The Political Risk Podcast

Hosted by David Benyon

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Jul 2026

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About the show

Geopolitics, insured. An independent podcast, focused on geopolitics and insurance markets, serving risk professionals, leaders and decision makers in specialty insurance and beyond. Join journalist and host David Benyon for an exclusive guest list mixing senior brokers and underwriters from the world of specialty insurance with wider geopolitical expertise from authors, academics, analysts and diplomats.

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September 7, 2026Episode 7628 min

The Political Violence Reset: Can the Market Stay Sustainable?

Chris Jarvis, group chief underwriting officer at IGI, discusses the reset taking place in political violence insurance. With geopolitical instability and conflict in the Middle East testing underwriting assumptions, Jarvis explains how IGI is adjusting pricing, line sizes, aggregation and capacity across its global portfolio. The discussion explores whether affordability is creating gaps in political violence cover, why IGI sees greater value in some areas of treaty reinsurance than the direct market, and whether political violence insurance can deliver sustainable returns.

August 31, 2026Episode 7524 min

"Peace Through Strength": Has Israel Won Its Wars?

Almost three years on from the October 7 terrorist attacks, Israel has fought across multiple fronts, from Gaza and Lebanon to direct confrontation with Iran. Amiad Cohen, CEO of The Herut Center, argues that Israel has substantially reduced the military threats surrounding it, outperforming pre-war expectations through a strategy he calls “peace through strength”. He discusses whether Israel’s wars are really over, the continuing threat from Iran and tensions around the Strait of Hormuz, the security outlook in Gaza and Lebanon, relations with the US and Europe, and what the changing geopolitical landscape means for businesses and insurers.

July 29, 2026Episode 7426 min

Financing Africa: Banks, Insurers and the New Geopolitics of Capital

Sub-Saharan Africa’s government financing landscape has been transformed by credit markets, changing geopolitics, and new sources of capital. This special episode, produced in association with Mosaic Insurance, features Katharine Villers, political risk underwriter and head of commercial finance at Mosaic, and Nick James, director, structured finance at ICBC Standard Bank. They explore how the continent’s financing system has evolved, the changing geopolitics of capital, and the role that banks and insurers are playing in supporting investment and development.

July 23, 2026Episode 7329 min

From Events to Insights: Learning from PVT and SRCC events; with Verisk live at Lloyd’s

How can political violence and terrorism insurers turn recent events into better underwriting insights? Recorded live at Lloyd’s during Verisk’s “Insuring Political Violence, SRCC, and Terrorism Forum”, this special episode brings together Alex Baker of Chaucer, Guy Burrows of Inigo and Torbjorn Soltvedt of Verisk Maplecroft. The panel explores the underwriting lessons emerging from recent geopolitical events, including the 2026 Iran war, changing targeting patterns and the sparks that can trigger strikes, riots and civil commotion. The discussion also examines data quality, predictive modelling, portfolio resilience, hybrid conflict, claims information and the tools underwriters need to navigate an increasingly complex political violence landscape.

July 16, 2026Episode 7238 min

SRCC: The Emerging Portfolio Peril

Strikes, riots and civil commotion (SRCC) have moved from the margins of property and political violence portfolios into sharper focus for insurers and their reinsurers. This special episode with Lockton Re features senior catastrophe modeller George Wragg and consultant Paul Upton, along with Blackthorn head of advisory Jerry Smith. They discuss why the SRCC threat is important, the sociopolitical forces driving social unrest, how SRCC losses can accumulate across insurer portfolios, and the serious data and analytics challenges that face the early attempts at SRCC catastrophe risk modelling.

June 30, 2026Episode 7153 min

John Hulsman on Trump’s Deal with Iran, the Balance of Power, Political Risk Wargaming and Forecasting

Forecasting phenomenon Dr John Hulsman returns to the podcast. John has made a name for himself as a pre-eminent predictor of geopolitical risk in the multipolar era. He prides himself on his ‘call record’, beating those of his rivals. We discuss Trump’s deal with Iran, the balance of power in the Middle East, political risk forecasting at the halfway point of 2026, the use of war gaming as a tool for corporate decision-makers, and the wider implications of deal-making, alliances and governance in a multipolar world. President and managing partner of John C Hulsman Enterprises, John is a leading foreign policy analyst, forecaster and geopolitics consultant for corporations and governments around the world. He is author of more than a dozen other books, including his most recent “The Last Best Hope: A History of American Realism”. He previously served as fellow in European policy studies at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. He was a senior research fellow in geopolitics and foreign policy at the Heritage Foundation, and he is a life member of the US Council on Foreign Relations.

June 4, 2026Episode 7035 min

Mobilising Capital: Credit and Political Risk Insurance and the Future of Global Investment, with AXA XL's Rafael Docavo Malvezzi

Credit and political risk insurance has become a critical tool for mobilising capital into complex markets, supporting trade, investment and development finance through a period of heightened geopolitical and credit uncertainty. In this episode, Rafael Docavo-Malvezzi, global chief underwriting officer, political risk credit and bond at AXA XL, discusses the credit cycle, underwriting challenges, development finance and the role of the private market in supporting global investment. He also reflects on his career across risk management, economics and insurance, as well as his role as vice president of the Berne Union.

May 26, 2026Episode 6937 min

Choke Points & Geopolitical Risk: Resilience Building for Supply Chains in Crisis; in association with Gallagher Specialty

Geopolitical risk is putting global supply chains under renewed pressure, with the Strait of Hormuz crisis adding to existing concerns around trade disruption, tariffs and fragile logistics networks. Alec Russell, managing director, cargo for Arthur J Gallagher International, and Alex Vile, associate consultant, threat intelligence at AnotherDay, a Gallagher company, discuss how organisations are responding to supply chain risk in theory and practice. The conversation explores the immediate impact of Gulf tensions, the structural weaknesses exposed by recent disruption, and the role of insurance, crisis consulting and threat intelligence in building resilience. With nine-in-ten businesses experiencing a supply chain loss, this special episode, produced in association with Gallagher Specialty, examines what companies can do to prepare for the next crisis.

May 13, 2026Episode 6844 min

The Iran Conflict and its effects on Political Violence Re/insurance, with Sandy Warne, Dan Callow & Cosmo Warner

War in the Gulf in 2026 is a defining event for political violence. Underwriters face unprecedented claims activity, with individual Iranian missile and drone strikes accounting for hundreds of millions of dollars in damage, together representing more insured financial loss in just a few weeks than several years of the Russo-Ukrainian war. Sandy Warne of Sukoon, Dan Callow of Starr, and Cosmo Warner of Price Forbes together discuss market reactions, capacity and pricing dynamics, regional exposure concerns and a rapidly evolving risk environment – as well as what’s likely covered or excluded by policies bought before the conflict. The conversation is a shortened audio version of a recent webinar hosted by Global Reinsurance, which was named “Reinsurance in a Time of Escalating Tension”, available here. https://www.globalreinsurance.com/dwic-webinars/webinar-reinsurance-in-a-time-of-escalating-tension/1458331.article

May 1, 2026Episode 6759 min

Hotels as Targets: Data-led Malicious Risk Underwriting; with Muir Analytics’ Jeff Moore

Hotels are increasingly on the frontline of political violence and malicious risk, from terrorism and civil unrest to missile and drone attacks. In this special episode, Jeff Moore, PhD, CEO of Muir Analytics, explains how data-led underwriting and threat intelligence are reshaping how insurers and risk professionals understand and price these exposures. Drawing on case studies from the SecureHotel Threat Portal, the discussion explores why the hotel sector has become one of the most exposed global industries, and what that means for underwriting, risk mitigation and resilience in a volatile geopolitical environment.