The Voice of Insurance

Hosted by The Voice of Insurance Mark Geoghegan

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364

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Jun 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

June 16, 2026Episode 36531 min

Ep306 James Hands Group CEO Miller: Specialty with Scale

It’s been three years since today’s guest has been on the show. In that time the business he runs has doubled in size through a combination of organic growth and targeted acquisitions. Group CEO of Miller Insurance Services, James Hands, is looking for growth at a similar pace for the next three years and this interview is an excellent 360-degree guide to how he plans to achieve his goals. A focus on specialty insurance and reinsurance, investment in people and expertise and making the most of growth synergies from the firm’s acquisitions are very much the order of the day. Expansion into MGAs, and investments in technology and facilitisation are also going to be part of the mix. This is an exceptionally well-rounded interview with the leader of a business making the most of its best-of-both-worlds position as an independent with the scale and resources to be able to keep up with larger global broking groups, whilst retaining the speed and agility of a smaller business. James is relaxed and is brimming with confidence in the prospects for Miller and the global specialty broking market. A quick listen and a clear picture, as well as lots of market tips and insights, will come into view. NOTES: James refers to David Robinson. David is Miller’s MGA CEO LINKS: We thank our naming sponsor AdvantageGo, now part of Sapiens: https://www.advantagego.com

June 9, 2026Episode 36441 min

Ep305 James Brady & Tom King of Hiscox: FloodPlus ten years on

In insurance we usually spend a lot more time talking about innovation than we end up doing it. So this podcast focuses on two of the do-ers putting innovation into practice. It’s now ten years since Hiscox launched its market-first, tech-enabled, live quote and bind FloodPlus product and this Episode examines the story of that product’s development and its growth into a market opportunity that was primed for expansion. To guide me through the story I am joined by James Brady, Property Divisional Director at Hiscox London Market & Tom King, the firm’s Flood Line Underwriter. This is a story about overcoming obstacles, recovering from setbacks and constant iteration. Ten years on and Hiscox is the biggest flood market in Lloyd’s and the opportunity to write flood from the private market is only growing. Indeed since we completed this recording the Trump Administration’s Council to Assess the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), which runs the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) has just issued its final report, recommending the implementation of risk-based pricing and a take-out program to incentivise the transfer of policies to the private market. With US market penetration still at only 4% the prize for the private market is as big as any other underwriting opportunity out there today. Tom and James are sparkling guests and this podcast is an inspiring celebration of innovation in action that has applications way beyond the highly specific field of US flood. NOTES: The President’s Council to Assess the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) report can be found here. The part relating to Flood is on Page 11. LINKS: We thank our naming sponsor AdvantageGo, now part of Sapiens: https://www.advantagego.com

June 2, 2026Episode 36335 min

Ep304 Andrew Johnston Gallagher Re: AI will come to its own rescue

Today’s podcast is one of those conversations that stretched my ability to keep up with my interviewee to the limit. Andrew Johnston is the Global Head of Insurtech at Gallagher Re and has been at the forefront of understanding and chronicling the Insurtech phenomenon since it emerged over ten years ago. Gallagher Re’s quarterly reports on the topic have been required reading over the past decade for anyone wanting to understand the intersection between insurance and technology. In that period Digital disruption, Blockchain, Parametric and Embedded insurance are themes that have come to the fore. Now AI is the dominant force, so much so that Insurtech and AI are now effectively synonymous. Gallagher Re’s latest quarterly Insurtech report is one of the best pieces of research into AI and insurance that I have read. It goes way beyond AI-related Insurtech investment opportunities and digs right into the profound risk implications of AI as an emerging casualty peril in its own right. Andrew is a dream guest, incredibly sharp, bright and fun to spend time with. He’s that rare kind of person who makes you feel more intelligent for having spent time chatting to them. Listening back there are points in the conversation where whole new avenues of questioning were opening up that I failed to explore. But that’s the mark of a strong interview. It always leaves you wanting more. It’s a bit like when you wake up the morning after a big debate or argument with terrible pangs of regret that you failed to ask the killer question in the heat of the moment. The developments in AI are moving so fast that I feel certain it won’t be long before I have Andrew back on the show to help put everything into context for us. But until then this is the next best thing. NOTES: I highly recommend you download the latest Gallagher Re Insurtech report here: https://www.ajg.com/gallagherre/news-and-insights/global-insurtech-report-for-q1-2026/ LINKS: We thank our naming sponsor AdvantageGo, now part of Sapiens: https://www.advantagego.com

May 26, 2026Episode 36247 min

Ep303 Will Bridger Compre: Beyond traditional Legacy

In insurance we love to divide ourselves into different mutually-exclusive tribes. Life and non-life, property and casualty, marine and non-marine. Long and short tail Traditional balance sheet reinsurance and Insurance-Linked Securities. And not forgetting - live and legacy. But the fact is that as the global insurance ecosystem becomes more sophisticated there are really only two major differences. Different types of insurance skills and different types of insurance capital. Legacy is a case in point. It has long since outgrown its claims administration roots and developed into the provision of increasingly complex forms of capital relief for the live market that are bringing it closer and closer to live risk. Today’s guest is the embodiment of that change. Will Bridger came into the legacy insurance world through investment banking, not claims handling. As Group CEO of Compre he has overseen extraordinary growth with a balance sheet that has moved from the tens of millions to the low-single-digit billions. If you think you already know legacy, you need to listen to Will. For example, Compre’s current plans envisage only one third of group activity coming from what we would think of as traditional run-off. So where are the other two thirds going to come from? Ever closer relationships with live carriers that bring more predictable renewal-style income streams, underwriting sidecars and pre-packaged legacy arrangements with alternative capital providers are all part of the mix. This is a fascinating conversation with someone who has developed into an insurance person as dyed-in-the-wool and baked into the insurance ecosystem as the best of us. Will is fun to spend time with and a great communicator. Forty minutes with him and your whole perspective about the legacy market, where it is heading and the value it might be adding to the global insurance whole will change completely. LINKS: We thank our naming sponsor AdvantageGo, now part of Sapiens: https://www.advantagego.com

May 19, 2026Episode 36134 min

Ep302 Nick Hankin QBE Re: Avoiding surprises

Today’s guest is running a global reinsurer with bold ambitions to double in size over the next five years. Nick Hankin is Managing Director of QBE Re. Now into his fourth decade in insurance and reinsurance, Nick has market experience in abundance, so when, despite the recent relatively rapid softening in the reinsurance market at the most recent renewals, he says he still sees plenty of opportunity for profitable growth, we should sit up and take notice. This is a podcast full of purpose and positivity. Nick has a clear plan that he wants to execute and makes a convincing case that his ambitions are eminently achievable. On the way we cover all the major issues of the day including the insurance and reinsurance opportunities arising from the data centre boom, the best use-cases for AI as well as the emergence of AI as a new casualty peril in its own right. Nick is good company and a great communicator with a clear vision. The next half an hour will fly by. LINKS: We thank our naming sponsor AdvantageGo, now part of Sapiens: https://www.advantagego.com

May 12, 2026Episode 36040 min

Ep301 Alfonso Valera: Everyone is chasing growth

I first met today’s guest just under 34 years ago on my first day at work in the London Market. Back then Alfonso Valera and I worked in the London-based Lloyd’s subsidiary of the biggest broker in Spain. Alfonso was my senior and had already been in post for a year and patiently helped show me the ropes. He spoke perfect English, was a confident, skilful and forceful negotiator who was incredibly passionate about the insurance business and was always fun, direct and easy to deal with. He was mature beyond his years and was a natural leader. It seemed obvious to anyone who knew him back then that he was destined for great things. That broking business was taken over by Aon in the late nineties. Alfonso stayed on and over 25 years later he is now CEO of International at Aon Reinsurance Solutions. International covers the whole of the Rest of the World other than the Americas, and Aon is the largest reinsurance broker by revenues, so however you measure it Alfonso has one of the biggest jobs in global reinsurance. His job titles and seniority might have changed since we first met, but I can guarantee that he is exactly the same person I knew when I was fresh out of University. He is still disarmingly direct and straightforward and he is still passionate about the business, but now he is speaking from a vantage point that few in the global insurance market can reach. Alfonso is still great fun to talk to and this conversation took on a life of its own. Whether it’s the state of the market and changes in buyer and seller appetites, facilitisation in reinsurance, the prospects for M&A, the MGA phenomenon, enhanced competition between reinsurance intermediaries or the changes that AI is likely to bring, Alfonso gives me a straight answer every time and we barely pause for breath. Catching up with Alfonso was a joy from start to finish. Listen on and you’ll be bound to agree. LINKS: We thank our naming sponsor AdvantageGo, now part of Sapiens: https://www.advantagego.com

May 5, 2026Episode 35956 min

Ep300 Patrick Tiernan CEO Lloyd's: "Why Not Lloyd's?"

Patrick Tiernan has come into the CEO role at Lloyd’s with the market brimming with confidence after a third successive year of strong profitability. Now that competitive forces are reasserting themselves with renewed vigour, the question is what next? From this meeting the future at Lloyd’s is one full of increased velocity and innovation in all things. New leadership, new forms of underwriting, new targets and ambition, new risks, new ways to transact business, new skills and attitudes from the people who work in the market and new capital structures to bear the financial load. Recorded live in the centre of the Underwriting room by the Rostrum on a busy working day this is an energetic encounter from start to finish. If you want to get a clear feel for the charismatic new Lloyd’s CEO’s strategy and modus operandi, this will get you up to speed in no time. Patrick is easy to talk to and is disarmingly frank. From my experiences of doorstepping him whenever I have had the chance over the past five years, I can promise you that we would have had the same conversation whether or not the microphones had been turned on. What you see is what you get. So listen on for an audio roadmap for the market of the next five years and beyond. NOTES: The Sean Patrick Refers to is of course Sean McGovern, Lloyds Council member, CEO of UK and Lloyd’s at AXA XL and current Chair of the LMA. ICX and TCX are respectively the special Innovation and Energy Transition risk codes used to account for novel premium transacted in the Lloyd’s market. LINKS: We thank our naming sponsor AdvantageGo, now part of Sapiens: https://www.advantagego.com

April 28, 2026Episode 35838 min

Ep299 Dan Topping CEO B.P. Marsh: Small begets Big, Big begets Small

The great cliché about our sector is that while business trends come and go – it’s the people who remain the constant. Today’s guest is someone whose business follows this philosophy to the letter. Dan Topping is the CEO of London-focused, publicly-listed private equity firm B.P. Marsh with just under 20 years in the business. The firm he leads is a household name in the London Market with a 30-year often idiosyncratic pedigree backing entrepreneurs in the intermediary segment. Countless brokers and MGAs, including Howden and Nexus have benefitted from the investment and counsel from this singular institution. Given the highly-focused nature of what B.P. Marsh does, Dan and his colleagues will have seen almost every early-stage investment opportunity in the London market of the last 20 years. That gives a kaleidoscopic perspective and that knowledge and understanding seeps through every pore of Dan’s being. The prime job of a podcast like this is to help tease out specialist knowledge accumulated in the market and share it with you the listener. I have known Dan for almost all of his time at the firm and that made this interview really relaxed and much more revealing than most. If there ever were any trade secrets about what has driven the compound growth of this impressive highly-focused business, they won’t be secrets after this podcast. If you want to know what makes entrepreneurialism in the specialty insurance sector tick, this is the place to come. Together we’ll examine some of the surprising trends Dan is seeing in what many would view as an ultra-consolidated intermediary segment. Dan is as eloquent and relaxed as he is knowledgeable and the time will fly by. And perhaps you too will be inspired and emboldened to dare strike out on your own entrepreneurial journey. Clichés come about because by and large they are expressing an underlying universal truth. A quick listen and I think you’ll agree that Dan is living proof that it really is the people that make the market what it is. LINKS: We thank our naming sponsor AdvantageGo, now part of Sapiens: https://www.advantagego.com

April 21, 2026Episode 35732 min

Ep298 Tessa Wardle QBE Portfolio Solutions: Indexing the Market

The growth of the portfolio solutions segment of the market has been one of the most exciting and interesting developments in global insurance in the past five years. The streamlining of placements in syndicated insurance markets is producing scale, speed efficiency and cost benefits for underwriters, brokers and their clients alike. And this is a phenomenon that is really only just getting into its stride. Billions of dollars of premium are now being transacted this way as brokers look to facilitise significant percentages of their placements while consortia and other underwriting pooling arrangements proliferate. As Director of QBE Portfolio Solutions, Tessa Wardle runs one of the lead markets for this pioneering form of delegated authority underwriting and collectively her small team underwrite on a scale that in premium terms is many multiples of that achieved by conventional market underwriters. In this podcast we look at where this phenomenon is likely to be heading, as well as delving into the core mechanics of just how business of such a high volume is transacted in practice. What are the core skills of a portfolio solutions underwriter and how do they differ from conventional underwriting practice? And what are the principle levers and controls that senior executives like Tessa have at their disposal to keep these huge contracts on track? It’s a fascinating world that is in many ways revolutionary, but in many others reassuringly familiar. Tessa is an excellent guest and one of the best qualified people to guide us through this huge change in global insurance business flows and give us an idea of where the trend will be heading as it matures. LINKS: We thank our naming sponsor AdvantageGo, now part of Sapiens: https://www.advantagego.com

April 14, 2026Episode 35645 min

Ep297 Scott Egan CEO SiriusPoint: If you fall asleep, you go backwards

Todays’ podcast with Scott Egan is a tour de force. I think there are various reasons for that. The first is that whereas when we first spoke in 2023, Scott was relatively new in the CEO role at SiriusPoint and his strategy hadn’t had time to bed in and take full effect, now we were speaking after a year when the business had posted another set of consistently strong results and any talk of a turnaround was clearly a question belonging to the past. Secondly this was now the third time that Scott has been on the podcast and his confidence and comfort in doing this kind of thing has grown, but third and most importantly - this is a podcast that is completely forward-looking and optimistic in tone. Because SiriusPoint has rebuilt credibility and has demonstrated an ability to grow profitably it now has more strategic options at its disposal than it did three years ago. What makes this such an engaging interview is the chance it provides to examine those strategic choices, particularly now that the market environment is becoming more challenging and competitive. Listening back it is Scott’s confidence and clarity of purpose that shine through in this encounter and that’s why I can highly recommend a listen for anyone looking for a route map though this transitioning market. NOTES: I let one acronym through. PYD is Prior-Year Development. LINKS: We thank our naming sponsor AdvantageGo, now part of Sapiens: https://www.advantagego.com