In our first episode of the season, we catch up with Tom Durkin, head of LCP’s Insurance Consulting team about “the insurer of the future”.

We discuss:

• Why do insurers need to change?

• Examples of firms which are ahead of the game.

• What firms should be looking to do now to start the journey.

In our final episode of the season, we reflect on all the great conversations we have had and give an update on any developments.

We go back over:

• Climate change – we have discussed this ‘hot’ topic across many of our episodes this season. We bring together all the lessons we have learnt and what developments there have been.

• Strategy – looking at how boards should be developing their approach to strategy and how risks and cultures influence this.

• Inflation – what the current situation is and what can you be doing about it.

This week we talk to LCP’s behavioural science expert Zoe Burdo about the behavioural biases that general insurance boards face in typical strategic and management decisions. We look at how biases can impact firms’ judgements when making assumptions about the future and dealing with unknown unknowns.

We explore questions including:

• Anchoring, framing and over-confidence – how do these impact decision making in strategy, business planning and risk management?

• What are the red flags to look out for when making decisions as a group?

• How might biases impact attitudes to climate change and cyber risk?

This week we talk to Nitesh Patel, Head of Reserving at Argo, about his career journey. We discuss how “sliding door” moments can define careers and how the role of actuaries in the insurance market is growing.

We explore questions including:

• What are the skills you need to make the most of your career?

• Tips for being a great mentor.

• Why actuaries are playing a greater role in the leadership of general insurance firms.

This week we talk to Charlie Stone about whether machine learning really could help insurers better predict the future, prevent losses and even give actuaries “superpowers”! Charlie is a Principal at LCP and leads LCPs InsurSight analytics platform.

We explore questions including:

• How is machine learning changing the way insurers operate and compete?

• What should insurance actuaries be doing to ensure they make best use of machine learning techniques?

• What are the practical pitfalls in building or implementing machine learning solutions?

• What can board members do to ensure that their firms don’t fall behind?

This week we speak to Ed Johnson, head of Insurance Linked Securities (ILS) sales at Swiss Re for the EMEA and APAC regions, about the important role of ILSs in the global insurance market.

We explore questions including:

• How do ILSs fit into the overall strategy of a typical large insurer and investors?

• How are COVID, climate change, inflation risks and other economic/social trends impacting the ILS market?

• How will the ILS market evolve in the future?

This week we speak to Michael Hosking, CRO for a number of entities within the Berkshire Hathaway group about the risk outlook for 2022 and how general insurers are responding.

We explore questions including:

• How has COVID changed insurers’ approach to managing risk?

• How are cyber, conduct and culture risks are evolving?

• What skills are needed for the risk team of the future?

This week we speak to Richard Holloway about catastrophe events in 2021 and what general insurers should be thinking about for year-end.

We explore questions including:

• What have been the big cat events of the season and how has this differed from previous years?

• How is climate change impacting catastrophes and how do we model them?

• What should firms be considering ahead of the year end?

This week we speak to Graham De’ath about climate change risk modelling for general insurers and, in particular, how they can learn lessons from other institutions (such as pension schemes) who have had to comply with climate change regulations sooner.

We explore questions including:

• How can you model climate change risk practically and usefully?

• How can climate change modelling help inform business strategy?

We also talk about some key lessons we’ve learnt from COP 26.

This week we speak to John Clements about investment strategy for non-life insurers.

We explore questions including:

• Inflation – what are the key investment risks and opportunities?

• How is ESG affecting investment strategy?

• What should insurers be looking to do with their investments right now?