The Voice of Insurance

Hosted by The Voice of Insurance Mark Geoghegan

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386

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Nov 2026

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About the show

Insurance is a maze. Don’t get lost. Mark Geoghegan asks directions from all the top people in the Global Insurance and Reinsurance Industry

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60 recent

November 10, 2026Episode 38655 min

Ep324 Richard Clapham DUAL: We're now at the next Chapter

Today’s guest is an incredibly well-rounded professional with over forty years’ experience in our sector, as both a broker and underwriter, but also as an entrepreneur and capital raiser. He’s even spent time being responsible for compliance. Richard Clapham has spent the last decade in the ultimate market-convening role running global MGA DUAL. Closing in on 30 years in operation, DUAL is the godfather of the now burgeoning MGA movement and part of this interview is effectively a grand tour around the enduring and evolving advantages of the MGA model. In our discussion Richard recounts the progression at DUAL to date and the completion and optimisation of its genuinely global underwriting network. Then we move into the Group’s ambitious growth plans as it looks to lever its worldwide operating platform in the next phase of its development. On the way no question is left unanswered and no topic is left unexamined. Richard is great company and this is a comprehensive and satisfying interview that I can highly recommend NOTES: The quote "The public sector borrowing requirement is the small difference between two very large numbers” was uttered by Thatcher-era Chancellor, Nigel Lawson. LINKS: We thank our naming sponsor, Sapiens: https://sapiens.com/

November 3, 2026Episode 3851 hr 5 min

Ep323 Steve McGill: We're only really getting started

Today’s guest is someone who has been building a business from scratch over the same timeline that the Voice of Insurance has been going. Over that seven-year period we have checked in from time to time to see how things have been progressing. Now Steve McGill is back on the show because in his own words Chapter one of the organic build of the global boutique insurance and reinsurance intermediary he founded is now complete. With major new investor EQT on board this podcast recaps chapter one and looks forward into what the next phase in this remarkable business’s development might bring. Steve is an inspiring person to spend time with. Starting a broker from scratch and growing only via talent acquisition is extremely hard to do. The history books are littered with cautionary tales of similar lofty ambitions dashed. I think it’s Steve’s clear vision, resolute conviction and determination that have carried him through and now that the core platform has been built to scale the next chapter of accelerated growth looks particularly exciting. Steve has a track record of being ahead of his time. In the noughties he was a pioneer for facilitisation, and as I remember, took quite a lot of flak for it. Now that the market is catching up with him on an industrial scale, we have an in-depth discussion of this phenomenon and where it might take us, overlayed with another detailed look at what AI might do to the insurance value chain. We even get to learn what Steve has in common with Kim Kardashian. This is a longer podcast than usual and we should all be grateful for that because the more time you spend with people like Steve, the more value you get. LINKS: We thank our naming sponsor AdvantageGo, now part of Sapiens: https://www.advantagego.com

October 27, 2026Episode 38446 min

Ep322 Ståle Hansen Skuld: How can we help?

As an insurance journalist I have always been particularly fond of the mutual sector. That’s because mutuals usually have a strong sense history and, because they often derive from particular industrial activities and distinct geographies, they also tend to have a very clear sense of purpose. The absence of a pure profit motive and the imperative to grow and please investors also brings a greater focus on other metrics such as service and customer satisfaction. All the above I think explains why today’s guest makes for such a strong and insightful interviewee. Ståle Hansen is the President and CEO at Norwegian P&I club Skuld and this podcast will bring you right up to date with the marine insurance world. It is refreshing to speak to someone as client-focussed and straight-talking as Ståle. From the latest on the major Dali-Baltimore Bridge claim to the challenges of dealing with war, AI and marine cyber exposures, as well as the ongoing modernisation, professionalisation and consolidation of the P&I world itself, Ståle is direct and unequivocable. This is one of those interviews that will make you feel good about insurance because Ståle and the P&I world he represents remain absolutely true to our industry’s core virtues of risk-pooling, problem-solving and maintaining a bias towards giving cover rather than excluding it. Ståle is also great company and the time will fly by. LINKS: We thank our naming sponsor AdvantageGo, now part of Sapiens: https://www.advantagego.com

October 20, 2026Episode 3831 hr 4 min

Ep321 Dave Walsh & Graeme Newman Kantara Capital: Pull, not Push

This podcast is a real treat and that’s all down to today’s guests. They are two of the most successful entrepreneurs of their generation, building MGA CFC into a multi-billion-dollar global business based on consistent organic growth and year-in year-out market-beating underwriting profitability. That’s already good enough to be worthy of your attention, but that alone is not what makes this podcast a must-listen. What makes this interview so compelling is that yes, my two guests have been exceptional practitioners in their own right, but now they are able to sit outside the industry and look inwards from the point of view of expert investors. The icing on the cake is that they are not running a venture capital fund using other peoples’ money: the only funds they are investing are their own. And this means that they can be brutally honest in what they say and how they say it. Dave Walsh and Graeme Newman of Kantara Capital are now in the business of helping the best new businesses in the MGA and broker space realise their potential. So listen on to find out what this exceptional duo have in their sights and what their favourite and least favoured investment theses are. You’re likely to be surprised by some of their strong convictions and then cheered by their infectious enthusiasm, optimism and good humour. If you’ve ever wondered what it takes to make it on your own, listen on: this podcast is an encyclopaedia of great ideas to get you started and is one of the strongest interviews I have recorded in a very long time. LINKS: We thank our naming sponsor AdvantageGo, now part of Sapiens: https://www.advantagego.com

October 13, 2026Episode 3821 hr 10 min

Ep320 Mark Groenheide LIRG: Facts, Not Feelings

Today’s podcast is one of the most fast-moving and broad-ranging I have recorded in seven years of the Voice of Insurance. For instance, today’s guest links running an insurer on Native AI infrastructure, Takaful insurance and the application of parametric insurance to almost every peril, with ambitions to grow his own reinsurance balance sheet and a medium-term goal to return to the Lloyd’s market with what he has built. As you will gather Mark Groenheide, the CEO and President of LIRG isn’t built exactly like all the rest of us. Following a classical insurance upbringing, with underwriting stints at the sorts of blue-chip carriers one might expect to see on a standard resumé, Mark’s career has since blossomed to embrace imaginative thinking, change and insurance and reinsurance innovation in myriad forms. Mark’s enthusiasm is infectious and at points I am sure he will have you nodding in agreement with his views about making insurance better as a product and far more relevant to the world and more effective solving its problems than it is today. This is a fascinating discussion with an insurance Renaissance Man that might inspire you to try something new in your own career. So if you’re feeling a bit jaded, I challenge you to listen to this and not feel re-energised and refreshed. My only caveat is to make sure you’ve had your coffee because this is at times a breathless conversation. Listen on and you’ll definitely hear me trying to keep up with Mark as he puts me through my paces. I had a lot of fun and you definitely will too. LINKS: We thank our naming sponsor AdvantageGo, now part of Sapiens: https://www.advantagego.com

October 6, 2026Episode 38130 min

Ep319 Richard Brindle & Richard Coulson The Fidelis Partnership: Darwinian Division

Today’s podcast was recorded down at the Monte Carlo Rendez-Vous at the beginning of September. This extraordinary gathering of global insurance leadership is great place to secure time with senior executives from all around the world. I am really glad and feel very lucky that Richard Brindle, Group CEO and Chairman of The Fidelis Partnership, has managed to find time for the Voice of Insurance in each of the last five consecutive years. This year Richard was joined by another Richard, Richard Coulson, Group President of Strategic Partnerships, who was last on the show in 2024. In Richard Brindle’s own words, since it bifurcated from its insurance balance sheet three years ago The Fidelis Partnership has been moving as if it were on rocket fuel. It was therefore great to catch up again, even if it were only a couple of months since his last appearance on the show with Clive Washbourn of Navium. A couple of years ago the headline of this podcast was taken from a direct quote of Richard Brindle’s – “if you’re good enough, you’re old enough”. My view on podcast guests is that if they’re interesting enough, they can come on the show as often as they like! While we were gathered to talk about reinsurance, in typical fashion the reinsurance items on the agenda were dealt with very swiftly and we were soon opening up topics that I had never broached with either guest before. Two themes that we really delved into were TFP’s strategic decision not to write broker facilities and the firm’s high-growth markets strategy and how this really works in practice. If you don’t write the big brokers’ facilities, how do make sure they keep showing you business? And if you do a lot of business in fast-developing jurisdictions how much more likely are you to encounter dilemmas, such as those relating to ESG? All the answers and a typically robust and uncompromising discussion are coming right up. LINKS: We thank our naming sponsor AdvantageGo, now part of Sapiens: https://www.advantagego.com

September 29, 2026Episode 38045 min

Ep318 Jack Kuhn Westfield Specialty: Taking the long-term view

Today’s guest is an insurance professional who has just completed forty years in the market. Over that time he has built a reputation as the consummate underwriter’s underwriter. But by some strange coincidence our paths hadn’t crossed – until now. We can complain about Monte Carlo all we want but it never fails to throw up wonderful opportunities to meet the most senior and prestigious figures in the global insurance and reinsurance industry. So it was that I finally met Jack Kuhn, President of Westfield Specialty at a meeting table in a conference hall in the bowels of the Fairmont Hotel. At Monte Carlo everyone is in talking mode and so what follows is the classic fast-paced kind of conversation you have ten times a day when down at the Rendez-Vous. But listening back in the cold light of day, it’s Jack’s underwriting leadership qualities that really stand out – even in such a frenetic environment. He is calm and focused and has a clear idea of what he wants to achieve. Like all the best underwriters, he is never dismissive of new ideas, but weighs them carefully and leaves you in no doubt where he stands. Westfield Specialty is in an enviable position, now writing around $2.4bn of gross premium, as part of a mutual group with a 178-year pedigree, it can evaluate and navigate the market on its merits, without pressure to grow. And that’s where this conversation shines. It’s liberating to talk to an underwriter with such a long and successful career, being given the chance to design an underwriting shop that is applying the full benefit of all that experience. Jack is clearly in his element and really enjoying this latest chapter in his career, and this conversation encompasses all the big themes: The challenges of a highly competitive insurance and reinsurance market, emerging automatic digital underwriting and AI as an emerging casualty peril, all have a strong showing, among many other themes. It’s always great to finally meet someone you have heard a lot about, but it can sometimes be a little anticlimactic. I am pleased to report that this meeting exceeded all expectations and my only regret is not having met Jack twenty years earlier. LINKS: We thank our naming sponsor AdvantageGo, now part of Sapiens: https://www.advantagego.com

September 25, 2026Episode 3791 hr 13 min

SpEp The State of (Re)insurance 2026

Welcome to the fifth Episode of its kind, documenting the 2026 Monte Carlo Rendez-Vous on your behalf. The first in 2022 foretold a historic, chaotic and dramatic hard-market renewal. At the next, stability and a return to orderliness was craved, and was granted. The year after that, animal spirits started to be talked of in hushed tones. Last year, the industry had its mojo well and truly back. Twelve months ago I heard reinsurers tell me, almost to a person, that they were happy to give up a little rate in exchange for growth. Well, the renewal at 1.1.26 delivered two years of softening compressed into one – so were they still happy? Today capital is even more abundant. Profits are still real, but are hurdles still being met and are red lines about to be crossed as the market continues to soften? Join me as I wander the streets, dodge the supercars, cross the squares and elbow my way through the crowded bars and lobbies of Monte Carlo, to meet a representative cross-section of the Reinsurance buying and selling public, and find out what's really happening in the State of (Re)insurance as we look towards 1.1.27. LINKS: Here are the Reinsurance Broker Reports I promised: Aon –Snapshot Guide to the Reinsurance Renewal https://assets.aon.com/-/media/files/aon/reports/2026/09022026-snapshot-guide.pdf Gallagher Re – Reinsurance Market Report – Half-Year 2026 https://www.ajg.com/gallagherre/-/media/files/gallagher/gallagherre/news-and-insights/2026/september/reinsurance-market-report-half-year-2026.pdf Howden Re – Breaking the Glass https://www.howdenre.com/sites/howdenre.howdenprod.com/files/2026-09/Howden_Re_Breakingtheglass_Pre_renewals_report_September7_2026.pdf Marsh Re – 2027 Renewal Outlook https://www.guycarp.com/content/dam/guycarp-rebrand/pdf/2027_Renewal_Outlook_Driving_Impact_through_Insight.pdf THANKS We thank our Podcast Sponsor Stephens Rickard https://www.stephensrickard.com

September 22, 2026Episode 37839 min

Ep317 Jason Keen CEO Wholesale & Specialty Everest Insurance: No time to be stuck in the middle

Today’s podcast is a really strong conversation with someone in a significant strategic position within the global Facultative reinsurance, Wholesale and Specialty market. That’s because across 26 business lines, with platforms in the US, London and Singapore they run a business that is closing in on $4bn in Gross written premium in 2026. Jason Keen is the CEO of Global Wholesale and Specialty at Everest Insurance and given his broad viewpoint of the market this discussion gives a very accurate picture of where we find ourselves at this interesting point in the pricing cycle. What emerges is a market where the most skilful underwriters are going to be able to differentiate themselves and one where caution and a focus on margin is the order of the day in some segments, but in others there are still clear opportunities for growth. But it’s after the day-to-day market questions have been dealt with that this discussion comes into its own. Jason is an advocate of the digital revolution that is transforming the globally syndicated insurance market in which his business operates and our discussion around facilitisation, fast follow and other digitally-enhanced forms of underwriting is insightful and enlightening. It is becoming clear that all business leaders now need a comprehensive strategy on how to engage with profound structural changes in the way business is being placed and Jason is eloquent and unambiguous on this theme. Our broad and frank discussion also covers other emerging big themes such as nascent AI exposures - and plenty more besides. Jason is an underwriter through and through and this makes for a fast-moving and lively exchange. I can highly recommend a listen LINKS: We thank our naming sponsor AdvantageGo, now part of Sapiens: https://www.advantagego.com

September 14, 2026Episode 37747 min

Ep316 Waleed Jabsheh CEO IGI: Don't tie your hands

There’s a lot of received wisdom in our industry. You know, the sorts of things that we tell each other often enough that we all begin to accept them as true without really questioning the assumptions behind them with rigour. Here are three common ones: you have to have meaningful scale if you want to get involved in Reinsurance, or open up operations in the London Market or the US. This podcast is with the leader of a business that is a repudiation of most of the canons contained in the book of received insurance wisdom. He leads a business that has grown to write around $700mn in gross premiums across a broad base, diversified by line and geography in both insurance and reinsurance, while maintaining very healthy profitability throughout the cycle. Waleed Jabsheh is the CEO of IGI and this podcast highlights the very singular path that IGI has trodden on its way to success. What emerges in this detailed discussion is in many ways a picture of a bold and ambitious company with representation in all the major global insurance jurisdictions. But it is also a company that is at its core relatively conservative, looking to play in areas it knows and understands well and leaving the unknown territories of the bleeding edge for others to explore and map out before it takes a view. IGI is still very much a family firm, but it is also one that is publicly-traded and listed in the US. Any apparent contradiction in the above is explained by Waleed in this broad and deep interview, in which we are treated to a very strong common sense analysis of the opportunities and threats facing the global insurance and reinsurance market of today. Waleed is very calm, clear and unambiguous in his style and makes for an excellent interviewee LINKS: We thank our naming sponsor AdvantageGo, now part of Sapiens: https://www.advantagego.com