InsTech and you would like to receive a quarterly summary of the CPD hours you have earned, visit the Episode 378 page of the InsTech website or email cpd@instech.co to let us know you have listened to this podcast.

To help us measure the impact of the learning, we would be grateful if you would take a minute to complete a quick feedback survey.

As part of InsTech’s The Future of Catastrophe Risk: Where Science Meets Reality event, this expert panel explored the limitations of current catastrophe models and how the insurance industry can evolve its approach to risk.

Hosted by Ludovico Nicotina (Inigo), with insights from Sandra Hansen (Guy Carpenter) and Paul Wilson (Twelve Securis), the discussion focused on where models fall short, how emerging risks are challenging traditional assumptions and what it will take to build more resilient, climate-aware modelling frameworks.

In this conversation, the panel explores:

• What current models overlook — from unmodelled sub-perils to social and infrastructure vulnerabilities
• How inter-annual clustering and systemic effects drive outsized losses
• The tension between increasing model flexibility and responsible use of adaptation features
• Whether vendors are providing enough transparency to support custom views of risk
• How the industry can better incorporate future climate states into today’s modelling tools
• The case for cross-sector collaboration and more open sharing of internal risk perspectives

If you like what you’re hearing, please leave us a review on whichever platform you use or contact Matthew Grant on LinkedIn.

Sign up to the InsTech newsletter for a fresh view on the world every Wednesday morning.

Continuing Professional Development

This InsTech Podcast Episode is accredited by the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII). By listening, you can claim up to 0.5 hours towards your CPD scheme.

By the end of this podcast, you should be able to meet the following Learning Objectives:

• Identify best practices for using adaptation and resilience features within CAT models responsibly.
• Produce informed strategies for interpreting and adjusting model outputs to reflect internal views of risk.
• Summarise the practical steps insurers and risk managers can take to bridge the gap between science and real-world application.

If your organisation is a member of InsTech and you would like to receive a quarterly summary of the CPD hours you have earned, visit the Episode 377 page of the InsTech website or email cpd@instech.co to let us know you have listened to this podcast.

To help us measure the impact of the learning, we would be grateful if you would take a minute to complete a quick feedback survey.

From his early days selling boxing machines to Munich pubs to underwriting aviation at Munich Re, Julian’s career has been shaped by a single truth: business doesn’t count until the cash is in the bank. That mindset now underpins Diesta, a company building the financial plumbing to help insurers, brokers and MGAs move money with greater clarity, speed and control.

In this conversation, Julian shares:

• Why insurance payment flows are so complex — and how that creates systemic risk
• What makes insurance different from other industries that rely on intermediated transactions
• The scale of the problem: seven times more money moves than is written in premium
• How Diesta connects policy systems, banks and documents to create a single source of truth
• Why traditional reconciliation tools fall short for insurance finance teams
• The real-world impact of unallocated cash, overpayments and delayed settlements
• What he's learned from building a product in a “boring but broken” space
• Why now is the right time for vertical, API-first infrastructure in insurance
• The case for making payments a first-class metric in performance and incentives

Sign up to the InsTech newsletter for a fresh view on the world every Wednesday morning.

Continuing Professional Development

This InsTech Podcast Episode is accredited by the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII). By listening, you can claim up to 0.5 hours towards your CPD scheme.

By the end of this podcast, you should be able to meet the following Learning Objectives:

• Specify the technological and structural reasons why insurance payment flows are more complex than in other industries.
• Explain how Diesta’s payment operations layer integrates with existing systems to streamline cash flow.
• Define the concept of a financial subledger in the context of intermediated insurance.

If your organisation is a member of InsTech and you would like to receive a quarterly summary of the CPD hours you have earned, visit the Episode 376 page of the InsTech website or email cpd@instech.co to let us know you have listened to this podcast.

To help us measure the impact of the learning, we would be grateful if you would take a minute to complete a quick feedback survey.

In this panel discussion from InsTech’s July evening event The future of catastrophe risk: where science meets reality, supported by Inigo, Ruth Petrie leads a conversation on how insurers are responding to more extreme, uncertain and fast-changing catastrophe risks.

Featuring:

• Emma Watkins, Catastrophe Risk Leader
• Chris Weller, Head of Exposure Management, Inigo
• Tom Philp, CEO, Maximum Information

Together, they challenge the assumptions behind traditional catastrophe modelling, explore the limits of the Saffir-Simpson scale and ask whether imagination, not just data, will define the future of risk management.

In this conversation, the panel explores:

• Whether the industry should move beyond Cat 5 and how we define “extreme” risk
• Why flood, surge and rainfall are often more damaging than wind alone
• How climate change is altering where and how storms form — and what we can predict
• What insurers can (and can’t) do in the face of rapid intensification
• Why demand surge, rebuild costs and politics are now central to loss estimation
• What kind of event would truly “shake” the insurance market — and why

This is essential listening for exposure managers, underwriters, brokers and risk leaders looking to challenge conventional thinking and prepare for what’s next.

If you like what you’re hearing, please leave us a review on whichever platform you use or contact Matthew Grant on LinkedIn.

Sign up to the InsTech newsletter for a fresh view on the world every Wednesday morning.

Continuing Professional Development

This InsTech Podcast Episode is accredited by the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII). By listening, you can claim up to 0.5 hours towards your CPD scheme.

By the end of this podcast, you should be able to meet the following Learning Objectives:

• Identify where insurers remain unprepared for rapid intensification and other emerging storm behaviours.
• Produce a more complete view of catastrophe exposure by integrating hazard, vulnerability and socio-economic factors.
• Summarise the panel’s recommendations for improving risk communication, preparedness and resilience across the industry.

If your organisation is a member of InsTech and you would like to receive a quarterly summary of the CPD hours you have earned, visit the Episode 375 page of the InsTech website or email cpd@instech.co to let us know you have listened to this podcast.

To help us measure the impact of the learning, we would be grateful if you would take a minute to complete a quick feedback survey.

With three decades of experience, Matthew reflects on what’s changed — and what hasn’t — in how reinsurers view risk. From the early days of catastrophe models to today’s generative AI agents and open modelling platforms, he shares how his team is helping insurers manage volatility, optimise capital and drive profitable growth.

In this episode, Matthew shares:

• Why flood, wildfire and severe convective storm are the perils to watch — and model — more closely
• How generative AI is already reshaping pricing, underwriting and actuarial workflows
• What insurers need to know about build vs buy when it comes to new analytics tools
• How Guy Carpenter is scaling open-source tech through Oasis and data standardisation
• What skills are now essential for new analysts entering the industry
• How AI agents are being used to replicate complex actuarial decisions in seconds
• Why “good enough” modelling still matters, and where precision can be a false economy
• The link between terrorism modelling and gaming engines — and what it signals for future innovation

If you like what you’re hearing, please leave us a review on whichever platform you use or contact Richard Hartley or Matthew Grant on LinkedIn.

Sign up to the InsTech newsletter for a fresh view on the world every Wednesday morning.

Continuing Professional Development

This InsTech Podcast Episode is accredited by the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII). By listening, you can claim up to 0.5 hours towards your CPD scheme.

By the end of this podcast, you should be able to meet the following Learning Objectives:

• Define the evolving skill sets required for analysts working in catastrophe risk and capital modelling.
• Identify the trade-offs in choosing between ‘build’ and ‘buy’ approaches when adopting new analytical technologies.
• Produce a framework for helping clients achieve profitable growth, manage volatility and optimise capital.

If your organisation is a member of InsTech and you would like to receive a quarterly summary of the CPD hours you have earned, visit the Episode 374 page of the InsTech website or email cpd@instech.co to let us know you have listened to this podcast.

To help us measure the impact of the learning, we would be grateful if you would take a minute to complete a quick feedback survey.

But as Richard makes clear, this isn’t the end of the road. It’s a platform for scale. Listeners will hear how Cytora evolved from tackling political risk to transforming how risk flows through commercial insurance. Richard shares practical lessons from scaling into the US, explains why they rebuilt their platform around large language models and outlines why being agnostic to input but opinionated on risk output is a game changer.

They also explore the cultural and technical alignment with Applied, the value of blending insurance expertise with external product thinking and what it really takes to make hard pivots, including knowing when to throw away what you’ve built.

In this episode, Richard shares:

• Why Cytora rebuilt its platform around large language models — and what they threw away to make it work
• How “decision-ready risk” became a guiding principle for digitising insurance workflows
• What it really takes to expand into the US and earn client credibility market by market
• Why the idea of industry-wide standardisation is flawed — and how to work around it
• How to lead through uncertainty, scale a team and make tough product decisions
• Why insurance needs both deep domain knowledge and external perspective to innovate
• The underrated role of resilience in entrepreneurship — and what ballet and rugby taught him about pushing through

If you like what you’re hearing, please leave us a review on whichever platform you use or contact Richard Hartley or Matthew Grant on LinkedIn.

Sign up to the InsTech newsletter for a fresh view on the world every Wednesday morning.

Continuing Professional Development

This InsTech Podcast Episode is accredited by the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII). By listening, you can claim up to 0.5 hours towards your CPD scheme.

By the end of this podcast, you should be able to meet the following Learning Objectives:

• Describe how unstructured data enters the insurance value chain and the implications for underwriting workflows.
• Define the concept of “decision-ready risk” and its role in modernising commercial insurance operations.
• List the key factors that enabled Cytora’s successful expansion into the US market.

If your organisation is a member of InsTech and you would like to receive a quarterly summary of the CPD hours you have earned, visit the Episode 373 page of the InsTech website or email cpd@instech.co to let us know you have listened to this podcast.

To help us measure the impact of the learning, we would be grateful if you would take a minute to complete a quick feedback survey.

In his own words, this episode is about building smarter ways to understand, underwrite and capitalise on emerging risk — with cyber as just the starting point.

What you'll learn:

• Why Jonathan and his team focused on cyber risk and portfolio-level underwriting from day one
• The rationale behind favouring systemic insights over individual vulnerabilities
• How causal inference provides a leap forward in predicting tail events
• Why AI liability is already creating new market opportunities
• The need for creative, multi-source data strategies beyond traditional claims
• Why Envelop steers clear of SaaS and keeps underwriters embedded in the modelling process
• How algorithmic underwriting fits into the next chapter of insurance innovation
• Candid thoughts on the AI hype cycle — and what matters more than the buzz

Jonathan also talks through Envelop's shift from MGA to reinsurer, how to think long-term in a volatile market and what kind of partnerships are needed to unlock new forms of risk.

Book recommendation from Jonathan: The Book of Why by Judea Pearl and Dana Mackenzie.

If you like what you’re hearing, please leave us a review on whichever platform you use or contact Robin Merttens on LinkedIn. You can also contact Jonathan Spry on LinkedIn to start a conversation!

Sign up to the InsTech newsletter for a fresh view on the world every Wednesday morning.

Continuing Professional Development

This InsTech Podcast Episode is accredited by the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII). By listening, you can claim up to 0.5 hours towards your CPD scheme.

By the end of this podcast, you should be able to meet the following Learning Objectives:

• Identify the structural and economic drivers pushing insurers toward algorithmic and portfolio underwriting.
• Produce a strategy for aligning capital, analytics and data science in cyber reinsurance underwriting.
• Summarise how Envelop Risk evolved from an MGA to a hybrid reinsurer and the rationale behind its capital partnerships.

If your organisation is a member of InsTech and you would like to receive a quarterly summary of the CPD hours you have earned, visit the Episode 372 page of the InsTech website or email cpd@instech.co to let us know you have listened to this podcast.

To help us measure the impact of the learning, we would be grateful if you would take a minute to complete a quick feedback survey.

Chris brings a unique cross-market perspective, working with carriers, MGAs and brokers on both sides of the Atlantic. He shares how Insurity is navigating the challenges of scaling legacy systems into modern, cloud-native platforms and why interoperability and open ecosystems are now critical in a post-consolidation world.

Key themes include:

• Why the US market is looking to London and Europe for growth
• The role of private equity and M&A in shaping cross-border expansion
• Common pitfalls when exporting US tech to the UK and how to avoid them
• How Insurity is balancing tried-and-tested functionality with modern scalability
• The growing importance of structured data in preparing for agentic AI
• Strategic partnerships with Viper, Coherent and OIP InsurTech
• What a truly “distributed” insurance ecosystem could look like in the near future

Chris also offers insight into where Insurity is investing over the next 12 months and why the industry may be underestimating just how much technology has matured.

If you like what you’re hearing, please leave us a review on whichever platform you use or contact Robin Merttens on LinkedIn. You can also contact Christopher Quirk on LinkedIn to start a conversation!

Sign up to the InsTech newsletter for a fresh view on the world every Wednesday morning.

Continuing Professional Development

This InsTech Podcast Episode is accredited by the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII). By listening, you can claim up to 0.5 hours towards your CPD scheme.

By the end of this podcast, you should be able to meet the following Learning Objectives:

• Explain the role of structured data and cloud-native systems in enabling AI adoption in insurance workflows.
• Define the concept of an “open ecosystem” in insurance technology and its advantages over closed platform models.
• Identify key industry partnerships that support seamless data exchange and workflow integration across markets.

If your organisation is a member of InsTech and you would like to receive a quarterly summary of the CPD hours you have earned, visit the Episode 371 page of the InsTech website or email cpd@instech.co to let us know you have listened to this podcast.

To help us measure the impact of the learning, we would be grateful if you would take a minute to complete a quick feedback survey.

Together they explore what this new chapter means for InsTech members, the wider insurance ecosystem, and why Datos’ blend of advisory, research and community makes a timely fit. Along the way, Chris shares why operational efficiency is top of the agenda, how underinsurance is being tackled, and why AI is no longer just hype but a genuine driver of transformation.

This conversation is part industry briefing, part fireside chat. Listeners will come away with a clearer view of the challenges and opportunities ahead — from regulatory pressure to CIO priorities — and hear how InsTech and Datos plan to deliver value together.

Robin also uncovers Chris’s surprising background outside insurance, including his lifelong passion for the carillon (a rare bell-tower instrument) and what raising six children and seventeen grandchildren has taught him about navigating complexity.

Key themes discussed include:

• What Datos Insights does and how it complements InsTech’s mission
• Why carriers are focusing on risk operations and decision speed
• The scale of underinsurance and how data and property insights can help
• What’s really happening with AI adoption inside carriers
• The evolving role and pressure of the CIO
• Why combining advisory, research and community is so powerful
• Chris’s personal story: carillons, family and a passion for making insurance better

If you like what you’re hearing, please leave us a review on whichever platform you use or contact Robin Merttens on LinkedIn. You can also contact Chris Eberly on LinkedIn to start a conversation!

Sign up to the InsTech newsletter for a fresh view on the world every Wednesday morning.

Continuing Professional Development

This InsTech Podcast Episode is accredited by the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII). By listening, you can claim up to 0.5 hours towards your CPD scheme.

By the end of this podcast, you should be able to meet the following Learning Objectives:

• Measure the significance of operational efficiency (“risk ops”) in improving underwriting performance and decision speed.
• Specify the ways AI is being applied pragmatically in insurance operations, beyond the hype.
• Explain why CIOs face increasing pressure to balance legacy systems with rapid technology adoption.

If your organisation is a member of InsTech and you would like to receive a quarterly summary of the CPD hours you have earned, visit the Episode 370 page of the InsTech website or email cpd@instech.co to let us know you have listened to this podcast.

To help us measure the impact of the learning, we would be grateful if you would take a minute to complete a quick feedback survey.

In this panel discussion from InsTech’s Outpace. Outprice. Outperform event, Robin Merttens leads a conversation with four senior experts on the future of the market and the forces that could reshape it.

Featuring:

• Paul Carroll, Editor-in-Chief, Insurance Thought Leadership
• Toby Kovacs, Account Director, Google Cloud
• Andy Yeoman, CEO and Co-founder, Concirrus
• Tracie Thompson, Global Head of Strategic Clients, Cytora

Together, they examine how emerging technologies, shifting client expectations and economic realities are pushing the market to rethink long-held assumptions about distribution, underwriting and talent.

In this conversation, the panel explores:

• Whether brokers, underwriters and annual renewals will still have a role
• How capital and distribution are bypassing traditional intermediaries
• Why outsourcing is being redefined in the age of AI
• The impact of legacy behaviours, not just legacy systems
• How new models of work and regulation are influencing transformation
• Whether the protection gap is closing — or widening

If you like what you’re hearing, please leave us a review on whichever platform you use or contact Robin Merttens on LinkedIn. 

Sign up to the InsTech newsletter for a fresh view on the world every Wednesday morning.

Continuing Professional Development

This InsTech Podcast Episode is accredited by the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII). By listening, you can claim up to 0.5 hours towards your CPD scheme.

By the end of this podcast, you should be able to meet the following Learning Objectives:

• Describe how AI and automation are reshaping the boundaries of outsourcing in specialty insurance.
• List the key areas of the insurance value chain likely to undergo transformation in the next 10 years.
• Measure the potential impact of continuous underwriting and data-driven models on policy efficiency and pricing accuracy.

If your organisation is a member of InsTech and you would like to receive a quarterly summary of the CPD hours you have earned, visit the Episode 369 page of the InsTech website or email cpd@instech.co to let us know you have listened to this podcast.

To help us measure the impact of the learning, we would be grateful if you would take a minute to complete a quick feedback survey.

Listeners will get rare insights into what it actually takes to sell a company: what they learned, what caught them off guard and how it’s changed their understanding of fundraising and Private Equity partnerships. This episode offers honest takeaways for any founders or leaders thinking ahead to their own exit.

Robin and Matthew also tackle one of the most polarising trends in insurance tech today: Agentic AI. Is it a game-changer or just another label? They unpack how it's being adopted (quietly or loudly) across insurers, and why some businesses are embracing it at full throttle while others remain unconvinced.

They also share what they’ve seen in the climate and catastrophe modelling space, where collaboration, innovation and data openness continue to drive real value and how this might foreshadow the future of AI in insurance.

Key themes discussed include:

• Life after founding: reflections on stepping back and what comes next
• Lessons from selling a company and choosing the right buyer
• Demystifying Private Equity: stereotypes vs reality
• The bifurcation of AI adoption in insurance
• The rise of Agentic AI and the risk of “AI washing”
• How the climate modelling community sets a precedent for AI maturity
• Why demos are finally worth seeing again and how events are evolving

If you like what you’re hearing, please leave us a review on whichever platform you use or contact Robin Merttens or Matthew Grant on LinkedIn.

Sign up to the InsTech newsletter for a fresh view on the world every Wednesday morning.

Continuing Professional Development

This InsTech Podcast Episode is accredited by the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII). By listening, you can claim up to 0.5 hours towards your CPD scheme.

By the end of this podcast, you should be able to meet the following Learning Objectives:

• Measure the potential impact of agentic AI adoption on underwriting efficiency and competitive advantage.
• Explain the strategic benefits of new ownership for expanding into US markets and enhancing research and advisory capabilities.
• Define “AI washing” and how it parallels other historical tech hype cycles in insurance.

If your organisation is a member of InsTech and you would like to receive a quarterly summary of the CPD hours you have earned, visit the Episode 365 page of the InsTech website or email cpd@instech.co to let us know you have listened to this podcast.

To help us measure the impact of the learning, we would be grateful if you would take a minute to complete a quick feedback survey.

In this episode, Matthew Grant catches up with Bob, CEO and Co-founder of PropertyLens and former CEO and founder of Hazard Hub, to hear what he’s learned across three startups, why he’s building again post-exit and how he’s turning deep domain expertise into tools that actually help people.

From fire hydrants to flood risk, Bob has spent years translating messy, hyperlocal data into decisions insurers and now homebuyers can use. But this conversation goes far beyond data: it's about strategy, equity, product‑market fit and the value of knowing when to walk away from the wrong deal.

In this episode Bob shares:

• Why Hazard Hub’s founding thesis was wrong, and what he got right instead
• How PropertyLens is helping US homebuyers make more informed decisions before they buy
• What UK listeners may not realise about US property disclosures, and why risk is so often hidden
• How Bob and his co-founder rebuilt their data stack from scratch and landed early B2B traction
• Why he still believes in the London Market and how UK insurers are often faster adopters
• What it really takes to scale a direct-to-consumer model in property intelligence
• Why bootstrapping helped him retain value at exit and how other founders can avoid over-dilution
• The four startup lessons he shares with anyone thinking of launching their own venture

This one’s for founders, data practitioners and anyone who enjoys a candid, experience-rich look at what it takes to build a business that lasts.

If you like what you’re hearing, please leave us a review on whichever platform you use or contact Bob Frady or Matthew Grant on LinkedIn.

Sign up to the InsTech newsletter for a fresh view on the world every Wednesday morning.

Continuing Professional Development

This InsTech Podcast Episode is accredited by the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII). By listening, you can claim up to 0.5 hours towards your CPD scheme.

By the end of this podcast, you should be able to meet the following Learning Objectives:

• Define the challenges of scaling a startup with limited capital and how bootstrapping influences long-term outcomes.
• List the key differences between US and UK property risk disclosure practices.
• Explain why Hazard Hub’s original thesis did not hold and how that insight shaped the foundation of PropertyLens.

If your organisation is a member of InsTech and you would like to receive a quarterly summary of the CPD hours you have earned, visit the Episode 367 page of the InsTech website or email cpd@instech.co to let us know you have listened to this podcast.

To help us measure the impact of the learning, we would be grateful if you would take a minute to complete a quick feedback survey.

In this episode, Robin Merttens is joined once again by Dani Katz, Co-founder and Director of Optalitix, for a sharp analysis of what’s changed since their last conversation and why now really is the time to fix the roof.

Dani brings a clear message: the winners in this market cycle will be those with disciplined pricing, strong data infrastructure and the ability to move fast. And while AI is starting to play a role, it's the fundamentals (clean data, integrated platforms, empowered underwriters) that remain essential.

In this conversation, Dani shares insights on:

• Why too many firms delayed digital upgrades during the boom
• The signs of market softening and what that means for pricing teams
• What “minimum viable tech” looks like in 2025
• How underwriters can be brought on the journey, not left behind
• The difference between automating and augmenting decisions
• Why data pipelines matter more than AI hype
• How Optalitix is responding to demand from both UK and global insurers

They also touch on industry psychology: the lingering suspicion of new tech, the cultural lag behind modern tooling and why many firms still struggle to turn innovation into impact.

If you like what you’re hearing, please leave us a review on whichever platform you use or contact Robin Merttens on LinkedIn. You can also contact Dani Katz on LinkedIn to start a conversation!

Sign up to the InsTech newsletter for a fresh view on the world every Wednesday morning.

Continuing Professional Development

This InsTech Podcast Episode is accredited by the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII). By listening, you can claim up to 0.5 hours towards your CPD scheme.

By the end of this podcast, you should be able to meet the following Learning Objectives:

• Define the role of AI in underwriting workflows, distinguishing between automation and augmentation.
• Identify common cultural and structural barriers to technology adoption across insurance organisations.
• Summarise how insurers can use data-first strategies to gain a competitive edge during market transitions.

If your organisation is a member of InsTech and you would like to receive a quarterly summary of the CPD hours you have earned, visit the Episode 366 page of the InsTech website or email cpd@instech.co to let us know you have listened to this podcast.

To help us measure the impact of the learning, we would be grateful if you would take a minute to complete a quick feedback survey.

In this episode, Matthew Grant speaks with Matt Coleman, Chief Risk Officer at The Demex Group, a reinsurance MGA using a new modelled loss index to reshape how the market covers severe convective storms, one of the fastest-growing sources of weather-driven loss.

Our conversation picks up where our previous webinar left off, and explores how Demex has grown distribution, secured broker support and validated its approach in a live risk environment.

In this conversation Matt touches on:

• Why 2025 has already seen above-average tornado, wind and hail activity and how recoveries are already flowing
• How Demex’s RCR Re cover mimics indemnity but pays out on a modelled index
• Why omitting sensors and relying on robust weather and claims data reduces basis risk
• The advantages of training models on cedents’ actual ground-up claims, not diluted industry averages
• What reinsurers want in secondary peril covers and how Demex packages risk to match that appetite
• Why broker engagement has been critical to growth, and what their clients are asking for
• What it means to build in response to a genuine market problem not just to push a technology

Along the way, Matthew and Matt talk about why carriers are willing to share granular claims data when the product is strong enough and why early validation matters in parametric.

If you like what you’re hearing, please leave us a review on whichever platform you use or contact Matt Coleman or Matthew Grant on LinkedIn.

Sign up to the InsTech newsletter for a fresh view on the world every Wednesday morning.

Continuing Professional Development

This InsTech Podcast Episode is accredited by the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII). By listening, you can claim up to 0.5 hours towards your CPD scheme.

By the end of this podcast, you should be able to meet the following Learning Objectives:

• Specify the role of brokers in distributing innovative reinsurance solutions and educating cedents
• Identify the challenges and advantages of building a reinsurance product in direct response to market demand
• Explain why reinsurers prefer weather-driven indices over indemnity-based uncertainty

If your organisation is a member of InsTech and you would like to receive a quarterly summary of the CPD hours you have earned, visit the Episode 365 page of the InsTech website or email cpd@instech.co to let us know you have listened to this podcast.

To help us measure the impact of the learning, we would be grateful if you would take a minute to complete a quick feedback survey.

Garret Gray has spent his career trying to improve how insurers and property owners respond to damage. As President of Insurance Solutions at Cotality (formerly CoreLogic) and founder of Next Gear Solutions, he’s been at the centre of building tools for claims, risk assessment and recovery.

But this year, the conversation became personal. A wildfire tore through Garret’s neighbourhood in California, forcing an emergency evacuation and leaving his home heavily damaged. That experience has shaped the way he thinks about risk, resilience and the urgency of modernising the systems we rely on.

In this episode, Matthew Grant speaks with Garret about what he’s learning, not just from running a technology platform, but from living through the very risks his business is built to address.

Garret reflects on:

• What the industry often underestimates about “secondary” damage and long-tail claims
• Why speed not just coverage is critical in claims response
• How Cotality is using AI to streamline damage assessment, measurement and documentation
• Where underwriting still falls short on using granular property data effectively
• The potential for aerial imagery, building code data, and mitigation scoring to improve pricing
• The evolving role of regulators, particularly in high-risk states like California

He also shares what it takes to keep innovation alive inside a larger company and why so many of the original founders of acquired businesses are still working alongside him today.

If you like what you’re hearing, please leave us a review on whichever platform you use or contact Garret Gray or Matthew Grant on LinkedIn.

Sign up to the InsTech newsletter for a fresh view on the world every Wednesday morning.

Continuing Professional Development

This InsTech Podcast Episode is accredited by the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII). By listening, you can claim up to 0.5 hours towards your CPD scheme.

By the end of this podcast, you should be able to meet the following Learning Objectives:

• List the ways AI and automation are improving claims workflows, from measurement to estimate validation.
• Measure the impact of faster claims processing on overall loss severity and policyholder experience.
• Specify the data and tools required to assess property-level risk more accurately, including aerial imagery and local building codes.

If your organisation is a member of InsTech and you would like to receive a quarterly summary of the CPD hours you have earned, visit the Episode 364 page of the InsTech website or email cpd@instech.co to let us know you have listened to this podcast.

To help us measure the impact of the learning, we would be grateful if you would take a minute to complete a quick feedback survey.

It’s a question that many in the market have asked and in this episode, a panel of senior experts set out to answer it.

Hosted by Andrew Pedler, Vice President at Reserv, this special discussion brings together three experienced voices from across the claims and consulting landscape: Chris Payne (Partner, EY), Andy Stevenson (Consultant Director, PwC), and Patrick Hayward (Claims Lead, Altus Consulting).

Together, they examine why some of the biggest efficiency gains in motor and home claims haven’t yet translated into specialty and what needs to change to unlock that value.

In this conversation, the panel explores:

• Where personal lines have succeeded: distribution, automation,and data enrichment
• Why claims in specialty remain complex, fragmented and harder to automate
• The structural and cultural barriers to innovation including litigation risk and lack of direct customer engagement
• How changing expectations and regulatory pressures are creating momentum for transformation
• What a “claims workbench” might look like and how it mirrors trends in underwriting

The panel’s insight is clear: meaningful claims transformation in specialty is less about chasing point solutions and more about rethinking the role of claims within the wider enterprise from managing portfolios to improving capital efficiency.

Whether you're trying to improve claims operations, justify technology investment, or just understand what’s actually happening in the market, this is an honest and thought-provoking discussion with people who know the space inside out.

If you like what you’re hearing, please leave us a review on whichever platform you use or contact Matthew Grant on LinkedIn.

Sign up to the InsTech newsletter for a fresh view on the world every Wednesday morning.

Continuing Professional Development

This InsTech Podcast Episode is accredited by the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII). By listening, you can claim up to 0.5 hours towards your CPD scheme.

By the end of this podcast, you should be able to meet the following Learning Objectives:

• Describe the key differences between personal lines and specialty claims processes, including complexity, litigation exposure, and stakeholder roles
• List the technological advancements successfully implemented in personal lines claims and assess their relevance to specialty markets
• Measure the impact of improved data ingestion and automation on claims processing efficiency and decision-making

If your organisation is a member of InsTech and you would like to receive a quarterly summary of the CPD hours you have earned, visit the Episode 363 page of the InsTech website or email cpd@instech.co to let us know you have listened to this podcast.

To help us measure the impact of the learning, we would be grateful if you would take a minute to complete a quick feedback survey.

Tim Quayle has spent the past decade answering that question, not in theory, but in practice. As CEO of OneAdvent, a London-based MGA incubator and service platform, he’s helped launch and scale more than 15 underwriting businesses and seen plenty more that didn’t make it.

In this episode, Matthew Grant speaks to Tim about the real ingredients of MGA success. Not the glossy pitch-deck version, but the messy, pragmatic reality: why experience matters, what investors are really looking for, and how the market has matured in the last ten years since the “InsurTech” label first emerged.

In this conversation, Tim shares:

• Why most early-stage MGAs underestimate how long things take and how much they’ll cost
• What’s changed in capacity and investment appetite, and why “grown-up plans” are now a must
• The risk of pushing too hard, too fast and how to preserve credibility with stakeholders
• Why deep insurance experience still outweighs tech fluency in this market
• The myth of radical disruption and why incremental improvement is the better bet
• How OneAdvent is investing in AI and data to better support underwriting teams across its platform

We also explore broader themes: the shifting dynamics between MGAs and capacity providers, the evolution of embedded insurance, and why many promising innovations still struggle to gain traction in such a regulated, relationship-driven industry.

You can join Tim Quayle in person at our upcoming MGA Half Day event on July 15th. Tim will be moderating a panel on the key ingredients for a winning MGA, alongside Adam Kembrooke, Founder and Managing Director, Amiga Specialty, Jacqui Ferrier, CEO, Carbon Underwriting and Tomos Ashfield, Chief Development Officer, The Ardonagh Group. 

With only a few tickets left, sign up now to be able to join us for what is shaping up to be the biggest UK gathering focused entirely on the delegated authority market this year.

If you like what you’re hearing, please leave us a review on whichever platform you use or contact Matthew Grant on LinkedIn.

Sign up to the InsTech newsletter for a fresh view on the world every Wednesday morning.

Continuing Professional Development

This InsTech Podcast Episode is accredited by the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII). By listening, you can claim up to 0.5 hours towards your CPD scheme.

By the end of this podcast, you should be able to meet the following Learning Objectives:

• Explain why radical disruption often fails in insurance, and how incremental innovation leads to sustainable business growth.
• List the core capabilities MGAs need to present a “grown-up” proposition to capacity providers and investors.
• Identify the key components of a data-driven MGA operating model and how platforms like OneAdvent’s OneView can support underwriting performance.

If your organisation is a member of InsTech and you would like to receive a quarterly summary of the CPD hours you have earned, visit the Episode 362 page of the InsTech website or email cpd@instech.co to let us know you have listened to this podcast.

To help us measure the impact of the learning, we would be grateful if you would take a minute to complete a quick feedback survey.

In this episode, we share a live panel discussion from our Enhanced Underwriting event, featuring:

• Colum D’Auria, Canopius
• Rob Jarvis, Tokio Marine Kiln
• Tessa Wardle, QBE

The conversation begins with a basic question what exactly are “portfolio solutions”? and opens up into a broader exploration of how insurers are adapting to new forms of delegated authority, rising data expectations and the growing influence of broker-led facilities.

Our speakers touched on:

• How different firms define and implement portfolio underwriting
• The emergence of tracker facilities and their potential to reshape market dynamics
• Why algorithmic platforms are gaining traction, and where they still fall short
• The role of live exposure data and the practical barriers to using it well
• How underwriters can maintain control and accountability in increasingly automated environments

What comes through clearly is that many of the most innovative teams are thinking beyond product and pricing and focusing instead on how underwriting structures, controls and data flows can support long-term performance.

If you want a clearer view of how underwriting is evolving beneath the surface and how leaders across the market are responding this episode offers a window into the practical realities behind the strategy.

You can also read our event write-up: “Enhanced Underwriting: How the London Market is Turning Theory into Practice”.

If you like what you’re hearing, please leave us a review on whichever platform you use or contact Matthew Grant on LinkedIn. 

Sign up to the InsTech newsletter for a fresh view on the world every Wednesday morning.

Continuing Professional Development

This InsTech Podcast Episode is accredited by the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII). By listening, you can claim up to 0.5 hours towards your CPD scheme.

By the end of this podcast, you should be able to meet the following Learning Objectives:

• Define what “portfolio solutions” means across different insurers in the London Market context.
• Describe how broker facilities and tracker portfolios are influencing underwriting practices and market concentration.
• List the key components that distinguish smart platforms and algorithmic underwriting from traditional models.

If your organisation is a member of InsTech and you would like to receive a quarterly summary of the CPD hours you have earned, visit the Episode 361 page of the InsTech website or email cpd@instech.co to let us know you have listened to this podcast.

To help us measure the impact of the learning, we would be grateful if you would take a minute to complete a quick feedback survey.

In this episode, Robin Merttens speaks to Guillaume Bonnissent, CEO and founder of Quotech, a platform built specifically for underwriting teams.

Guillaume brings a rare combination of perspectives: he’s a former underwriter who became a technologist and his company reflects that crossover. We begin by reflecting on the past 12 months: what’s changed since Guillaume was last on the podcast, and why Quotech’s strategy of building for niche underwriting teams has started to gain serious traction.

In this conversation, Guillaume talks about:

• Why underwriters still spend far too much time retyping data
• The real promise of AI in ingestion and why it’s finally deliverable
• The structural shift from generic platforms to class-specific solutions
• Why "build vs. buy" debates rarely make sense for MGAs
• How to build systems that record data usefully, not just store it
• Why AI can’t fix bad inputs, and what that means for underwriting teams

We also dig into broader trends: how emerging tech is shifting the role of underwriters, whether AI really is a disruptor or just another tool and why so many companies are still struggling to make basic data available for decision-making.

What emerges is a sharp portrait of a market in transition, one that’s slowly waking up to the need for class-specific tools, data-first workflows and AI that’s genuinely useful.

If you like what you’re hearing, please leave us a review on whichever platform you use or contact Robin Merttens on LinkedIn. You can also contact Guillaume Bonnissent on LinkedIn to start a conversation!

Sign up to the InsTech newsletter for a fresh view on the world every Wednesday morning.

Continuing Professional Development

This InsTech Podcast Episode is accredited by the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII). By listening, you can claim up to 0.5 hours towards your CPD scheme.

By the end of this podcast, you should be able to meet the following Learning Objectives:

• Explain the limitations of building in-house technology solutions within MGA and insurer environments.
• Define the role of recorded underwriting data in enhancing future pricing and risk selection.
• Identify the ways AI is being realistically — and usefully — applied to solve practical problems in underwriting today.

If your organisation is a member of InsTech and you would like to receive a quarterly summary of the CPD hours you have earned, visit the Episode 360 page of the InsTech website or email cpd@instech.co to let us know you have listened to this podcast.

To help us measure the impact of the learning, we would be grateful if you would take a minute to complete a quick feedback survey.

In this episode, I speak with Todd Rissel, CEO and co-founder of e2Value, an independent company that has spent the last 25 years helping insurers and homeowners understand the real cost of rebuilding property, and the wider economic forces shaping those numbers.

Todd brings both practical insight and long-term perspective. Our conversation begins with a simple observation: 2024 was a rare profitable year for home insurance in Florida. But Todd quickly places that in context, explaining why a single good year doesn’t undo a decade of structural challenges and why insurers need to think in five-year cycles, not one.

In this conversation Todd touches on:

• Why rising tariffs and global uncertainty haven’t yet impacted replacement costs but might soon
• What the “small losses” teach us about insurer performance, far more than catastrophic ones
• The challenges of modeling severe convective storms, and why not everything can, or should, be reduced to a model
• The limits of funding-driven innovation in InsurTech, and the long-term discipline it takes to survive without external capital
• The launch of e2Value’s new Structure Insurance Score, developed in partnership with WTW, and what it tells us about using AI responsibly in underwriting

Along the way, we talk about barnominiums, regulatory experiments in Louisiana and the difference between forward-looking valuation and backward-looking pricing.

Todd’s perspective is shaped not just by data, but by experience. He’s someone who believes in the purpose of insurance, but also understands the commercial pressures it faces. And he makes a compelling case that good data, applied thoughtfully, is still the foundation for everything this industry does well.

If you’re interested in where insurance pricing, risk and property data are heading next - or just want to hear from someone who’s spent decades building quietly essential infrastructure, this is a conversation worth your time.

If you like what you’re hearing, please leave us a review on whichever platform you use or contact Matthew Grant on LinkedIn.

Sign up to the InsTech newsletter for a fresh view on the world every Wednesday morning.

Continuing Professional Development

This InsTech Podcast Episode is accredited by the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII). By listening, you can claim up to 0.5 hours towards your CPD scheme.

By the end of this podcast, you should be able to meet the following Learning Objectives:

• Explain how the Structure Insurance Score, developed by e2Value and WTW, contributes to more granular underwriting of structural risk.
• Identify the regulatory challenges arising from policyholder-directed valuations in certain U.S. states, such as Louisiana.
• Specify the data considerations required to apply AI effectively in insurance valuation and pricing.

If your organisation is a member of InsTech and you would like to receive a quarterly summary of the CPD hours you have earned, visit the Episode 359 page of the InsTech website or email cpd@instech.co to let us know you have listened to this podcast.

To help us measure the impact of the learning, we would be grateful if you would take a minute to complete a quick feedback survey.

In this special episode of the InsTech podcast, recorded live at our event “The growth of Enhanced Underwriting — the opportunity and the role of technology in realising it”, Robin Merttens is joined by Clyde Bernstein from Aon, Hayley Spink from Chaucer and Ed Howkins from Artificial.

Together, they discuss how the market is embracing enhanced underwriting, why insurers are investing in digitisation at scale and how technology providers are helping unlock new levels of efficiency and accuracy across the value chain.

Key Talking Points

• Learn how Aon is rethinking broking strategy from the ground up through enterprise-wide transformation.
• Understand why legacy systems are holding back innovation and what it takes to modernise at scale.
• Explore how cross-functional teams and external partners like Artificial Labs are accelerating progress.
• Hear why both brokers and carriers moving in sync is key to realising enhanced underwriting at speed.
• Discover how Chaucer is building cloud-native infrastructure and data strategy to support smarter decisions.
• Find out how technology is shaping the future of underwriting roles and changing team structures.
• Understand the risks of fragmentation as broker portals multiply across the market.
• See why consistent data standards are essential to making digitisation stick.
• Learn how enhanced underwriting supports speed and accuracy—especially in softening market conditions.
• Get insight into why now is the moment for insurers to translate strategy into execution and long-term value.

If you like what you’re hearing, please leave us a review on whichever platform you use or contact Robin Merttens on LinkedIn. 

Sign up to the InsTech newsletter for a fresh view on the world every Wednesday morning.

Continuing Professional Development

This InsTech Podcast Episode is accredited by the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII). By listening, you can claim up to 0.5 hours towards your CPD scheme.

By the end of this podcast, you should be able to meet the following Learning Objectives:

• Specify the role of consistent data standards in enabling seamless broker-carrier collaboration.
• Explain how digitisation helps insurers maintain underwriting discipline in soft market conditions.
• Define enhanced underwriting in the context of today’s capital deployment strategies.

If your organisation is a member of InsTech and you would like to receive a quarterly summary of the CPD hours you have earned, visit the Episode 358 page of the InsTech website or email cpd@instech.co to let us know you have listened to this podcast.

To help us measure the impact of the learning, we would be grateful if you would take a minute to complete a quick feedback survey.

In this episode, Robin Merttens is joined by Pravina Ladva, Group Chief Digital and Technology Officer at Swiss Re, to explore what it means to drive impact through innovation at scale.

Pravina shares how Swiss Re is helping clients get more from their data, reduce underwriting time and prepare for a future shaped by new technologies. It’s a conversation about strategy, change and what it really takes to turn curiosity into impact – without losing sight of operational fundamentals.

Key Talking Points:

• Embracing GenAI responsibly – how Swiss Re encourages experimentation while prioritising outcomes
• From concept to scale – why small wins in underwriting can deliver real value for clients
• Beyond the hype – using traditional business cases to prioritise AI use cases
• Redefining talent – how today’s underwriters and technologists are becoming one and the same
• From ingestion to insight – why data infrastructure still matters in an AI-native world
• Making the business case – why AI productivity gains must go beyond speed
• Building co-pilot confidence – what it takes to upskill thousands of employees globally
• Thinking top-down – how Swiss Re balances experimentation with bold, disruptive thinking
• From engineering to impact – how core IP and differentiated services shape tech investment
• What insurers need to consider – why translating technology into strategic value is the real differentiator

If you like what you’re hearing, please leave us a review on whichever platform you use or contact Robin Merttens on LinkedIn. You can also contact Pravina Ladva on LinkedIn to start a conversation!

Sign up to the InsTech newsletter for a fresh view on the world every Wednesday morning.

Continuing Professional Development

This InsTech Podcast Episode is accredited by the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII). By listening, you can claim up to 0.5 hours towards your CPD scheme.

By the end of this podcast, you should be able to meet the following Learning Objectives:

• Measure the early productivity gains seen from AI-assisted engineering and claims assessment processes.
• Specify the criteria used by Swiss Re to prioritise AI and digital transformation use cases.
• Explain the role of talent development and cross-functional collaboration in enabling successful technology adoption.

If your organisation is a member of InsTech and you would like to receive a quarterly summary of the CPD hours you have earned, visit the Episode 356 page of the InsTech website or email cpd@instech.co to let us know you have listened to this podcast.

To help us measure the impact of the learning, we would be grateful if you would take a minute to complete a quick feedback survey.

In this episode, Robin Merttens is joined by Sasa Brcerevic, Head of Portfolio and Delegated Strategy at Aon, and Ed Howkins, Chief Growth Officer at Artificial Labs. Together, they explore the evolving dynamics of wholesale broking, why now is the moment to digitise trading relationships and how insurers can stay competitive in a rapidly transforming landscape.

The conversation offers a timely lens on the market-wide shift toward digital trading – not as a future ambition, but as an active and necessary response to competitive pressure. From the rise of underwriting-as-a-service to brokers leading platform innovation, this episode unpacks what insurers and brokers should be doing now to stay relevant.

Key Talking Points

• Digitising the broker–underwriter interface: why transaction execution, not just placement admin, is the next frontier
• Strategic momentum: how digitisation moved from side project to boardroom priority across carriers and brokers
• Competitive catalysts: why fast movers are already capturing flow and shaping future adoption curves
• Platforms not portals: how Artificial is helping brokers remove friction while giving carriers underwriting optionality
• A new breed of carrier: exploring the shift from balance sheet-first models to digital risk transformation
• The data dividend: why data-rich submissions are changing how insurers allocate capital and differentiate themselves
• Incremental innovation: what makes today’s efforts different from past false starts and what good adoption looks like
• Reimagining broking: how Aon is investing in technology to build its future operating model
• Sustainable advantage: why the biggest long-term gains lie in improving service, not just margin
• Time to jump in: why delaying digitisation could leave carriers and brokers on the outside looking in

If you like what you’re hearing, please leave us a review on whichever platform you use or contact Robin Merttens on LinkedIn. You can also contact Ed Howkins and Sasa Brcerevic on LinkedIn to start a conversation!

Sign up to the InsTech newsletter for a fresh view on the world every Wednesday morning.

Continuing Professional Development

This InsTech Podcast Episode is accredited by the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII). By listening, you can claim up to 0.5 hours towards your CPD scheme.

By the end of this podcast, you should be able to meet the following Learning Objectives:

• Describe how digitising wholesale broking can improve transactional efficiency and reduce operational friction.
• List the key challenges and opportunities in modernising risk trading processes between brokers and carriers.
• Explain how intentional digital adoption differs from previous waves of insurance market innovation.

If your organisation is a member of InsTech and you would like to receive a quarterly summary of the CPD hours you have earned, visit the Episode 355 page of the InsTech website or email cpd@instech.co to let us know you have listened to this podcast.

To help us measure the impact of the learning, we would be grateful if you would take a minute to complete a quick feedback survey.

In this episode, Matthew Grant speaks with Will Bonner, Chief Operating Officer at McKenzie Intelligence Services (MIS), about how the company uses satellite data, open-source intelligence and human expertise to deliver early insights on catastrophic events. From wildfires in California to civil unrest in the Pacific, the conversation explores how insurers are responding faster, setting more accurate reserves and navigating uncertainty in real time.

The episode also highlights the practical challenges of relying on public data sources, the growing role of brokers in geospatial intelligence and how MIS transitioned from a centrally funded Lloyd’s service to a solution used by 80% of syndicates. With real-world examples and lessons from other domains like defence and disaster response, this is a grounded look at what it takes to turn raw data into operational decisions.

Key Talking Points:

• Intelligence before access – how MIS delivers building-level damage assessments before roads reopen or planes can fly
• From imagery to insight – why expert human analysis still outperforms automation in post-disaster response Scaling trust – what it takes to become a Lloyd’s elective service for catastrophe intelligence
• From fires to frontlines – how MIS tracks 50,000+ buildings in wildfire zones to anticipate claims before they’re filed
• Beyond Lloyd’s – what global carriers and brokers are asking for as MIS expands into the US and beyond
• Stress-testing your stack – why reliance on single public datasets could leave insurers exposed in 2025
• Real-time relevance – how MIS is turning horizon scanning into an actionable, insurer-led signal layer
• Experiment, iterate, evolve – what MIS has learned from testing edge ideas like mobile phone data and evacuation mapping

If you like what you’re hearing, please leave us a review on whichever platform you use or contact Matthew Grant on LinkedIn. You can also contact Will Bonner on LinkedIn to start a conversation!

Sign up to the InsTech newsletter for a fresh view on the world every Wednesday morning.

Continuing Professional Development

This InsTech Podcast Episode is accredited by the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII). By listening, you can claim up to 0.5 hours towards your CPD scheme.

By the end of this podcast, you should be able to meet the following Learning Objectives:

• List the types of natural and man-made events MIS monitors, from wildfires to geopolitical conflicts.
• Specify how reliance on single-source public datasets could create systemic risks for insurers.
• Identify the workflows and use cases where insurers benefit most from horizon scanning and rapid event monitoring.

If your organisation is a member of InsTech and you would like to receive a quarterly summary of the CPD hours you have earned, visit the Episode 354 page of the InsTech website or email cpd@instech.co to let us know you have listened to this podcast.

To help us measure the impact of the learning, we would be grateful if you would take a minute to complete a quick feedback survey.

Matthew Grant speaks with Matt McGrillis, Co-founder and Chief Product Officer at Send, to explore how the company’s underwriting workbench is embedding AI into core workflows to help underwriters write more business, more profitably.

Now on its third feature with InsTech, Send has evolved from an early-stage start-up to one of the UK’s leading underwriting platforms. Matt shares how Send’s latest innovations including agent workflows and AI-powered triage, are making decision-making faster all while running quietly behind the scenes.

Key Talking Points

• How Send is digitising complex underwriting workflows to reduce friction and increase speed.
• How agent workflows are breaking down underwriting into manageable AI-driven tasks.
• Send’s triage tools helping underwriters prioritise high-value business in real-time.
• Why GenAI is less about disruption and more about quiet, seamless transformation.
• How Send balances “build v buy” to offer agility without sacrificing functionality.
• Why clients working with Send are seeing faster quote turnaround and improved broker response.
• The importance of automating the “boring bits” so underwriters can focus on value.
• Matt’s prediction on why AI agents and not flashy features will drive the next wave of adoption.

If you like what you’re hearing, please leave us a review on whichever platform you use or contact Matthew Grant on LinkedIn. You can also contact Matt McGrillis on LinkedIn to start a conversation!

Sign up to the InsTech newsletter for a fresh view on the world every Wednesday morning.

Continuing Professional Development

This InsTech Podcast Episode is accredited by the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII). By listening, you can claim up to 0.5 hours towards your CPD scheme.

By the end of this podcast, you should be able to meet the following Learning Objectives:

• Describe how AI agents are transforming underwriting workflows by automating repetitive tasks and enabling faster decision-making.
• Specify the types of underwriting tasks best suited for AI agents and automation.
• Identify key challenges insurers face when adopting AI tools and how Send supports clients through that transformation.

If your organisation is a member of InsTech and you would like to receive a quarterly summary of the CPD hours you have earned, visit the Episode 353 page of the InsTech website or email cpd@instech.co to let us know you have listened to this podcast.

To help us measure the impact of the learning, we would be grateful if you would take a minute to complete a quick feedback survey.

In this special podcast episode done in partnership with PwC, we invited Anna Craston, Senior Manager, to host a panel discussion to explore the critical trends shaping talent management in the London insurance market. 

She’s joined by fellow PwC colleague Simone Ritson, Phoebe Thomas from CFC, Jacinta Chiang from WTW and Alfie Holt from Marco Capital to share their firsthand experiences and insights.

Together, they discuss how companies can build inclusive cultures, the shifting expectations of new talent and what organisations must do to stay competitive in a rapidly evolving landscape. This episode dives deep into why attracting diverse talent is just the beginning and why inclusion, development and purpose are the real keys to retention.

Key talking points:

• Understand why changing employee expectations are reshaping the London insurance market.
• Learn how AI, automation, and technology are driving new workforce capabilities.
• Explore the historic challenges in attracting diverse talent to the London market — and how that's starting to change.
• Examine the impact of culture, career growth, and leadership development on employee retention.
• Discover the importance of outreach programs to schools and universities in broadening insurance career awareness.
• Hear why inclusion, not just diversity, is critical for long-term workforce engagement.
• See how mentorship, reverse mentoring, and visible career pathways can support retention.
• Get practical ideas for fostering inclusion, from flexible working to cultural days and accessible networking events.

For more information, you can read PwC’s Transforming the London Market report. 

Sign up to the InsTech newsletter for a fresh view on the world every Wednesday morning.

Continuing Professional Development

This InsTech Podcast Episode is accredited by the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII). By listening, you can claim up to 0.5 hours towards your CPD scheme.

By the end of this podcast, you should be able to meet the following Learning Objectives:

• Describe the current challenges and evolving expectations around attracting and retaining talent in the London market.
• Explain how diversity and inclusion initiatives can move from hiring strategies to meaningful cultural change that fosters retention.
• Identify the most effective strategies companies can use to make the London insurance market more appealing to diverse, next-generation talent.

If your organisation is a member of InsTech and you would like to receive a quarterly summary of the CPD hours you have earned, visit the Episode 351 page of the InsTech website or email cpd@instech.co to let us know you have listened to this podcast.

To help us measure the impact of the learning, we would be grateful if you would take a minute to complete a quick feedback survey.

In this episode, Matthew Grant is joined by Rob Beller and Lee Boyd, co-hosts of the FNO: InsureTech Podcast, for a cross-continental conversation on what they’ve learned after more than 300 episodes spotlighting insurance innovation. Rob and Lee share insights from their day jobs at Alacrity Solutions and discuss the realities of claims management in the US, the cultural differences they notice when visiting the London Market and why podcasting has become one of their most valuable tools for professional growth.

Also joining the conversation is InsTech’s own Zoja, stepping from behind the mic to offer her take on what makes a great guest and why we still don’t hear enough female voices on insurance podcasts.

Whether you’re new to podcasting, thinking of launching your own, or just looking for a better way to understand the insurance ecosystem this episode is full of practical takeaways, thoughtful reflections and just a little bit of holiday light-show talk.

Key Talking Points

• Building the FNO InsureTech Podcast: how a marketing idea became a 300-episode archive 
• From Texas to California to London: Rob and Lee reflect on the cultural contrasts between US and UK insurance markets
• How podcasting helps build relationships and shape industry perspectives
• Defining a great guest: why passion, personality and storytelling beat corporate scripts
• Podcasting as learning: how hosting guests has improved leadership skills and business understanding
• Behind the mic: tips for being a good guest
• The power of partnership: how two co-hosts keep things creative, balanced and fun
• Industry outlook: one prediction each for how AI, customer experience and economic change will shape the year ahead
• Advocating for diversity:why we need to hear more female voices on insurance podcasts
• Think big, start small: why building global networks starts with showing up, listening and sharing ideas

If you like what you’re hearing, please leave us a review on whichever platform you use or contact Matthew Grant on LinkedIn. You can also contact Rob Beller and Lee Boyd on LinkedIn to start a conversation!

Sign up to the InsTech newsletter for a fresh view on the world every Wednesday morning.

Continuing Professional Development

This InsTech Podcast Episode is accredited by the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII). By listening, you can claim up to 0.5 hours towards your CPD scheme.

By the end of this podcast, you should be able to meet the following Learning Objectives:

• List the qualities that make a guest engaging and memorable on an insurance podcast.
• Define the role of podcasting in creating community and promoting innovation within insurance.
• Specify the differences between UK and US insurance markets from the perspective of claims professionals.

If your organisation is a member of InsTech and you would like to receive a quarterly summary of the CPD hours you have earned, visit the Episode 351 page of the InsTech website or email cpd@instech.co to let us know you have listened to this podcast.

To help us measure the impact of the learning, we would be grateful if you would take a minute to complete a quick feedback survey.

In this episode, Robin Merttens speaks with Tristan Fletcher, co-founder and CEO of ChAI, about how his team is using financial market techniques and AI to build insurance products that protect manufacturers from volatile input costs. What began in the world of hedge funds and speculative trading is now helping companies like recyclers and food manufacturers hedge against unpredictable raw material prices.

Tristan explains how ChAI is transforming techniques once reserved for professional traders like satellite imagery, shipping data and price forecasting, into insurance-backed protection for real-world businesses. He also shares the story behind ChAI’s first deal, the long journey to secure reinsurance capacity and the challenge of winning over regulators.

This is an episode about pricing innovation, resilience in turbulent markets and what the insurance industry can do to keep pace with uncertainty. Plus, you’ll learn a new word: Eigenzeit—and it might just reshape how you think about timing in insurance.

Key Talking Points

• Democratising financial tools: why ChAI is bringing hedge fund-style analytics to manufacturers
• Turning speculation into protection: how AI price forecasting powers a new insurance product
• From cocoa to copper: insuring raw material volatility in food, packaging and recycling sectors
• Structuring the product: how ChAI created insurance that mirrors price hedging without regulatory red flags
• Regulatory hurdles: overcoming concerns about market risk and building legal confidence in a new model
• First deal breakthrough: how ChAI secured capacity from a major US reinsurer and wrote its first risk
• ESG implications: how the product supports the circular economy and reduces stockpiling
• The US vs the UK: why American risk carriers moved faster to back the product
• Market appetite – how volatility and geopolitical shocks like tariffs are driving inbound demand
• From startup to scale: why ChAI now needs more brokers, insurers and customers on board

If you like what you’re hearing, please leave us a review on whichever platform you use or contact Robin Merttens on LinkedIn. You can also contact Tristan Fletcher on LinkedIn to start a conversation!

Sign up to the InsTech newsletter for a fresh view on the world every Wednesday morning.

Continuing Professional Development

This InsTech Podcast Episode is accredited by the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII). By listening, you can claim up to 0.5 hours towards your CPD scheme.

By the end of this podcast, you should be able to meet the following Learning Objectives:

• Measure the potential benefits of price volatility protection on supply chain resilience and inventory management.
• Define the role of reinsurance in enabling innovative risk-transfer solutions like raw material price insurance.
• Identify the sectors and commodity risks best suited to ChAI’s product, including recycling, packaging and FMCG manufacturing.

If your organisation is a member of InsTech and you would like to receive a quarterly summary of the CPD hours you have earned, visit the Episode 350 page of the InsTech website or email cpd@instech.co to let us know you have listened to this podcast.

To help us measure the impact of the learning, we would be grateful if you would take a minute to complete a quick feedback survey.

In this episode, Matthew Grant is joined by Sarah Russell, General Manager at Bellwether – a climate-focused moonshot from Google X – to explore why wildfires are the ideal proving ground for next-generation insurance analytics. 

This isn’t, however, just another conversation about AI potential. Sarah explains why wildfire risk fits machine learning better than traditional methods, how Bellwether is helping insurers find overlooked low-risk zones and why explainability, not black-box brilliance, is key to adoption. She also shares what’s next – from agentic AI to Severe Convective Storm models – and what the industry needs to be ready for.

Key Talking Points:

• Wildfires as a moonshot – why Bellwether started with wildfire risk to build a prediction engine for the Earth
• From physics to AI – how machine learning outperforms traditional models in dynamic, data-heavy environments
• Spotting opportunity, not just risk – how Bellwether identifies low-risk zones that other models overlook
• Real-time data, real underwriting gains – delivering a 10% loss ratio improvement for a Lloyd’s carrier
• Beyond black boxes – using explainable AI to justify counterintuitive predictions and build trust
• The end of the ‘yak shave’ – how agents and large models will reshape insurance workflows and tech stacks
• From geospatial to generative – where Bellwether is heading next with severe convective storm modelling
• Working with the experts – why collaboration with scientists and government agencies remains critical

If you like what you’re hearing, please leave us a review on whichever platform you use or contact Matthew Grant on LinkedIn. You can also contact Sarah Russell on LinkedIn to start a conversation!

Sign up to the InsTech newsletter for a fresh view on the world every Wednesday morning.

Continuing Professional Development

This InsTech Podcast Episode is accredited by the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII). By listening, you can claim up to 0.5 hours towards your CPD scheme.

By the end of this podcast, you should be able to meet the following Learning Objectives:

• List the key environmental and structural factors that contribute to low wildfire risk
• Define the role of large models and their ability to handle uncertainty in climate risk assessment
• Identify the advantages of using AI to uncover underappreciated low-risk zones in high-exposure regions

If your organisation is a member of InsTech and you would like to receive a quarterly summary of the CPD hours you have earned, visit the Episode 349 page of the InsTech website or email cpd@instech.co to let us know you have listened to this podcast.

To help us measure the impact of the learning, we would be grateful if you would take a minute to complete a quick feedback survey.

In this episode, Robin Merttens is joined by Jeff Radke, co-founder and CEO of Accelerant, for a deep dive into the mechanics of a rapidly growing risk exchange that’s quietly reshaping the MGA and MGU landscape. It has been three years since Jeff joined us on the InsTech podcast, and even Accelerant has radically evolved as a business.

This isn’t, however, just another technology story. Jeff shares frank insights on building trust in a data-driven ecosystem, how Accelerant has used AI to make tangible portfolio improvements and why he believes platform-based risk trading will become the dominant model for specialty lines. Unlike many other discussions about AI in insurance, this episode focuses on what’s already working – from subrogation improvements to portfolio optimisation.

There’s also a broader message here: about stepping back to see how much the market has changed and why the next evolution may already be underway…

Key Talking Points

• Building a global risk exchange – how Accelerant connects specialty MGAs and MGUs with capacity through a single, scalable platform
• The value of long-term partnerships – why Accelerant provides five-year capacity commitments and expects transparency in return
• From niche to global – supporting 200+ underwriting teams across 20 countries and over 225 specialty products
• Applying AI where it matters – reducing loss ratios and boosting subrogation with machine learning and large language models
• Cost leadership in a softening market – why expense ratio advantage trumps rate cycles in SME and specialty risks
• Looking ahead – how AI is reshaping roles, workflows and the entire insurance value chain
• The rise of risk exchanges – why specialty insurance is following the same path as bonds, mortgages and equities
• Staying ahead – why Accelerant is focused on evolution, not just competition

If you like what you’re hearing, please leave us a review on whichever platform you use or contact Robin Merttens on LinkedIn. You can also contact Jeff Radke on LinkedIn to start a conversation!

Sign up to the InsTech newsletter for a fresh view on the world every Wednesday morning.

Continuing Professional Development

This InsTech Podcast Episode is accredited by the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII). By listening, you can claim up to 0.5 hours towards your CPD scheme.

By the end of this podcast, you should be able to meet the following Learning Objectives:

• Describe how a modern risk exchange connects specialty underwriters with capital providers.
• Identify the signs of systemic evolution in the insurance industry that indicate a shift toward platform-based models.
• Define the concept of a two-sided risk exchange and its advantages over traditional capacity models.

If your organisation is a member of InsTech and you would like to receive a quarterly summary of the CPD hours you have earned, visit the Episode 348 page of the InsTech website or email cpd@instech.co to let us know you have listened to this podcast.

To help us measure the impact of the learning, we would be grateful if you would take a minute to complete a quick feedback survey.

Resilience is a familiar term in insurance, often associated with mitigating risk and protecting against natural disasters. But what about resilience at a personal level? How can individuals in high-pressure roles manage stress effectively and maintain their well-being?

In this episode, Matthew Grant brings back Neena Saith, a former colleague and catastrophe risk analyst turned stress and resilience specialist, about the importance of managing personal stress in the workplace. Neena shares her journey from catastrophe modelling to working with individuals and organisations to help them recognise, understand and address stress.

Together, they explore the physical and psychological impacts of stress, how organisations can create a healthier work culture and practical techniques for managing stress in high-pressure environments.

Further resources connected to the conversation: 

• • Anxiety Rx by Dr. Russell Kennedy – exploring the mind-body connection in managing anxiety
  • When the Body Says No by Dr. Gabor Maté – understanding the link between stress, emotions and physical health Neena’s website: www.neenashealing.com – for coaching, group programs and corporate workshops
  • How to Meet Yourself by Dr Nicole LePera - an interactive workbook designed to help every reader uncover their authentic self.
  • Connect with Neena on LinkedIn: Neena Saith

Key Talking Points

• The missing conversation in insurance – why workplace stress and personal resilience matter just as much as risk modeling
• Recognising stress cycles – understanding how the body responds to stress and how to complete the stress cycle for recovery
• Mind-body connection – how unresolved stress manifests physically and why mental and physical health cannot be treated separately
• Building awareness – learning to recognize personal stress triggers and early warning signs before they escalate
• Practical techniques – breathing exercises, movement, and micro-breaks to reduce stress and improve resilience
• Organisational responsibility – how companies and managers can support employees by fostering open conversations about stress
• Personal responsibility – setting boundaries, managing workload, and creating habits that support long-term resilience
• Beyond the workplace – the impact of work-related stress on personal relationships and how to navigate it

If you like what you’re hearing, please leave us a review on whichever platform you use or contact Matthew Grant on LinkedIn. You can also contact Neena Saith on LinkedIn to start a conversation!

Sign up to the InsTech newsletter for a fresh view on the world every Wednesday morning.

Continuing Professional Development

This InsTech Podcast Episode is accredited by the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII). By listening, you can claim up to 0.5 hours towards your CPD scheme.

By the end of this podcast, you should be able to meet the following Learning Objectives:

• Describe how stress affects both the mind and body and why resilience is essential in high-pressure environments
• Explain the concept of the stress cycle and the importance of completing it for long-term well-being
• List practical techniques for reducing stress in daily work life, including breathing exercises and movement strategies

If your organisation is a member of InsTech and you would like to receive a quarterly summary of the CPD hours you have earned, visit the Episode 347 page of the InsTech website or email cpd@instech.co to let us know you have listened to this podcast.

To help us measure the impact of the learning, we would be grateful if you would take a minute to complete a quick feedback survey.

In this episode, Matthew Grant sits down with Nigel Walsh, newly appointed at ServiceNow, to discuss how AI, digital agents and workflow automation are reshaping insurance. With 500 insurers already using ServiceNow, Nigel shares why he joined, what ServiceNow does beyond IT service management, and how its AI-powered workflows are tackling the industry’s “messy middle.”

• AI-driven insurance workflows – how ServiceNow is helping insurers streamline underwriting, claims and customer service beyond traditional IT service management.
• Agentic AI in action – the role of digital agents in automating insurance processes, reducing inefficiencies and enhancing decision-making.
• The changing face of VC funding – why AI is reshaping startup strategies, reducing team sizes and altering investment dynamics.
• Bridging the data gap in catastrophe insurance – lessons from California wildfires and the challenge of accurately assessing risk and rebuilding costs.
• Enhancing claims efficiency with AI – how insurers can leverage automation to improve claims workflows and customer experience.
• Navigating insurance thought leadership – the challenge of cutting through LinkedIn’s noise and building meaningful industry conversations.
• AI adoption in 2025 and beyond – the rise of digital workers, the evolution of enterprise AI and the potential for insurers to orchestrate thousands of agents.

If you like what you’re hearing, please leave us a review on whichever platform you use or contact Matthew Grant on LinkedIn. You can also contact Nigel Walsh on LinkedIn to start a conversation!

Sign up to the InsTech newsletter for a fresh view on the world every Wednesday morning.

Continuing Professional Development

This InsTech Podcast Episode is accredited by the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII). By listening, you can claim up to 0.5 hours towards your CPD scheme.

By the end of this podcast, you should be able to meet the following Learning Objectives:

• Explain the evolving role of AI in the insurance industry, including its influence on venture funding and business models.
• Define the challenges insurers face in catastrophe modeling and data accuracy for risk assessment.
• Identify the potential applications of AI-driven orchestration platforms in improving enterprise-wide insurance operations.

If your organisation is a member of InsTech and you would like to receive a quarterly summary of the CPD hours you have earned, visit the Episode 345 page of the InsTech website or email cpd@instech.co to let us know you have listened to this podcast.

To help us measure the impact of the learning, we would be grateful if you would take a minute to complete a quick feedback survey.

In this episode, Robin Merttens speaks with Nimeshh Patel, CEO of Wrisk, about how the company is helping major automotive brands embed insurance seamlessly into the car-buying journey.

With a customer-first digital experience, Wrisk enables instant, hassle-free insurance at the point of sale, eliminating outdated manual processes. 

The discussion also covers Wrisk’s international expansion, its Series B fundraising and why the company focuses on collaboration rather than disruption in the insurance ecosystem.

• Embedded insurance at the point of sale – how Wrisk makes car insurance frictionless for customers
• Why  Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEMs) care about insurance – supporting after-sales revenue, finance uptake and customer retention
• Scaling success with global automotive brands – from BMW to Mercedes-Benz, how Wrisk is powering insurance for top manufacturers
• The power of quiet ego – why Wrisk has focused on collaboration rather than disruption
• Expanding beyond the UK – launching a European MGA and the roadmap for international growth
• The Series B strategy – raising funds to scale technology, data capabilities and global operations
• The future of automotive insurance – could Wrisk eventually take on risk itself and build OEM-backed captives?

If you like what you’re hearing, please leave us a review on whichever platform you use or contact Robin Merttens on LinkedIn. You can also contact Nimeshh Patel on LinkedIn to start a conversation!

Sign up to the InsTech newsletter for a fresh view on the world every Wednesday morning.

Continuing Professional Development

This InsTech Podcast Episode is accredited by the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII). By listening, you can claim up to 0.5 hours towards your CPD scheme.

By the end of this podcast, you should be able to meet the following Learning Objectives:

• Describe how embedded insurance enhances the vehicle purchasing experience by integrating seamless coverage at the point of sale.
• Explain why collaboration between insurers and OEMs is critical to the success of embedded insurance models.
• Define the role of a managing general agent (MGA) in enabling scalable, brand-aligned insurance solutions for automotive manufacturers.

If your organisation is a member of InsTech and you would like to receive a quarterly summary of the CPD hours you have earned, visit the Episode 345 page of the InsTech website or email cpd@instech.co to let us know you have listened to this podcast.

To help us measure the impact of the learning, we would be grateful if you would take a minute to complete a quick feedback survey.

The insurance industry has long struggled with manual, time-consuming claims processes that create bottlenecks and put pressure on adjusters. Now, Agentic AI is emerging as a solution: automating administrative tasks and enabling claims teams to work faster and more efficiently.

In this episode, Matthew Grant speaks with Robin Roberson, co-founder of Agentech, about how digital agents are reshaping claims handling. By leveraging Agentic AI, Agentech is reducing processing time from 30 minutes to 30 seconds, enhancing subrogation workflows and helping insurers streamline claims without removing human expertise.

Robin, a veteran in InsurTech and former WeGoLook founder, shares her journey from launching startups to pioneering AI-driven claims solutions. She also discusses why mentorship is crucial for new entrepreneurs, how working with design partners ensures AI solves real-world problems and why reducing adjuster burnout is a core focus of Agentech.

Key Talking Points:

• The rise of Agentic AI – how digital agents are reshaping claims handling and automating administrative tasks
• From 30 minutes to 30 seconds – how AI is streamlining pet insurance claims processing and boosting efficiency
• AI-powered subrogation – identifying recovery opportunities and reducing claims leakage with automated analysis
• The role of design partners – why collaboration with insurers is key to building AI solutions that solve real-world problems
• Improving adjuster productivity – how Agentech’s AI-driven approach is reducing workload and preventing burnout
• The future of AI in claims – exploring voice-enabled AI, smart routing and automation for catastrophe response
• Lessons from a serial entrepreneur – Robin’s insights on launching startups, scaling innovation, and finding the right market fit

If you like what you’re hearing, please leave us a review on whichever platform you use or contact Matthew Grant on LinkedIn. You can also contact Robin Roberson on LinkedIn to start a conversation!

Sign up to the InsTech newsletter for a fresh view on the world every Wednesday morning.

Continuing Professional Development

This InsTech Podcast Episode is accredited by the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII). By listening, you can claim up to 0.5 hours towards your CPD scheme.

By the end of this podcast, you should be able to meet the following Learning Objectives:

• Specify how AI-powered subrogation tools help insurers identify recovery opportunities and reduce claims leakage.
• Define the concept of Agentic AI and how it differs from traditional AI and generative AI in insurance applications.
• Identify the future trends in AI-driven claims processing, including voice-enabled AI and smart claims routing.

If your organisation is a member of InsTech and you would like to receive a quarterly summary of the CPD hours you have earned, visit the Episode 344 page of the InsTech website or email cpd@instech.co to let us know you have listened to this podcast.

To help us measure the impact of the learning, we would be grateful if you would take a minute to complete a quick feedback survey.

Federato enables underwriters to triage submissions, prioritise in-appetite risks and streamline workflows using AI-driven insights. Will shares how his background in wildfire modelling led to the creation of Federato, how underwriters spend more time on the right risks post-implementation and why the company’s rapid growth is a testament to the industry's appetite for smarter portfolio management.

The discussion also covers Federato’s recent $40 million USD Series C funding, its expansion into the UK market and how the RiskOps approach is catching on as a fundamental shift in underwriting strategy.

Key Talking Points:

• The RiskOps mindset – bringing portfolio-level intelligence to risk-by-risk decision-making
• How AI prioritises in-appetite and winnable risks for underwriters
• Automating submission workflows to cut response times by up to 89%
• The impact of RiskOps adoption on quote volumes and portfolio performance
• Why Federato has seen 3x year-over-year growth
• The UK market opportunity – differences in tech adoption and underwriting strategies
• The story behind Federato’s $40M Series C raise and the role of StepStone Group
• Expansion plans and the future of AI-driven underwriting

If you like what you’re hearing, please leave us a review on whichever platform you use or contact Robin Merttens on LinkedIn. You can also contact Will Ross on LinkedIn to start a conversation!

Sign up to the InsTech newsletter for a fresh view on the world every Wednesday morning.

Continuing Professional Development

This InsTech Podcast Episode is accredited by the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII). By listening, you can claim up to 0.5 hours towards your CPD scheme.

By the end of this podcast, you should be able to meet the following Learning Objectives:

• List the key benefits of AI-powered underwriting, including improved risk selection and faster submission processing.
• Specify how Federato’s platform helps underwriters identify and prioritize in-appetite and winnable risks.
• Define the significance of Federato’s expansion into the UK and the challenges of technology adoption in the market.

If your organisation is a member of InsTech and you would like to receive a quarterly summary of the CPD hours you have earned, visit the Episode 343 page of the InsTech website or email cpd@instech.co to let us know you have listened to this podcast.

To help us measure the impact of the learning, we would be grateful if you would take a minute to complete a quick feedback survey.

With advanced machine learning models trained on millions of insurance documents, mea platform enables insurers to extract key information instantly—reducing manual processing, improving accuracy and accelerating business decisions. Robin and Graeme also discuss the rise of algorithmic underwriting, the role of AI in digital distribution and what’s next for the insurance industry as automation becomes a competitive necessity.

Key Talking Points:

• From consulting to AI – Graeme's career path and transition into insurance technology
• How mea platform extracts data from insurance documents using AI and machine learning
• Automating underwriting workflows – turning unstructured data into actionable insights
• The rise of AI-driven ingestion – why it’s becoming a must-have for insurers
• Three approaches to document processing – build, generic IDP, or insurance-specific AI
• Speed and accuracy – how mea achieves high extraction precision out of the box
• Scaling AI in insurance – implementing solutions quickly without heavy IT investment
• Beyond ingestion – how automation and intelligence are shaping underwriting and claims
• Partnering for success – mea’s collaborations with Lloyd’s, Accenture, and Solos Consulting
• The future of insurance AI – from digital trading to algorithmic underwriting and beyond

If you like what you’re hearing, please leave us a review on whichever platform you use or contact Matthew Grant on LinkedIn. You can also contact Graeme Asquith on LinkedIn to start a conversation!

Sign up to the InsTech newsletter for a fresh view on the world every Wednesday morning.

Continuing Professional Development

This InsTech Podcast Episode is accredited by the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII). By listening, you can claim up to 0.5 hours towards your CPD scheme.

By the end of this podcast, you should be able to meet the following Learning Objectives:

• Specify the differences between generic document processing tools and insurance-specific AI solutions.
• Define the challenges insurers face in handling unstructured data and the benefits of automation.
• List the key inefficiencies in manual data extraction and how AI-powered solutions address them.

If your organisation is a member of InsTech and you would like to receive a quarterly summary of the CPD hours you have earned, visit the Episode 342 page of the InsTech website or email cpd@instech.co to let us know you have listened to this podcast.

To help us measure the impact of the learning, we would be grateful if you would take a minute to complete a quick feedback survey.

In this episode, Robin Merttens speaks with Alex Cardona, CEO and Co-founder of Recorder, a company building the next generation of broker management software. After a successful exit from Codat, a financial data infrastructure business, Alex and his team are applying their expertise to insurance—helping brokers replace outdated workflows with automation, APIs and structured data.

Key Talking Points:

• How Recorder is addressing inefficiencies in broker management
• Why traditional broker workflows create data bottlenecks for insurers
• The role of APIs in modernising commercial insurance
• How automated data ingestion can improve underwriting accuracy
• The importance of standardizing risk data for brokers and carriers
• Challenges in adoption and how Recorder is overcoming industry resistance
• Insights from Alex’s journey at Codat and lessons applied to Recorder
• Why brokers are the key drivers of change in insurance distribution
• How Recorder is scaling without heavy venture capital investment

If you like what you’re hearing, please leave us a review on whichever platform you use or contact Matthew Grant on LinkedIn. You can also contact Alex Cardona on LinkedIn to start a conversation!

Sign up to the InsTech newsletter for a fresh view on the world every Wednesday morning.

Continuing Professional Development

This InsTech Podcast Episode is accredited by the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII). By listening, you can claim up to 0.5 hours towards your CPD scheme.

By the end of this podcast, you should be able to meet the following Learning Objectives:

• List the key inefficiencies in traditional broker workflows that slow down risk assessment and underwriting.
• Define the challenges brokers face in manual data processing and how technology is addressing these issues.
• Explain why brokers are central to driving innovation in insurance data infrastructure and connectivity.

If your organisation is a member of InsTech and you would like to receive a quarterly summary of the CPD hours you have earned, visit the Episode 341 page of the InsTech website or email cpd@instech.co to let us know you have listened to this podcast.

To help us measure the impact of the learning, we would be grateful if you would take a minute to complete a quick feedback survey.

With a fleet of over 200 satellites capturing daily images of the Earth's surface, Planet Labs enables insurers to enhance flood and wildfire risk modeling, parametric insurance solutions and pre/post-loss assessments.

The conversation explores real-world applications, including how instant satellite imaging played a key role in analysing the Los Angeles wildfires and German floods, and how parametric insurance providers like Floodbase leverage satellite data to develop innovative flood coverage solutions.

Key Talking Points

• From consulting to satellites – Berend’s career journey
• How Planet Labs’ 200+ satellites capture daily Earth imagery
• The power of high-resolution imaging – down to 30-40 cm
• Tasking satellites on demand – costs, speed, and accessibility
• Optical vs. SAR satellites – when to use each technology
• Los Angeles wildfires case study – tracking fire progression in real time
• German floods case study – distinguishing between river and rain-driven floods
• Parametric insurance in action – partnerships with AXA, Swiss Re, and FloodBase
• Underwriting & claims insights – using satellite data for smarter decisions
• The future of satellite data – affordability, accessibility, and evolving use cases

If you like what you’re hearing, please leave us a review on whichever platform you use or contact Matthew Grant on LinkedIn. You can also contact Berend de Jong on LinkedIn to start a conversation!

Sign up to the InsTech newsletter for a fresh view on the world every Wednesday morning.

Continuing Professional Development

This InsTech Podcast Episode is accredited by the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII). By listening, you can claim up to 0.5 hours towards your CPD scheme.

By the end of this podcast, you should be able to meet the following Learning Objectives:

• Describe how high-resolution satellite imagery supports risk assessment, underwriting, and claims management in insurance.
• List the key differences between optical satellites, SAR (Synthetic Aperture Radar) and passive microwave technology in data collection.
• Identify the real-world applications of satellite data through case studies, including Los Angeles wildfires and German floods.

If your organisation is a member of InsTech and you would like to receive a quarterly summary of the CPD hours you have earned, visit the Episode 340 page of the InsTech website or email cpd@instech.co to let us know you have listened to this podcast.

To help us measure the impact of the learning, we would be grateful if you would take a minute to complete a quick feedback survey.

In this episode, Matthew Grant sits down with Bob Pick, EVP Chief Information Officer at Tokio Marine North American Services and Group Deputy Chief Information Technology Officer for Tokio Marine Group, to explore the real-world impact of generative AI in the insurance industry.

From streamlining underwriting decisions to detecting fraud and automating operational processes, Bob explains how Tokio Marine is using AI to address both everyday challenges and complex, global demands. Balancing innovation with responsibility, the conversation sheds light on what AI can—and can’t—do for insurers today.

If you’ve ever wondered how generative AI works in practice, or what it means for the future of insurance, this episode offers clear and thought-provoking insights.

Key Talking Points:

• The evolution of generative AI – from revolutionary tech to practical applications
• Classic AI vs. generative AI – understanding the difference
• Advisory tools like Microsoft Copilot – where they fit into the workflow
• Case studies from Tokio Marine – submission analysis and claims fraud detection
• Development tools – automating back-end processes with generative AI
• Risk management – balancing innovation with safeguarding data and compliance
• Tools of the trade – Microsoft Copilot, Grok, and other favourites
• Looking ahead – evolution or revolution in the next 1-3 years

If you like what you’re hearing, please leave us a review on whichever platform you use or contact Matthew Grant on LinkedIn. You can also contact Bob Pick on LinkedIn to start a conversation!

Sign up to the InsTech newsletter for a fresh view on the world every Wednesday morning.

Continuing Professional Development

This InsTech Podcast Episode is accredited by the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII). By listening, you can claim up to 0.5 hours towards your CPD scheme.

By the end of this podcast, you should be able to meet the following Learning Objectives:

• Describe how generative AI is transforming key processes in the insurance industry, such as underwriting and fraud detection.
• List the practical applications of generative AI discussed in the episode, including submission analysis, backend automation and global translation.
• Specify the differences between classic AI and generative AI, and their respective roles in insurance.

If your organisation is a member of InsTech and you would like to receive a quarterly summary of the CPD hours you have earned, visit the Episode 339 page of the InsTech website or email cpd@instech.co to let us know you have listened to this podcast.

To help us measure the impact of the learning, we would be grateful if you would take a minute to complete a quick feedback survey.

Parsyl is combining innovation, data and ambition to transform the way essential supply chains are insured. Robin Merttens speaks with Alex Haar, Co-founder and Chief Product Officer at Parsyl, about the company’s impressive growth, their $20M Series C funding and the advanced technologies powering their solutions. From leveraging AI and IoT to expanding into non-perishable cargo, Parsyl is building a future where insurers and businesses can better predict, price and mitigate risks across global supply chains.

Key Talking Points:

• From tech startup to global supply chain insurer – Parsyl’s journey
• $20M Series C funding led by Lightsmith Group – what it means for Parsyl
• Essential supply chains – focusing on food, life sciences, and renewable technologies
• The role of AI – predictive models and generative AI powering underwriting
• IoT in action – real-time data for monitoring and managing risks
• Data partnerships – leveraging Lineage and other innovative sources
• The underwriter’s role – blending expertise with cutting-edge tools
• Preparing for the future – expanding in the U.S. and launching new products
• Resilience to climate change – Parsyl’s mission to protect critical supply chains

If you like what you’re hearing, please leave us a review on whichever platform you use or contact Matthew Grant on LinkedIn. You can also contact Alex Haar on LinkedIn to start a conversation!

Sign up to the InsTech newsletter for a fresh view on the world every Wednesday morning.

Continuing Professional Development

This InsTech Podcast Episode is accredited by the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII). By listening, you can claim up to 0.5 hours towards your CPD scheme.

By the end of this podcast, you should be able to meet the following Learning Objectives:

• Explain how generative AI enhances efficiency in submission processing and underwriting workflows.
• Define the role of predictive models in improving underwriting accuracy and claims outcomes.
• Identify the cultural and organisational factors critical to successfully implementing data-driven insurance solutions.

If your organisation is a member of InsTech and you would like to receive a quarterly summary of the CPD hours you have earned, visit the Episode 338 page of the InsTech website or email cpd@instech.co to let us know you have listened to this podcast.

To help us measure the impact of the learning, we would be grateful if you would take a minute to complete a quick feedback survey.

This conversation offers a glimpse into how insurers can stay ahead in a complex, evolving market while addressing regulatory pressures and increasing customer expectations.

Key Talking Points:

• From legacy systems to agile ecosystems – modernizing insurance.
• Insights from Earnix’s Industry at a Crossroads report.
• Real-time data and analytics – leveraging external and internal insights.
• The compliance conundrum – challenges and opportunities for innovation.
• Streamlining underwriting and pricing rule changes with Earnix.
• Proof of value – how Earnix helps insurers test and adopt technology.
• Staying competitive – advice for insurers planning for 2025 and beyond.
• Embracing AI and data-driven decision-making – the path forward.

If you like what you’re hearing, please leave us a review on whichever platform you use or contact Matthew Grant on LinkedIn. You can also contact Adrian Coupland on LinkedIn to start a conversation!

Sign up to the InsTech newsletter for a fresh view on the world every Wednesday morning.

Continuing Professional Development

This InsTech Podcast Episode is accredited by the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII). By listening, you can claim up to 0.5 hours towards your CPD scheme.

By the end of this podcast, you should be able to meet the following Learning Objectives:

• Measure the significance of reducing underwriting rule change timelines on operational efficiency.
• Explain the regulatory and compliance factors shaping the adoption of AI and machine learning in insurance.
• Define the differences between legacy monolithic systems and agile ecosystems in insurance operations.

If your organisation is a member of InsTech and you would like to receive a quarterly summary of the CPD hours you have earned, visit the Episode 337 page of the InsTech website or email cpd@instech.co to let us know you have listened to this podcast.

To help us measure the impact of the learning, we would be grateful if you would take a minute to complete a quick feedback survey.

• 2024 Highlights: A look back at InsTech's key themes, including the growing buzz around catastrophe modeling and exposure management. Zoja shares insights from the year’s most popular webinars, including:
  • Know Your Models: An Underwriter’s Guide to Flood Modelling (in collaboration with Fathom).
  • JBA Risk Management’s session on lessons learned from five years of flood modeling. Flood modeling emerged as a standout topic, highlighting its importance as the second-largest driver of insured losses globally.
• Top Podcasts of 2024:
  • James Orchard (QBE Ventures): Exploring investment strategies for the year ahead.
  • Marcus Ryu (Guidewire): A personal journey into entrepreneurship and building a globally recognized company.
  • Nicola Turner (Scrub AI): From underwriter to founder—a compelling narrative of innovation.
  • Munich Re’s parametric experts: Insights into cutting-edge work in parametric risk management.
• What’s Ahead in 2025:
  • Exponential Risk London: InsTech’s inaugural two-day conference on March 4-5, a culmination of a year’s work on catastrophe risk and exposure management.
  • New Members Spotlight: Meet ClaimSorted, Bellwether, Grappler, OIP Robotics, Coherent, Recordr, Guy Carpenter and Federato —all new additions to the InsTech community.

Join Zoja as she celebrates the successes of 2024, previews what’s coming in 2025 and shares her personal podcast recommendations to kick off the new year.

Thank you for your continued support, and see you next Sunday!

If you like what you’re hearing, please leave us a review on whichever platform you use or contact Matthew Grant on LinkedIn. You can also contact Hasani Jess on LinkedIn to start a conversation!

Sign up to the InsTech newsletter for a fresh view on the world every Wednesday morning.

Continuing Professional Development

This InsTech Podcast Episode is accredited by the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII). By listening, you can claim up to 0.5 hours towards your CPD scheme.

By the end of this podcast, you should be able to meet the following Learning Objectives:

• Identify the new InsTech members and their potential contributions to the insurance and technology ecosystem in 2025.
• List the key themes and standout topics from InsTech’s 2024 events, including popular webinars and podcasts.
• Specify the primary goals and expected outcomes of the Exponential Risk London conference in March 2025.

If your organisation is a member of InsTech and you would like to receive a quarterly summary of the CPD hours you have earned, visit the Episode 336 page of the InsTech website or email cpd@instech.co to let us know you have listened to this podcast.

To help us measure the impact of the learning, we would be grateful if you would take a minute to complete a quick feedback survey.

While Matthew emphasises the growing significance of secondary perils like severe convective storms (SCS), Robin reflects on how "boring but brilliant" innovations are quietly transforming the industry. Alongside these insights, expect lively discussions about digital transformation, smart follow syndication, and of course, Robin's essential holiday wine recommendations.

Key Talking Points

• What are market makers, and how are they shaping the future of insurance?
• Why severe convective storms are becoming the most significant natural peril for insurers.
• How algorithmic syndication and smart follow innovations are transforming underwriting.
• The role of parametric solutions in addressing gaps left by traditional insurance models.
• Why claims workbenches are the next frontier in specialty insurance efficiency.
• Exploring agentic AI: Can insurers trust proactive, decision-making technology?
• The growing ecosystem of catastrophe modeling and analytics providers in insurance.
• The importance of networking events like curated dinners for scaling tech solutions.

Robin’s Holiday Wine Picks

• White: Gerard Bertrand Heritage Clairette (£17 at Majestic)
• Red: Georgian Saperavi 2021 Bodoba
• Special Occasion: 2024 Château Léoville Barton
• Festive Favorite: The Society’s 150th Anniversary 2011 Vintage Port

If you like what you’re hearing, please leave us a review on whichever platform you use or contact Robin Merttens or Matthew Grant on LinkedIn. 

Sign up to the InsTech newsletter for a fresh view on the world every Wednesday morning.

Continuing Professional Development

This InsTech Podcast Episode is accredited by the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII). By listening, you can claim up to 0.5 hours towards your CPD scheme.

By the end of this podcast, you should be able to meet the following Learning Objectives:

• Explain how algorithmic syndication and claims workbenches are improving efficiency in underwriting and claims management.
• Specify the potential of agentic AI to transform insurance decision-making processes.
• Define the significance of secondary perils, such as severe convective storms, on insurance losses and reinsurance capacity.

If your organisation is a member of InsTech and you would like to receive a quarterly summary of the CPD hours you have earned, visit the Episode 335 page of the InsTech website or email cpd@instech.co to let us know you have listened to this podcast.

To help us measure the impact of the learning, we would be grateful if you would take a minute to complete a quick feedback survey.

Aventum is blending innovation and ambition to transform its insurance operations into a tech-enabled powerhouse. Robin Merttens speaks with Hasani Jess, CTO at Aventum Group, about the company's growth, their approach to technology, and the cultural foundation enabling change. With over 650 employees and a tech team of more than 100, Aventum is building solutions to empower brokers, underwriters, and operational teams alike.

Key Talking Points:

• Scaling from 450 to 650 employees while evolving technology and processes.
• Building an integrated platform to unify data and streamline business functions.
• Developing bespoke engineering solutions for competitive advantage.
• Adopting best-of-breed tools to complement in-house technology development.
• Leveraging AI to triage submissions and extract insights from unstructured data.
• Operating a dedicated Innovation Lab to explore future-focused technologies.
• Connecting brokers and underwriters with tailored workbenches and tools.
• Addressing challenges of legacy systems to enable consistent progress.
• Embedding a culture of change and innovation across the business.

If you like what you’re hearing, please leave us a review on whichever platform you use or contact Matthew Grant on LinkedIn. You can also contact Hasani Jess on LinkedIn to start a conversation!

Sign up to the InsTech newsletter for a fresh view on the world every Wednesday morning.

Continuing Professional Development

This InsTech Podcast Episode is accredited by the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII). By listening, you can claim up to 0.5 hours towards your CPD scheme.

By the end of this podcast, you should be able to meet the following Learning Objectives:

• Define the importance of a culture of change in driving successful insurance transformation.
• Identify key strategies Aventum employs to address the challenges of legacy systems and enable progress.
• List the challenges associated with scaling technology teams to support rapid business growth.

If your organisation is a member of InsTech and you would like to receive a quarterly summary of the CPD hours you have earned, visit the Episode 334 page of the InsTech website or email cpd@instech.co to let us know you have listened to this podcast.

To help us measure the impact of the learning, we would be grateful if you would take a minute to complete a quick feedback survey.

Matthew Grant speaks with Emmalina, who leads Public Sector Partnerships at Floodbase, and Alex, Executive Vice President for Alternative Risk at Amwins, about their work insuring golf courses, municipalities and more.

The discussion highlights how advancements in satellite technology and data-driven insights are bridging gaps in traditional flood insurance, providing faster, more flexible coverage for both private and public sectors.

Key Talking Points:

• Learn how Floodbase uses satellite data to track and monitor flood risks.
• Understand the limitations of traditional flood insurance coverage.
• Explore how parametric insurance provides flexibility and fast payouts.
• See how municipalities can use parametric payouts to cover tax revenue losses and community recovery.
• Examine how historical flood data shapes payout triggers and pricing.
• Discover the unique challenges of insuring golf courses against floods.
• Gain insight into the increasing severity of atmospheric rivers and their impacts.
• Understand how parametric insurance addresses gaps in public and private sector coverage.
• Hear how municipalities reallocate budgets to afford parametric solutions.

If you like what you’re hearing, please leave us a review on whichever platform you use or contact Matthew Grant on LinkedIn. You can also contact Emmalina or Alex on LinkedIn to start a conversation!

Sign up to the InsTech newsletter for a fresh view on the world every Wednesday morning.

Continuing Professional Development

This InsTech Podcast Episode is accredited by the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII). By listening, you can claim up to 0.5 hours towards your CPD scheme.

By the end of this podcast, you should be able to meet the following Learning Objectives:

• Explain the benefits of parametric insurance, including faster payouts and flexible use of funds.
• Specify the process Floodbase uses to monitor and quantify flood water in insured boundaries.
• Define the term "atmospheric river" and its relevance to flood risk in California.

If your organisation is a member of InsTech and you would like to receive a quarterly summary of the CPD hours you have earned, visit the Episode 333 page of the InsTech website or email cpd@instech.co to let us know you have listened to this podcast.

To help us measure the impact of the learning, we would be grateful if you would take a minute to complete a quick feedback survey.

Reask is tackling this challenge by leveraging climate science and technology to enhance traditional catastrophe modeling and provide actionable insights for the insurance industry.

Matthew Grant speaks with Jamie, Reask’s CEO, and Ian, Principle Quantitative Engineer, to discuss how their innovative models integrate global climate signals and provide more accurate assessments of hurricane risks, enabling the industry to manage dynamic and long-term challenges.

• Discover how Reask enhances traditional catastrophe models with physics-based climate insights.
• The distinction between natural climate variability and human-caused change
• Why globally connected models help insurers see correlations across regions and diversify portfolios.
• How Reask validates data through transparency and peer-review methodologies.
• Understand how flexible tools provide actionable insights for immediate and long-term risk assessments.
• Why precise data enables parametric insurance policies that are more accurate and efficient.
• Insight into how Reask is expanding beyond insurance, using data to predict outcomes like emergency response needs.

You can access the Reask science team’s research and papers here.

If you like what you’re hearing, please leave us a review on whichever platform you use or contact Matthew Grant on LinkedIn.

Sign up to the InsTech newsletter for a fresh view on the world every Wednesday morning.

Continuing Professional Development

This InsTech Podcast Episode is accredited by the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII). By listening, you can claim up to 0.5 hours towards your CPD scheme.

By the end of this podcast, you should be able to meet the following Learning Objectives:

• Measure the impact of accurate wind speed data on the effectiveness of parametric insurance policies.
• Specify the distinctions between natural climate variability and anthropogenic climate change in influencing hurricane risks.
• Explain the role of transparency and validation in building trust and credibility for catastrophe models.

If your organisation is a member of InsTech and you would like to receive a quarterly summary of the CPD hours you have earned, visit the Episode 332 page of the InsTech website or email cpd@instech.co to let us know you have listened to this podcast.

To help us measure the impact of the learning, we would be grateful if you would take a minute to complete a quick feedback survey.

Martin and Laurence explore how their respective platforms are addressing key challenges in the industry, from intelligent document processing to streamlining underwriting and policy administration. They discuss the demand for innovation, the role of AI in improving efficiency and how their recent partnership is creating seamless solutions for insurers through an integrated ecosystem.

• The shift from exploration to execution: Insurers are moving beyond AI experimentation to apply practical, value-adding solutions.
• Intelligent document processing: Unlocking valuable data from submissions, loss runs and slips to streamline risk operations.
• Ecosystem partnerships: How collaborations like AdvantageGo and Insurants deliver end-to-end solutions for clients, enhancing operational efficiency.
• Quick wins in tech adoption: Agile approaches, like delivering results within nine weeks, build confidence and improve adoption.
• Orchestrating AI and machine learning: Combining multiple technologies to optimize accuracy and decision-making.
• Confidence in today’s technology: Solutions are ready to deliver measurable ROI, enabling insurers to act now.

If you like what you’re hearing, please leave us a review on whichever platform you use or contact Matthew Grant on LinkedIn.

Sign up to the InsTech newsletter for a fresh view on the world every Wednesday morning.

Continuing Professional Development

This InsTech Podcast Episode is accredited by the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII). By listening, you can claim up to 0.5 hours towards your CPD scheme.

By the end of this podcast, you should be able to meet the following Learning Objectives:

• Describe the role of AI and intelligent document processing in streamlining underwriting and risk operations.
• Define the concept of ecosystem partnerships and their impact on delivering integrated insurance solutions.
• List the key technologies, including AI, OCR and machine learning, that are enabling smarter decision-making in insurance.

If your organisation is a member of InsTech and you would like to receive a quarterly summary of the CPD hours you have earned, visit the Episode 331 page of the InsTech website or email cpd@instech.co to let us know you have listened to this podcast.

To help us measure the impact of the learning, we would be grateful if you would take a minute to complete a quick feedback survey.

Flood models play a critical role in helping insurers, brokers and risk managers assess flood risk, but their inherent uncertainties make effective use challenging.

Matthew Grant leads a discussion with Dr. Oliver Wing, Chief Scientific Officer at Fathom, along with Caroline Fox from Guy Carpenter, Stefan Wunderlich from Swiss Re Corporate Solutions and Tom Philp, a flood risk consultant from Maximum Information. Together, they explore how flood models can be tailored to support underwriting decisions, portfolio management and risk selection.

Oliver highlights the importance of understanding model uncertainty, while Caroline and Stefan share practical insights on using flood maps effectively, validating outputs and collaborating with model vendors to create actionable insights. Tom provides guidance on defining use cases to evaluate and implement models more effectively.

Key talking points include:

• Flood models are inherently uncertain, requiring underwriters to consider the spread of possible outcomes.
• Tailoring model use to specific needs, like underwriting or aggregation, is essential for actionable insights.
• Low-hazard zones still carry risk, and misinterpretations can lead to costly surprises.
• Multi-model approaches can help, but deeply understanding one model’s assumptions can sometimes be more effective.
• Collaborating with model vendors enables better customization and decision-making.

If you like what you’re hearing, please leave us a review on whichever platform you use or contact Matthew Grant on LinkedIn.

Sign up to the InsTech newsletter for a fresh view on the world every Wednesday morning.

Continuing Professional Development

This InsTech Podcast Episode is accredited by the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII). By listening, you can claim up to 0.5 hours towards your CPD scheme.

By the end of this podcast, you should be able to meet the following Learning Objectives:

• Define the concept of model uncertainty and its impact on decision-making.
• Identify the limitations of flood models when interpreting low-hazard zones and evaluating risk.
• Measure the importance of tailoring flood models to specific use cases, such as aggregation versus underwriting.

If your organisation is a member of InsTech and you would like to receive a quarterly summary of the CPD hours you have earned, visit the Episode 330 page of the InsTech website or email cpd@instech.co to let us know you have listened to this podcast.

To help us measure the impact of the learning, we would be grateful if you would take a minute to complete a quick feedback survey.

Carolyn discusses her extensive research on climate risk management and disaster recovery, while also introducing her nonprofit initiative, ‘Insurance for Good’, which aims to bring together policymakers, insurers and community leaders to create practical solutions. 

Jonathan and Carolyn dive deep into how parametric insurance, policy innovation and collaboration can redefine resilience in a world of escalating climate risk.

• The scale of the disaster insurance gap: two-thirds of global disaster losses remain uninsured
• How parametric insurance tailors solutions to underserved communities and specific disaster needs
• Affordability challenges and public-private partnerships as key levers for change
• Using insurance innovation to cover non-property losses, such as lost income or higher living costs after disasters
• The role of ‘Insurance for Good’ in building a hub for education, innovation, and implementation
• Why regulatory frameworks need to adapt to new insurance models like parametric solutions
• Inspiring collaboration across sectors, from housing to climate adaptation, to enable sustainable resilience
• Carolyn’s optimism about how partnerships and innovation can address systemic climate challenges

If you like what you’re hearing, please leave us a review on whichever platform you use or contact Matthew Grant on LinkedIn.

Sign up to the InsTech newsletter for a fresh view on the world every Wednesday morning.

Continuing Professional Development

This InsTech Podcast Episode is accredited by the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII). By listening, you can claim up to 0.5 hours towards your CPD scheme.

By the end of this podcast, you should be able to meet the following Learning Objectives:

• Explain the role of public-private partnerships in fostering innovative insurance solutions.
• Specify the advantages and limitations of parametric insurance in addressing non-property losses.
• List the key factors contributing to underinsurance in high-risk areas.

If your organisation is a member of InsTech and you would like to receive a quarterly summary of the CPD hours you have earned, visit the Episode 329 page of the InsTech website or email cpd@instech.co to let us know you have listened to this podcast.

To help us measure the impact of the learning, we would be grateful if you would take a minute to complete a quick feedback survey.

Munich Re, a leader in reinsurance, is paving the way for innovative parametric solutions addressing weather-related and natural catastrophe risks.

Robin Merttens is joined by René Mück, Global Head of Parametric NatCat, and Marcel-Steffen Reif, Global Head of Weather Agricultural Risks, to explore how Munich Re’s data-driven insurance products help corporates, public sector entities and industries navigate complex and evolving risks.

A key focus of the conversation is understanding the growing demand for parametric insurance, its role in bridging protection gaps and how Munich Re is developing solutions for emerging risks like green energy and agriculture.

Key talking points:

• What does the Capital Partners unit at Munich Re do?
• How parametric insurance addresses gaps in traditional coverage.
• Revenue smoothing for industries like renewable energy and agriculture.
• Client use cases – from supply chain disruptions to hurricane protection.
• Addressing basis risk in parametric insurance and how to manage it.
• Expanding applications for parametric solutions, including public sector resilience.
• Sensor technology and its potential to enhance parametric insurance accuracy.
• The importance of client education and engagement in driving adoption.

If you like what you’re hearing, please leave us a review on whichever platform you use or contact Matthew Grant on LinkedIn.

Sign up to the InsTech newsletter for a fresh view on the world every Wednesday morning.

Continuing Professional Development

This InsTech Podcast Episode is accredited by the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII). By listening, you can claim up to 0.5 hours towards your CPD scheme.

By the end of this podcast, you should be able to meet the following Learning Objectives:

• Define the concept of basis risk in parametric insurance and its implications for claims.
• Summarise the role of client education in fostering adoption of parametric insurance.
• List the key industries benefiting from parametric solutions, including energy, agriculture and construction.

If your organisation is a member of InsTech and you would like to receive a quarterly summary of the CPD hours you have earned, visit the Episode 328 page of the InsTech website or email cpd@instech.co to let us know you have listened to this podcast.

To help us measure the impact of the learning, we would be grateful if you would take a minute to complete a quick feedback survey.

Kroll’s platform provides property valuations through data-driven insights that benefit insurers, brokers and property owners alike.

Matthew Grant sits down with Kiran Aulakh, Kroll's VP of Fixed Asset Advisory, to explore how Kroll’s platform combines technology and real-time data to assess underinsurance and overinsurance risks across vast property portfolios. 

Kiran shares her insights on the value of green valuations, and the importance of impartial assessments, which Kroll provides through both an API and a standalone platform for seamless integration into clients' ecosystems.

Key talking points:

• The role of impartial valuations in improving insurer-client trust
• How Kroll’s platform combines technology with in-person expertise
• Reducing claims friction by accurately assessing property insurance needs
• Using valuation data to better negotiate policy terms for clients
• Kroll’s partnership with WTW and global insurers to streamline valuation assessments
• Real-time data updates and third-party integration for accurate market responses
• Green valuations and the impact of ESG on future property valuation trends
• Aulakh’s thoughts on data scalability and how it supports insurer-broker collaboration

If you like what you’re hearing, please leave us a review on whichever platform you use or contact Kiran Aulakh or Matthew Grant on LinkedIn.

Sign up to the InsTech newsletter for a fresh view on the world every Wednesday morning.

Continuing Professional Development

This InsTech Podcast Episode is accredited by the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII). By listening, you can claim up to 0.5 hours towards your CPD scheme.

By the end of this podcast, you should be able to meet the following Learning Objectives:

• Describe the role of impartial valuations in managing underinsurance and overinsurance risks.
• Define the impact of valuation accuracy on insurance policy terms and claims outcomes.
• Measure the importance of transparent valuations in fostering stronger insurer-client relationships.

If your organisation is a member of InsTech and you would like to receive a quarterly summary of the CPD hours you have earned, visit the Episode 327 page of the InsTech website or email cpd@instech.co to let us know you have listened to this podcast.

To help us measure the impact of the learning, we would be grateful if you would take a minute to complete a quick feedback survey.

S&P Global Market Intelligence aims to support insurers throughout the entire insurance value chain by providing critical data and insights.

Matthew Grant is joined by George Devereese, who monitors and tracks shipping around the world to screen them against various forms of liabilities. This data is passed onto markets such as the insurance world, to build a better and fuller picture for the insurance contract. 

A key aspect of this process involves identifying and understanding the risks associated with illicit or ‘dark’ shipping activities.

Key talking points include:

• How are the analytics provided helping insurers?
• Why all navigation is a timestamp.
• What is AIS and how can it help an insurer understand a ship’s history?
• Understanding a ship’s risk - from tracking to insurance contracts
• Driving frigates and hunting pirates - George’s time in the Navy
• On becoming ‘dark’ - are there exemptions to turning off AIS?
• Collaborating with Concirrus 
• Cross pollination of data - understanding a bigger and better picture for underwriting risk
• New launches in S&P Global Market Intelligence’s portal looking ahead to the future

If you like what you’re hearing, please leave us a review on whichever platform you use or contact Matthew Grant on LinkedIn.

Sign up to the InsTech newsletter for a fresh view on the world every Wednesday morning.

Continuing Professional Development

This InsTech Podcast Episode is accredited by the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII). By listening, you can claim up to 0.5 hours towards your CPD scheme.

By the end of this podcast, you should be able to meet the following Learning Objectives:

• Describe how data on a ship’s movement can better inform an underwriter’s decision
• Explain what an AIS is, why this can be manipulated by some vessels, and how this affects the underwriter
• Define dark shipping activity and why it is important to understand its implications in insurance

If your organisation is a member of InsTech and you would like to receive a quarterly summary of the CPD hours you have earned, visit the Episode 326 page of the InsTech website or email cpd@instech.co to let us know you have listened to this podcast.

To help us measure the impact of the learning, we would be grateful if you would take a minute to complete a quick feedback survey.

Robin Merttens is joined this week by Ben Turner and Tom Swire at Salesforce, who touch on their journey to joining the company, the trouble with legacy systems and the exciting prospects for the future including an agency management system to be launched in 2025.

If you enjoyed this conversation and would like to hear more, our October evening event hosted in collaboration with Salesforce and Azur Technology was recorded. The videos will be available on our website soon.

Key talking points include:

• On working as an underwriter or in insurance market standards to joining Salesforce - the journey
• Salesforce’s place in insurance
• The importance of the workbench
• Case studies from the front line - N2G and Crux Underwriting
• The Salesforce approach to AI - creating your own bot
• Looking ahead to the future - all the exciting launches
• A match made in heaven - working with ecosystems and partners
• Transformation - making the unknown and scary just that tiny bit more familiar

If you like what you’re hearing, please leave us a review on whichever platform you use or contact Matthew Grant on LinkedIn.

Sign up to the InsTech newsletter for a fresh view on the world every Wednesday morning.

Continuing Professional Development

This InsTech Podcast Episode is accredited by the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII). By listening, you can claim up to 0.5 hours towards your CPD scheme.

By the end of this podcast, you should be able to meet the following Learning Objectives:

• Describe how Salesforce operates in the insurance sector and the benefit of pre-built templates 
• Specify how a CRM system can be a strong foundation for building an underwriting workbench
• Explain how ecosystems work and how do you pick a successful partner

If your organisation is a member of InsTech and you would like to receive a quarterly summary of the CPD hours you have earned, visit the Episode 325 page of the InsTech website or email cpd@instech.co to let us know you have listened to this podcast.

To help us measure the impact of the learning, we would be grateful if you would take a minute to complete a quick feedback survey.

Carbon Underwriting is a Lloyd’s Syndicate MGU that provides shareable underwriting conclusions on its Graphene administration system.

The company has matured since its conception in 2018, and Ben discusses navigating ‘Decile 10’ to gaining approval for Carbon’s second syndicate earlier this year, which will exclusively underwrite US business. 

Key talking points:

• The story behind the creation of Carbon Underwriting and growth in the Lloyd’s market
• The thinking behind the second syndicate
• US business - why enter a competitive market? 
• Smart syndication 
• Graphene - who built it and what’s so good about it? 
• Plans for the rest of this year and 2025
• On being Private Equity owned and waxing lyrical

If you like what you’re hearing, please leave us a review on whichever platform you use or contact Matthew Grant on LinkedIn.

Sign up to the InsTech newsletter for a fresh view on the world every Wednesday morning.

Continuing Professional Development

This InsTech Podcast Episode is accredited by the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII). By listening, you can claim up to 0.5 hours towards your CPD scheme.

By the end of this podcast, you should be able to meet the following Learning Objectives:

• Specify what issues were in the delegated business market and what changes did Carbon Underwriting seek to solve
• Define what ‘Decile 10’ is and how it changed the Lloyd’s Market
• Summarise why smart syndication is and why it is a growing and exciting aspect in the Lloyd’s Market

If your organisation is a member of InsTech and you would like to receive a quarterly summary of the CPD hours you have earned, visit the Episode 324 page of the InsTech website or email cpd@instech.co to let us know you have listened to this podcast.

To help us measure the impact of the learning, we would be grateful if you would take a minute to complete a quick feedback survey.

Discover in this episode the intricacies of running a policy admin system provider, where Liselotte thinks the market is heading to next and the challenges with entering new regions.

Key talking points include:

• The market’s maturity and the problems this may pose.
• Running a business when policy admin system changes are rare 
• Working around compliance 
• Working with a new generation of tech-savy insurers
• Culture shocks upon entering new markets
• Navigating a highly competitive marketing with key players
• Using AI in Fadata
• Ecosystems versus agnostic systems provider - which is best?

If you like what you’re hearing, please leave us a review on whichever platform you use or contact Matthew Grant on LinkedIn.

Sign up to the InsTech newsletter for a fresh view on the world every Wednesday morning.

Continuing Professional Development

This InsTech Podcast Episode is accredited by the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII). By listening, you can claim up to 0.5 hours towards your CPD scheme.

By the end of this podcast, you should be able to meet the following Learning Objectives:

• Describe why implementing a new policy admin system may pose issues for an insurer.
• Specify what markets across the globe are expanding and are interesting for new entrants in insurtech.
• Explain why you need to change your business model and approach when entering new global markets.

If your organisation is a member of InsTech and you would like to receive a quarterly summary of the CPD hours you have earned, visit the Episode 323 page of the InsTech website or email cpd@instech.co to let us know you have listened to this podcast.

To help us measure the impact of the learning, we would be grateful if you would take a minute to complete a quick feedback survey.

Insurants is developed by Antworks in collaboration with Marsh McLennan to help commercial insurance companies manage and process their documents.

This week, Matthew caught up with Mike, who previously having spent 12 years at IBM, witnessed early AI automation with the likes of Watson, through which he fell in love with document processing. At Insurants, Mike is bridging the language barrier (so to speak) between data that flows between brokers and carriers.

Key talking points include: 

• The importance of summarisation - courtesy of the InsTech AI bot intern
• Falling in love with document processing - Mike’s career journey
• What is the current problem with document processing in insurance
• The Periodic Table
• Insurants accuracy - working with Marsh
• Commonality between insurance and the left side of the brain
• Moving business back to the UK
• Vital advice for small carriers and brokers

If you like what you’re hearing, please leave us a review on whichever platform you use or contact Mike Hodbay or Matthew Grant on LinkedIn.

Sign up to the InsTech newsletter for a fresh view on the world every Wednesday morning.

Continuing Professional Development

This InsTech Podcast Episode is accredited by the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII). By listening, you can claim up to 0.5 hours towards your CPD scheme.

By the end of this podcast, you should be able to meet the following Learning Objectives:

• Explain the issues with document processing in the insurance industry and why automation is the solution.
• Identify different types of documents used in insurance and their purpose.
• Summarise ways in which a carrier can integrate a document processing AI system into their workflow.

If your organisation is a member of InsTech and you would like to receive a quarterly summary of the CPD hours you have earned, visit the Episode 322 page of the InsTech website or email cpd@instech.co to let us know you have listened to this podcast.

To help us measure the impact of the learning, we would be grateful if you would take a minute to complete a quick feedback survey.

Touching on the importance of driving digitisation in the London Market, Michael also shares highlights from his distinguished career, with a focus on his success at Canopius and his reasons for joining InsurX. 

An important episode for all those interested in digital trading, algorithmic underwriting and the future of the London Market.

Key talking points include:

• The Hot Topic - digital trading solutions and an introduction to 
• Never close to being at the “end” of a career - looking back at career achievements
• Wise owls and youthful enthusiasm - the perfect pairing?
• Plans for fundraising 
• Development in the London Market - where are we at?
• The tension between centralised infrastructure and entrepreneurs
• What is next for InsurX and the potential to bring digital trading beyond portfolio underwriting

If you like what you’re hearing, please leave us a review on whichever platform you use or contact Matthew Grant on LinkedIn.

Sign up to the InsTech newsletter for a fresh view on the world every Wednesday morning.

Continuing Professional Development

This InsTech Podcast Episode is accredited by the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII). By listening, you can claim up to 0.5 hours towards your CPD scheme.

By the end of this podcast, you should be able to meet the following Learning Objectives:

• Describe what is a digital trading platform in insurance and why is it important in the context of the London Market
• Explain why bringing new tools is difficult in a centralised infrastructure like insurance, and how companies can work around this issue
• Identify reasons why it is valuable to mix young entrepreneurs with industry veterans when building out a new tool

If your organisation is a member of InsTech and you would like to receive a quarterly summary of the CPD hours you have earned, visit the Episode 321 page of the InsTech website or email cpd@instech.co to let us know you have listened to this podcast.

To help us measure the impact of the learning, we would be grateful if you would take a minute to complete a quick feedback survey.

Key topics include:

• Addressing pain points in maritime freight and global trade
• Developing and refining parametric insurance products
• Real-world case studies demonstrating Otonomi’s solutions
• Strategies for managing accumulation risk
• Yann’s expertise in risk management and its influence on Otonomi’s approach
• Expansion of the air cargo market and new maritime product offerings
• Growing awareness and adoption of parametric insurance
• Leveraging AI to scale and enhance business operations
• Otonomi’s global expansion plans and future funding strategies

If you are interested to learn more about parametric insurance and non-damage business interruption, read our report here.

If you like what you’re hearing, please leave us a review on whichever platform you use or contact Matthew Grant on LinkedIn.

Sign up to the InsTech newsletter for a fresh view on the world every Wednesday morning.

Continuing Professional Development

This InsTech Podcast Episode is accredited by the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII). By listening, you can claim up to 0.5 hours towards your CPD scheme.

By the end of this podcast, you should be able to meet the following Learning Objectives:

• Explain how AI and developing new tools can help automate tasks within a business.
• Define parametric insurance and its impact in the perishable goods market.
• Identify the common issues in the cargo insurance space and how parametric insurance can solve them.

If your organisation is a member of InsTech and you would like to receive a quarterly summary of the CPD hours you have earned, visit the Episode 320 page of the InsTech website or email cpd@instech.co to let us know you have listened to this podcast.

To help us measure the impact of the learning, we would be grateful if you would take a minute to complete a quick feedback survey.

In the insurance industry, manually cleaning data remains a costly and time-consuming challenge. To explore this issue, Matthew Grant sits down with Nicola Turner, CEO and Co-founder of Scrub AI. Scrub AI is a platform that automates repetitive data cleaning tasks—a solution born from Nicola's own experience as an underwriter struggling with inefficient processes.

Key talking points include:

• Nicola’s journey from underwriter to ‘accidental’ entrepreneur
• How identifying a persistent problem led to a solution
• The challenges and successes of raising funding for a tech start-up
• Why data management remains such a significant issue in the insurance sector
• The role of AI, machine learning, and technology in transforming data processes
• Insights on working with co-founders and finding the right partners
• Balancing the demands of start-up life with personal well-being

If you would like to hear more about entrepreneurs, raising funding and founding a company, listen to episode 317 with Marcus Ryu, Partner at Battery Ventures and Chairman at Guidewire. 

If you like what you’re hearing, please leave us a review on whichever platform you use or contact Matthew Grant on LinkedIn.

Sign up to the InsTech newsletter for a fresh view on the world every Wednesday morning.

Continuing Professional Development

This InsTech Podcast Episode is accredited by the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII). By listening, you can claim up to 0.5 hours towards your CPD scheme.

By the end of this podcast, you should be able to meet the following Learning Objectives:

• Describe what are the current issues with data in the insurance industry
• Define bordereau and what problems might they pose for an insurer 
• Identify ways in which entrepreneurs can generate funding and develop their team

If your organisation is a member of InsTech and you would like to receive a quarterly summary of the CPD hours you have earned, visit the Episode 319 page of the InsTech website or email cpd@instech.co to let us know you have listened to this podcast.

To help us measure the impact of the learning, we would be grateful if you would take a minute to complete a quick feedback survey.

Key talking points:

• Starting 40 years ago
• Founding Ascot Underwriting and receiving backing from AIG 
• What has gone well in the Lloyd’s Market and what can be improved?
• Is there a good time to invest in technology
• Smart Follow - a term often misunderstood
• The world of algorithms
• Martin’s advice for anyone thinking about entering the Marketplace
• The London Market - it works on people

If you like what you’re hearing, please leave us a review on whichever platform you use or contact Matthew Grant on LinkedIn.

Sign up to the InsTech newsletter for a fresh view on the world every Wednesday morning.

Continuing Professional Development

This InsTech Podcast Episode is accredited by the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII). By listening, you can claim up to 0.5 hours towards your CPD scheme.

By the end of this podcast, you should be able to meet the following Learning Objectives:

• Explain what Smart Follow is in the context of insurance
• Identify ways in which the London Market place can take advantage of innovation
• Summarise what an algorithm is and how it can be implemented in insurance

If your organisation is a member of InsTech and you would like to receive a quarterly summary of the CPD hours you have earned, visit the Episode 318 page of the InsTech website or email cpd@instech.co to let us know you have listened to this podcast.

To help us measure the impact of the learning, we would be grateful if you would take a minute to complete a quick feedback survey.

This week, Matthew Grant talks with Marcus Ryu, Co-founder and Chairman of Guidewire, and Partner at Battery Ventures. Marcus, one of Guidewire's five founders, shares his experiences from starting the company in 2002 and the lessons he learned along the way.

In this episode, Marcus discusses his shift from leading Guidewire to investing through a multi-stage technology investment firm. The conversation covers topics relevant to those interested in the insurance industry, current trends in insurance technology, and practical advice for entrepreneurs and investors alike.

Key talking points include:

• Graduate school and finishing at the beginning of the dot-com era
• What ingredients are necessary to found a successful company? 
• Startups are insurgents
• The first sale cycle - what is ‘wandering in the desert’?
• Why you need recklessness to start a company
• The Guidewire story and staying agile in 2024
• From founder to investor - joining Battery Ventures
• Investing in hyperexponential
• Closing remarks on admin systems and generative AI

You can listen to our podcast with Amrit Santhirasenan, Co-founder and CEO of hyperexponential here.

If you like what you’re hearing, please leave us a review on whichever platform you use or contact Matthew Grant on LinkedIn.

Sign up to the InsTech newsletter for a fresh view on the world every Wednesday morning.

Continuing Professional Development

This InsTech Podcast Episode is accredited by the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII). By listening, you can claim up to 0.5 hours towards your CPD scheme.

By the end of this podcast, you should be able to meet the following Learning Objectives:

• Describe what founders can learn from the conditions necessary for a successful startup to grow 
• Specify how a large technology company can remain relevant and agile after being founded over 20 years ago.
• Identify certain traits and characteristics that investors look for in companies and why

If your organisation is a member of InsTech and you would like to receive a quarterly summary of the CPD hours you have earned, visit the Episode 317 page of the InsTech website or email cpd@instech.co to let us know you have listened to this podcast.

To help us measure the impact of the learning, we would be grateful if you would take a minute to complete a quick feedback survey.

Quotech, founded by Guillaume Bonnissent, provides technology for commercial underwriters and brokers. Its integrated solutions cover data ingestion and extraction, pricing, distribution, policy administration and claims.

Matthew Grant caught up with Quotech’s CEO and founder to touch on his underwriting past and how it has helped build a company, the issues with Excel spreadsheets and targeting specific insurance lines to produce tailored products.

Key talking points include:

• From underwriter to entrepreneur - the journey
• Producing innovative solutions for underwriters 
• Targeting specific insurance lines - can you really do everything if you can do marine?
• The importance of user experience
• Transitioning from coding to leadership
• Investors and future prospects

If you like what you’re hearing, please leave us a review on whichever platform you use or contact Matthew Grant on LinkedIn.

Sign up to the InsTech newsletter for a fresh view on the world every Wednesday morning.

Continuing Professional Development

This InsTech Podcast Episode is accredited by the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII). By listening, you can claim up to 0.5 hours towards your CPD scheme.

By the end of this podcast, you should be able to meet the following Learning Objectives:

• Describe the current issues underwriters face with Excel spreadsheets and policy platforms
• Explain what is an underwriting workbench and why are they helpful to multiple members of a team
• Summarise the importance of turning your frustrations into solutions and entrepreneurial tips for founding a business

If your organisation is a member of InsTech and you would like to receive a quarterly summary of the CPD hours you have earned, visit the Episode 316 page of the InsTech website or email cpd@instech.co to let us know you have listened to this podcast.

To help us measure the impact of the learning, we would be grateful if you would take a minute to complete a quick feedback survey.

Key talking points:

• Robin on becoming a grandfather
• Robin’s article on the positive aspects of the industry
• Alignment of interest between technology and insurance in the US
• Reflecting back on InsTech’s events in New York
• Hurricane season and the companies to look out for
• Is parametric insurance a potential solution to volatile risk?
• 2024 and funding
• The rise of partnerships and ecosystems and Smart Follow
• Wine tasting and looking into what InsTech has in store for 2025  

If you like what you’re hearing, please leave us a review on whichever platform you use or contact Matthew Grant on LinkedIn.

Sign up to the InsTech newsletter for a fresh view on the world every Wednesday morning.

Continuing Professional Development

This InsTech Podcast Episode is accredited by the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII). By listening, you can claim up to 0.5 hours towards your CPD scheme.

By the end of this podcast, you should be able to meet the following Learning Objectives:

• Describe how technology and insurance has aligned better together in recent years and why this innovation and development is important
• Identify changes in trends to investing in startups in the industry
• Summarise why parametric is a solution to volatile and hard to insure risk

If your organisation is a member of InsTech and you would like to receive a quarterly summary of the CPD hours you have earned, visit the Episode 315 page of the InsTech website or email cpd@instech.co to let us know you have listened to this podcast.

To help us measure the impact of the learning, we would be grateful if you would take a minute to complete a quick feedback survey.

This week Matthew Grant caught up with Paul Carroll to ask after 11 years of looking at insurance, how are insurers doing with technology?

Key talking points include:

• Looking back, we predicted greater disruption: the fault of regulation and risk capital
• The industry metabolism and its speed
• Dinner with Bill Gates
• When looking at insurance, are there disruptors equivalent to Microsoft?
• The birth of catastrophe modelling after Hurricane Arthur in ‘92
• The ‘Trough of Disillusionment’
• The rise of the platform 
• The Laws of Zero
• How has the way we consume information digitally changed?

If you like what you’re hearing, please leave us a review on whichever platform you use or contact Matthew Grant on LinkedIn.

Sign up to the InsTech newsletter for a fresh view on the world every Wednesday morning.

Continuing Professional Development

This InsTech Podcast Episode is accredited by the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII). By listening, you can claim up to 0.5 hours towards your CPD scheme.

By the end of this podcast, you should be able to meet the following Learning Objectives:

• Specify why the creation of the ‘platform’ is significant in insurance
• Identify why we had once predicted there would be greater disruption in insurance
• Summarise what the ‘Laws of Zero’ are and why are they relevant to insurance

If your organisation is a member of InsTech and you would like to receive a quarterly summary of the CPD hours you have earned, visit the Episode 314 page of the InsTech website or email cpd@instech.co to let us know you have listened to this podcast.

To help us measure the impact of the learning, we would be grateful if you would take a minute to complete a quick feedback survey.

Robin Merttens spoke to Chris Lafond, CEO of Insurity - a P&C insurance software provider offering cloud-based solutions to help companies focus on profitability.

After a series of acquisitions in 2019, Insurity continue to execute their thesis from five years ago in embracing the cloud and providing the industry with out-of-the-box technology solutions. It is currently trusted by 12 of the top 15 managing agents in London. 

Tune in to hear Robin and Chris discuss Insurity’s expanding presence in the London Market and whether the term “insurtech” is a helpful word. 

Key talking points include:

• Celebrating three decades in the industry
• GI Partners and expanding Insurity 
• Looking back at Insurity’s thesis in 2019
• The need for underwriting workbenches in the London Market
• Is AI the ‘data warehouse’ of our time?
• To ‘insurtech’ or not to ‘insurtech’?
• The future of acquisitions for Insurity
• The curse of past technology decisions - the problems that occur with legacy systems

If you like what you’re hearing, please leave us a review on whichever platform you use or contact Matthew Grant on LinkedIn.

Sign up to the InsTech newsletter for a fresh view on the world every Wednesday morning.

Continuing Professional Development

This InsTech Podcast Episode is accredited by the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII). By listening, you can claim up to 0.5 hours towards your CPD scheme.

By the end of this podcast, you should be able to meet the following Learning Objectives:

• Specify how an underwriting workbench can help users
• Explain what the cloud is in insurance and how it can help users 
• Summarise why mergers and acquisitions (M&A) can be beneficial for a company

If your organisation is a member of InsTech and you would like to receive a quarterly summary of the CPD hours you have earned, visit the Episode 313 page of the InsTech website or email cpd@instech.co to let us know you have listened to this podcast.

To help us measure the impact of the learning, we would be grateful if you would take a minute to complete a quick feedback survey.

Join Matthew and Deepak as they discuss the role of technology platforms in simplifying catastrophe risk analysis for underwriters amid the start of the hurricane season. Deepak shares his journey of founding EigenRisk Inc., the challenges of building a one-stop platform for catastrophe risk analytics, the importance of simplicity in complex modeling, and the growing preference for buying technology solutions over building in-house. 

Key talking points:

• The start of EigenRisk - a one stop shop platform for the industry to bring all the catastrophe risk analytics in one place
• Building v buying - where do insurers stand?
• A solution for the entire industry
• Differences between building a product and building a business
• Finding the right modelers for the platform - the value of partnering
• A Costco for data
• See Deepak in London for ‘Climate and property blind spots revealed: making the right decision at the right time’

If you like what you’re hearing, please leave us a review on whichever platform you use or contact Matthew Grant on LinkedIn.

Sign up to the InsTech newsletter for a fresh view on the world every Wednesday morning.

Continuing Professional Development

This InsTech Podcast Episode is accredited by the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII). By listening, you can claim up to 0.5 hours towards your CPD scheme.

By the end of this podcast, you should be able to meet the following Learning Objectives:

• Describe the importance of customer feedback and SaaS models
• Specify methods for simplifying catastrophe risk management
• Identify how to building partnerships and integrating data successfully

If your organisation is a member of InsTech and you would like to receive a quarterly summary of the CPD hours you have earned, visit the Episode 312 page of the InsTech website or email cpd@instech.co to let us know you have listened to this podcast.

To help us measure the impact of the learning, we would be grateful if you would take a minute to complete a quick feedback survey.

Speakers:

• Leah Emma, Assistant Director of Commercial Incubation, Solaria Labs – Liberty Mutual
• Caolan Kovach-Orr, Head of AI & Automation, North America – Arch Capital Group
• Rohit Reddy, Head of Underwriting Strategy – Swiss Re Corporate Solutions
• Matthew Grant, CEO – InsTech

Key talking points:

• Each company and their strategy
• Challenges and opportunities in underwriting
• AI and technology in insurance
• Build vs Buy: strategic decisions
• Engaging underwriters: culture and adoption
• Magic wishes for the future

You can now also watch the whole panel discussion here.

If you like what you’re hearing, please leave us a review on whichever platform you use or contact Matthew Grant on LinkedIn.

Sign up to the InsTech newsletter for a fresh view on the world every Wednesday morning.

Continuing Professional Development

This InsTech Podcast Episode is accredited by the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII). By listening, you can claim up to 0.5 hours towards your CPD scheme.

By the end of this podcast, you should be able to meet the following Learning Objectives:

• Specify how AI can be utilised to address issues with the underwriter’s current role in insurance today 
• Explain the build versus buy debate
• Summarise the current issues underwriters face in the industry and how it can be addressed

If your organisation is a member of InsTech and you would like to receive a quarterly summary of the CPD hours you have earned, visit the Episode 311 page of the InsTech website or email cpd@instech.co to let us know you have listened to this podcast.

To help us measure the impact of the learning, we would be grateful if you would take a minute to complete a quick feedback survey.

One for the technology lovers and the MGA innovators. Tune in to hear Robin speak to Charlie and Graham about entrepreneurship in the MGA world, how technology can slot itself into an underwriting business and why the cultural aspect is the hardest thing to get right.

Key talking points:

• Journey from co-founding Azur Underwriting, to developing Azur Technology and Crux Underwriting
• Charlie’s experience forming long-term partnerships with MGAs as a separate technology provider
• Graham building out an agile insurance business in a regulated market
• The relationship between MGAs and capacity providers
• Why haven’t MGAs adopted modern and flexible platforms?
• Azur Technology: working on Salesforce 
• What is it about technology that makes it currently exciting
• Petting-zoo sales: what has changed since starting a business in 2014

If you like what you're hearing, please leave us a review on whichever platform you use or contact Matthew Grant on LinkedIn.

To find out more about InsTech, our membership and offerings visit www.instech.co or contact us hello@instech.co

Continuing Professional Development

This InsTech Podcast Episode is accredited by the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII). By listening, you can claim up to 0.5 hours towards your CPD scheme.

By the end of this podcast, you should be able to meet the following Learning Objectives:

• Describe why an agile approach to building out a business in a regulated market is an unusual but beneficial approach.
• Specify what problems MGAs have with modernising and utilising new technology solutions
• Identify why MGAs have difficulties with deploying technology across multiple classes.

If your organisation is a member of InsTech and you would like to receive a quarterly summary of the CPD hours you have earned, visit the Episode 310 page of the InsTech website or email cpd@instech.co to let us know you have listened to this podcast.

To help us measure the impact of the learning, we would be grateful if you would take a minute to complete a quick feedback survey.

After our successful May Evening Event hosted in collaboration with Reserv, Robin Merttens caught up with CEO CJ Przybyl and discussed the technology behind Reserv, including the integration of generative AI and modern data infrastructure, as well as the company's growth and expansion plans in the UK and Europe.

Key talking points include:

• Origins of Reserv and CJ’s experience co-founding Snapsheet
• Noticing an opportunity for start-up and established MGAs
• Building and scaling Reserv - the success story
• Why the UK market is unique for TPAs
• First job out of university - defining a trajectory
• Ensuring underwriting and claims are more conjoined and reactive 
• The ideal balance in a claims adjuster's world between what the machines do and what the humans do
• Dissatisfaction to digitisation - looking ahead to the future

Continuing Professional Development

This InsTech Podcast Episode is accredited by the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII). By listening, you can claim up to 0.5 hours towards your CPD scheme.

By the end of this podcast, you should be able to meet the following Learning Objectives:

• Describe what legacy issues surrounds few large TPAs and why this may leave some customers dissatisfied.
• Specify in what ways generative AI can alleviate processes claims
• Identify how underwriting and claims can be more conjoined

If your organisation is a member of InsTech and you would like to receive a quarterly summary of the CPD hours you have earned, visit the Episode 309 page of the InsTech website or email cpd@instech.co to let us know you have listened to this podcast.

To help us measure the impact of the learning, we would be grateful if you would take a minute to complete a quick feedback survey.

We asked: what does the future of insurance look like? One answer is digitising how risk flows. In this discussion, industry experts Nigel Walsh from Google Cloud, Meghan Hannes at K2 Cyber, Zaheer Hooda at Cytora and Charles Clarke at Guidewire delve into the current progress made by insurers, the challenges they encounter, and a playbook for accelerating AI-assisted underwriting. 

Watch this space for more releases soon...

Key talking points include:

• Is the industry heading in the right direction with regard to AI?
• “Augmentation” - why using the right vocabulary matters
• The perspective of insurers working for technology companies - what is working?
• The rallying cry for insurers
• How to make a case internally for adoption of AI?
• Don’t aim for the moon, aim for standardisation
• Can generative AI solve technical debt?
• Implementation differences between SMEs and large corporates

Continuing Professional Development

This InsTech Podcast Episode is accredited by the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII). By listening, you can claim up to 0.5 hours towards your CPD scheme.

By the end of this podcast, you should be able to meet the following Learning Objectives:

• Describe why the word ‘augmentation’ is important in insurance
• List reasons why carriers should consider digitising their risk flows
• Summarise at what stage is the industry currently at with adoption, what is holding it back and what does the future look like

If your organisation is a member of InsTech and you would like to receive a quarterly summary of the CPD hours you have earned, visit the Episode 308 page of the InsTech website or email cpd@instech.co to let us know you have listened to this podcast.

To help us measure the impact of the learning, we would be grateful if you would take a minute to complete a quick feedback survey.

This week on the podcast, we have an insightful conversation with Joe O'Connor, Deputy CEO of RDT. RDT is a well-known software and services provider for the motor insurance industry, with plans to expand into the specialty market. Joe discusses how technology provision has changed over the last decade, what RDT has learned from providing services to general insurers, what the specialty market can learn from achievements in the retail sector, the launch of its new workflow and orchestration platform (ACE), and RDT’s future plans. Learn how RDT has identified a market need, worked with existing customers to build technology to meet those needs, and why they have great hopes for ACE, now that they are ready to "come out to play."

Key talking points include:

• RDT’s transition from traditional software to managed service and SaaS.
• Expanding scope beyond the traditional focus on motor and niche insurance sectors.
• The impact of claims inflation and degradation of claims handling skills.
• The launch of ACE (Agile Composition Engine) and its role in orchestrating insurance processes.
• The importance of ecosystem integration and selective platform partnerships.
• What specialty insurance can learn and leverage from prior investment in technology for the general insurance market. 
• Future directions for RDT, including expansion into specialty insurance markets.

Useful links

RDT Whitepaper - This paper explores the impact of technological advancements and customer demands on insurance claims processing, highlighting RDT's ACE platform and various industry trends.

If you like what you're hearing, please leave us a review on whichever platform you use or contact Matthew Grant on LinkedIn.

To find out more about InsTech, our membership and offerings visit www.instech.co or contact us hello@instech.co

Continuing Professional Development

This InsTech Podcast Episode is accredited by the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII). By listening, you can claim up to 0.5 hours towards your CPD scheme.

By the end of this podcast, you should be able to meet the following Learning Objectives:

• Understand the issues facing claims professionals and the role that technology and automation can play. 
• Identify why data and platform ecosystems are so important and how to set about building them. 
• Explain the power of orchestration in automating tasks and multi-platform composition

If your organisation is a member of InsTech and you would like to receive a quarterly summary of the CPD hours you have earned, visit the Episode 307 page of the InsTech website or email cpd@instech.co to let us know you have listened to this podcast.

To help us measure the impact of the learning, we would be grateful if you would take a minute to complete a quick feedback survey.

On the podcast this week we are spotlighting an important collaboration between Mitiga, a climate risk intelligence provider, and insurer HDI Global. As climate change rises to become one of the most pertinent and defining risks of our generation, find out how the partnership is working to evolve the landscape of climate risk management for various industries. One such asset is Mitiga’s platform EarthScan.

Joining Matthew is Wiebke Cundill, Senior Risk Engineer at HDI Global SE and Jonathan Liddell, Customer Success Lead at Mitiga.

Key talking points include:

• How EarthScan can help customers understand the risks posed by climate change
• The transition from focusing just on natural hazards to climate risk
• Downscaling data into an asset class
• Business as usual, Emissions peak in 2040 or Paris-aligned future?
• Mitiga helps HDI move into the future 
• How HDI offers site specific assessment of climate risks - from site to consulting and adoption
• Importance of trust and collaboration
• Understanding EarthScanTM

You can listen to our past episode with Dr Verena Brenner from HDI TH!NX here and find out more about HDI’s climate risk reporting services here.

If you like what you're hearing, please leave us a review on whichever platform you use or contact Matthew Grant on LinkedIn.

To find out more about InsTech, our membership and offerings visit www.instech.co or contact us hello@instech.co

Continuing Professional Development

This InsTech Podcast Episode is accredited by the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII). By listening, you can claim up to 0.5 hours towards your CPD scheme.

By the end of this podcast, you should be able to meet the following Learning Objectives:

• Specify why granularity of data is important when it comes to understanding and modelling future climate risks
• Explain why insurers cannot simply rely on past data when considering resilience toward climate 
• Identify what types of future has Mitiga modelled, what are their differences and why are all three of these scenarios important

If your organisation is a member of InsTech and you would like to receive a quarterly summary of the CPD hours you have earned, visit the Episode 306 page of the InsTech website or email cpd@instech.co to let us know you have listened to this podcast.

To help us measure the impact of the learning, we would be grateful if you would take a minute to complete a quick feedback survey.

Watch this space for some very exciting episodes coming up.

Key talking points:

• Importance of iteration and scaling 
• Parametric should be looked at as a tool
• The connection to smart contracts and parametric
• What is ‘truth’ in insurance?
• What is ‘fair’ in insurance?
• The key to successful integration
• How much human intervention goes into running the model
• Evolving role of brokers 
• The openness of the insurance industry to new solutions

If you like what you're hearing, please leave us a review on whichever platform you use or contact Matthew Grant on LinkedIn.

To find out more about InsTech, our membership and offerings visit www.instech.co or contact us hello@instech.co

Continuing Professional Development

This InsTech Podcast Episode is accredited by the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII). By listening, you can claim up to 0.5 hours towards your CPD scheme.

By the end of this podcast, you should be able to meet the following Learning Objectives:

• Describe the connection between smart contracts and parametric and why this is important
• Explain the difference between ‘truth’ and ‘fair’ in insurance
• Identify how the role of the broker can evolve when it comes to parametric insurance and its integration

If your organisation is a member of InsTech and you would like to receive a quarterly summary of the CPD hours you have earned, visit the Episode 305 page of the InsTech website or email cpd@instech.co to let us know you have listened to this podcast.

To help us measure the impact of the learning, we would be grateful if you would take a minute to complete a quick feedback survey.