It's not personal

Regulatory changes such as the FCA pricing practices reform and Consumer Duty have had a huge impact on how underwriters assess risk and approach product presentation. There’s also the continued impact of Covid on pricing models, increasing volatility around weather events and a market keen to innovate, resulting in different products and propositions.

This winter season has been a particularly stormy one – typically we expect around 6 named storms each season. So far since August last year we’ve had 10 storms. The impact across all insurance lines is yet to be confirmed but safe to say motor and home insurers will be seeing some significant claims activity.

Inflationary pressures and supply chain issues continue to impact many aspects of our lives – have you seen the price of a tin a baked beans right now? As labour and material costs impact the rebuild cost of houses, we have seen supply chain issues for motor claims impact both the customer experience and increased key-to-key lead times.

All this has an impact on the product and price presented back to the customer. But it also impacts the underwriter, trying to carve out a book of stable and profitable business in an evolving and competitive market. So as a personal lines underwriter, it’s important to keep yourself informed on the external market pressures, drive your own development and continue to ride out this particular market cycle. Some ideas can be to check out the CPD on offer from the CII, look for events from your local institute and keep checking that weather forecast! The good news is Spring is coming!