An Underwriting Odyssey - The Beginning

So, I said, let there be transparency! And with that, shorter, completely tailored products were built.

So, I said, let there be fairness! And prices that rewarded loyalty and low risk were created!

So, I said let there be ease of use! And intuitive technology was built to sell and administer insurance policies.

I saw all that we had made, and it was very good. There was transparency, there was fairness, and there was ease of use!

In the morning we shall start selling …

Except you can’t.

This is insurance, and we have regulations, barriers and a few hurdles.

You can have the best products in the world, but they are worthless unless you have three key ingredients:

1. The necessary regulatory approvals.
2. Underwriting capacity to back the proposition.
3. Cost effective access to distribution.

The key conundrum for anything new in underwriting requires regulatory approval and insurance capacity. To get insurance capacity you generally need to be approved by the FCA for an insurer to contract with you. And to get regulatory approval you need to have a ready to go business. This new world has chickens and eggs.

How do you resolve that? With patience, resilience, and a dash of creativity.

The main takeaway is to keep each party moving forwards concurrently so that you get there collectively. Be patient and resilient, because there will be many setbacks on the way.

A quote I often use is “You have to believe in yourself. Life's not about how hard you can hit... it's about how hard you can be hit, and how many hits you can take, and still keep moving forward.” (name the film anyone?).

The moral of this story? – provide enough (but not all) information to back up your case to get where you need to be without telling lies. There is a very clear line, don't cross it.

About the author: A hardcore insurance geek with a passion for using data and technology to build 21st century insurance products.