Instech London Podcast

This week on the podcast Matthew speaks to a returning guest, Amrit Santhirasenan who is the Co-founder and CEO at hyperexponential. Their discussion focuses on pricing decision intelligence and what this means for insurers. Listen to find out more about hyperexponential’s evolution as a start-up since Amrit previously spoke on the podcast in 2019, and how hyperexponential want to “take the tech risk away” for “insurers to focus on the insurance risk”.   Are you an insurer or reinsurer interested in finding out more about hyperexponential? We are hosting a Breakfast Event in partnership with hyperexponential on 26th of September. Please register your interest and your place will be confirmed by one of our team.  Key topics include: Why insights, opinions and beliefs are as crucial as data How to avoid failure in projects - are you building a bridge or a network of roads Book recommendations for start ups owners hx Connect - the importance of ecosystems in partnerships What is your scope? The power of asking h

This week on the podcast we go into detail about an exciting partnership between two InsTech members. Robin Merttens is joined by David King, Artificial Labs and James Slaughter, Apollo Underwriting, following the two companies announcing an augmented underwriting collaboration. The portfolio will be underwritten Apollo's 1969 syndicate and will run on Artificial Labs' technology. Listen in to find out more about how this collaboration of innovators is going to transform underwriting. Talking points include: Artificial Labs and Apollo - why collaborate? Technology as the driving force for change Why we need to embrace augmented underwriting technology. Wider market ramifications  If you like what you are hearing, please leave us a review on whichever platform you use or contact Robin Merttens and Matthew Grant on LinkedIn. Sign up to the InsTech newsletter for a fresh view on the world every Wednesday morning. To find out more about InsTech, our membership and offerings visit www.instech.co or contact us hel

In this episode Robin Merttens moderates a panel discussion organised by Optalitix and hosted at Lloyd’s. Joining him were Dani Katz, Optalitix; Alison Quinlivan, Google; Ruta Mikiskaite, Swiss Re and Chris Mullan, Eigen Technologies.  The discussion touched on how the future of insurance is being changed by new technology and data sources and how the industry needs to respond. Tune in and hear from a panel leading the clamour for change and understand how Curious George and Bob the Builder can help… Talking points include: 04:39 Real-time risk management is crucial. 06:45 Legacy technology hinders insurance innovation. 10:53 Embrace AI for insurance improvement. 15:06 Underwriters need time and tools. 22:38 Behavioural change needed for real-time risk management. 26:46 Technology enhances underwriters' jobs. 28:13 Technology should help humans thrive. If you like what you are hearing, please leave us a review on whichever platform you use or contact Robin Merttens and Matthew Grant on LinkedIn. Sign up to t

Matthew Grant is joined by Paul Templar, CEO and Co-founder of VIPR, and Greg Massey, US Advisor for VIPR. VIPR was founded in 2009 in the UK but has continued to grow and is expanding into the US following funding from PE firm Tenzing in 2020. Paul Templar has been with the company since its early days and Greg Massey joined recently having formerly been SVP - Head of Programs for Zurich in the US and a long history of working for US carriers. Topics covered include: The key challenges and opportunities for companies expanding their presence outside of the UK Industry trends - what are you keeping an eye on? A preview of the coming “Real-time data exchange”  Working with Lloyd's managing agents Helping companies justify buying decision You can contact this week's guests, Paul Templar and Greg Massey, on LinkedIn.  If you like what you are 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 ever

Last week on the podcast we found out what Chat GPT had to say about InsTech. This week Matthew previews our newsletter on generative AI, particularly who is using it and where are we on the hype cycle.  For the curious, we have released a monthly newsletter dedicated to exploring the uses of generative AI across insurance.  Topics covered include: The three different reactions from insurers to integrating generative AI Our new Generative AI in Practice newsletter. Sign up here.  How InsTech is using automation to help our workflow  In addition to hearing from Matthew, the conversation mentions recent developments from our member community including examples from Send, Inversion, Eigen Technologies, Future Processing, CyberCube, Marsh, CFC and many more. If you like what you are 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. To find out more about InsTech, our membe

We’re back with another “Partners’ Chat” as Robin Merttens and Matthew Grant reflect on what has happened in the world of innovation and insurance and where it is going next.  The conversation touches on InsTech’s various events in the year so far, the success of InsTech’s recent carbon offsetting report and a look forward to the progress being made by our members in analytics and data. Talking points include: Claims ecosystems and interdependency An introduction to Carbon Offsetting: an insurance use case Technology resistance and adoption: from the ‘digital lipstick on a pig’ to the ‘Big Bang’  Rips and Clouds in New York City A look ahead to our Cytora Evening Event The skill of the future: uploading data Chat GPT tells us what the value of an InsTech membership is In addition to hearing from Matthew and Robin on the data disconnect in insurance and making life easier for underwriters, the conversation mentions recent developments from our member community including examples from Overstone, CGG, Kroll, Au

Launching a new insurance business is hard, particularly for those with limited experience in the complexities of a regulated market. OneAdvent can help. Joining Matthew this week are Tim Quayle, COO at OneAdvent and Matt Jones, Chief Strategy Officer at Cowbell, a cyber insurance company entering the UK market. We cover some of the important areas when launching an MGA - and proved that talking about insurance can even be quite fun.  Topics covered include: Core problems in launching insurance businesses and why “plumbers” are needed to fix them What you need from a partner when entering a new market The barriers to entry for cyber insurance businesses How to stay flexible and why it is the key to success What gives successful MGAs the “edge” in growing their business In addition to hearing about Cowbell Cyber’s experience, we talk about other OneAdvent partners including OTT Risk and ARMD. You can contact this week's guests, Tim Quayle and Matt Jones, on Linkedin.  If you like what you are hearing, please

Reaching emission reduction and sustainability goals is becoming more important than ever. Supporting the carbon markets, including through new insurance products, can be a key way of doing this.  This week Matthew Grant speaks to InsTech’s own Ali Smedley - Senior Research Analyst and author of “Carbon offsetting: the insurance use case”. To learn more, you can download the report here. Topics include: The difference between a carbon offset and carbon credit Examples of carbon offset projects and their risks What’s happening with carbon insurance at the moment How data and technology companies can support insurers We’d love to know what you think about this episode - click here and add your thoughts to our LinkedIn post about it. 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. To find out more about InsTech, our membership and offerings visit 

While supply chains are under increasing pressure, many losses associated with cargo delays go uninsured. If shipments are late, perishable goods are lost, business is interrupted and budgets are overspent. Henry Gale speaks to Yann Barbarroux, CEO and Co-founder at Otonomi about the insurance product the company has built to cover supply chain delays for third-party logistics companies and freight forwarders. Topics include: Getting cargo underwriters at Lloyd’s comfortable with a delay product Three approaches to distribution for new insurance products How the Ever Given ship stuck in the Suez Canal affected supply chains Customer responses to parametric products Otonomi's experience in the Lloyd's Lab We’d love to know what you think about this episode - click here and add your thoughts to our LinkedIn post about it. 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 e

Technology comes in many forms - some of it is very visible and accessible - but a lot of the important technology is working away out of sight - and usually out of mind. And many of the most successful companies are those that are building out this critical infrastructure.  Richard Tyler, Founder and CEO of Phinsys and Eric Butler, Head of Americas and Bermuda join Matthew Grant to discuss why Phinsys was launched. Topics include: How to help insurers understand where they have been, where they are now and where they are going From frustrated business user to successful start-up founder - why these companies succeed Connecting the financial plumbing - the benefits of buy versus build We’d love to know what you think about this episode - click here and add your thoughts to our LinkedIn post about it. 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 morni

Send offers modular commercial insurance software to insurers, reinsurers and MGAs. The core offering is an underwriting workbench that supports from initial enquiry to bind. It’s a single place for underwriters to access data, documents and decision points. New insurers can use it as a core system, or for more mature companies, it can be bolted onto existing systems, including legacy. Send was founded in 2017 by three insurance veterans. Topics covered include: How to sort through underwriting information that is unstructured and often unwanted How large insurers are able to accelerate the adoption of new technology How ChatGPT is being used to make sense of email Reducing the cost and risk of deployment How to avoid the challenge of making simple things simple but complex things impossible Revealing Send’s strategy of “continuous development” We’d love to know what you think about this episode - click here and add your thoughts to our LinkedIn post about it. If you like what you're hearing, please leave us

Flood events are increasing around the world, with many losses uncovered by insurance. Whilst parametric solutions can help provide new capacity to insure catastrophic risks and widen access to insurance, parametric flood insurance is not yet as widespread as parametric covers for hurricanes or earthquakes, due in part to data and modelling challenges specific to flood.  Henry Gale speaks to Peter Lacovara, Head of Commercial, Floodbase about how the company is working to make parametric flood insurance possible with satellite imagery, machine learning and partnerships with insurers and brokers. Topics include: Peter's experience leading parametric broking in North America at Marsh The types of companies looking for parametric flood insurance Training a machine to find flood water in satellite images What 'fractional flooded area' is and how it can be used as a parametric trigger Floodbase's work with FEMA on the US National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) We’d love to know what you think about this episode -

The Florida insurance market has faced numerous challenges in recent years. For insurers to underwrite profitably in Florida, having the right hurricane reinsurance is essential. David Schmid, Head of Parametric Products, Reask and Brian Espie, Chief Underwriting Officer, Kettle, join Henry Gale to discuss the new parametric reinsurance solution Kettle and Reask have created for Florida hurricane risks. Topics include: Why parametric can help insurers buy reinsurance that reflects their own view of risk The advantages of parametric reinsurance over industry loss warranties (ILWs) The data sources Reask uses to calculate hurricane wind speed at different locations How Hurricane Ian's wind patterns were unusual and why it matters We’d love to know what you think about this episode - click here and add your thoughts to our LinkedIn post about it. 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 f

Matthew Grant is back talking to another co-founder of a successful technology company. Louw Hopley is Co-founder and CEO of Root which is providing technology to support embedded insurance for companies in South Africa, UK and other countries. Topics include: The advantages of building technology for companies in South Africa What an API really is and how it works The emerging use of Generative AI for writing and testing code Finding your business partner 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. To find out more about InsTech, our membership and offerings visit www.instech.co or contact us hello@instech.co Continuing Professional Development - Learning Objectives InsTech is accredited by The Chartered Insurance Institute (CII). By listening to any InsTech podcast, you can claim up to 0.5 hours towards your CPD scheme. By the end of this

One of the fundamentals of Insurance is understanding the nature of the risk. What happens when a bookshop adds in a coffee shop - is that riskier? Has this been communicated to the insurer? Does the premium change to reflect that? Matthew Grant is talking to Roger Ferrandis, COO and Co-founder, Wenalyze about how the company is helping insurers identify significant changes in their portfolio. Topics include: How a leading insurer increased annual premium income by repricing its clients' business Building a start-up and surviving two pivots Sources of data around the world Making it easy to integrate into workflows We’d love to know what you think about this episode - click here and add your thoughts to our LinkedIn post about it. 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. To find out more about InsTech, our membership and offerings visit 

With all the new technology emerging - and insurers thirsty for knowledge - there’s a growing need for someone to help figure out how to join it all together. Robin Merttens talks to Daren Rudd, VP Consulting - Head of Insurance Business and Technology Consulting, UK at CGI. You’ll hear about Daren’s personal experience and how he and his colleagues are helping insurers engage with new and innovative technology, data and analytics. Topics covered include: The most notable developments in how insurers engage with digital from the last decade Why technology is the new Lego Why we are looking in the wrong place to solve the industry’s data problem Success stories in implementing IOT for insurers Go digital but allow time to dance  The book recommendation from this week’s guest Daren is Digital Darwinism: Survival of the Fittest in the Age of Business Disruption by Tom Goodwin. 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

This week we’re back talking to Synergy Cloud - it's about claims - and Matthew Grant is talking to Tom Burroughs, Chief Technology Officer, the intrapreneur within the parent company Claims Consortium Group creating a new product and a new business. We cover a range of topics relevant to anyone building or using software, not just in claims, including: What insurance can learn from the travel industry How to build technology in collaboration with the customer It plugs but does it play? Tips for finding the best integrations tools for your product Designing with your customer’s customer in mind Digital collaboration today in a post-pandemic world To learn more about what you should value when you are developing software, podcast guest Tom recommends the Agile Manifesto. If you enjoyed this episode and want to keep listening, we recommend Episode 166 with Jeremy Hyams, CEO of Claims Consortium Group. We’d love to know what you think about this episode - click here and add your thoughts to our LinkedIn post ab

Reinsurers are often the leaders in innovation - and usually identify earlier trends before they go mainstream. In this episode, Robin Merttens talks to Brian O'Reilly, Head of Innovation and Nicole Van Allen, Associate, to discover what Greenlight Re looks for in its business partners. Topics include: What to look for in founders Why actuaries still have a critical role Where to find the best innovation What the future will look like Examples of companies Greenlight Re has worked with We’d love to know what you think about this episode - click here and add your thoughts to our LinkedIn post about it. 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. To find out more about InsTech, our membership and offerings visit www.instech.co or contact us hello@instech.co Continuing Professional Development - Learning Objectives InsTech is accredited by The

We’re back talking about life and health for this week’s special edition with Tim Smith and Lisa Balboa from Hannover Re. Robin Merttens leads the discussion. Topics include: The role of a reinsurance company in providing protection for insurers and their clients An update on the use of wearables Making health insurance affordable for many How Hannover Re nurtures innovation We’d love to know what you think about this episode - click here and add your thoughts to our LinkedIn post about it. 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. To find out more about InsTech, our membership and offerings visit www.instech.co or contact us hello@instech.co Continuing Professional Development - Learning Objectives InsTech is accredited by The Chartered Insurance Institute (CII). By listening to any InsTech podcast, you can claim up to 0.5 hours towards

Concirrus was founded in 2012 and has evolved to become one of the leaders in supporting marine underwriting through tracking ships and managing data. Today the company is expanding into a platform for multiple risk types and provides analytics into areas including aviation and liability. The goal is to make all underwriters as smart as the smartest underwriter in a company using AI tools. With his fourth appearance on the InsTech podcast and third dedicated interview, Co-founder and CEO Andy Yeoman explains to Matthew Grant the lessons and insights since founding the business. Topics include:  Creating “decision optimizations solutions” and what they are How to make technology work better for underwriters What it means to move AI from a point solution to a platform solution Lessons from Silicon Valley to Silicon Roundabout When looking to the future, consider the “but for… Why insurers should study the designed instability of the F-35 fighter jet If you like what you're hearing, please leave us a review on