Ben Bolton sat down with Liberty Specialty Markets’ (LSM) incoming Chief Underwriting Officer (CUO) for UK & MENA, Henry Nelson, for a wide-ranging conversation about his new role and the challenges and opportunities for the business in today’s market. He highlights LSM’s strong value proposition and the importance of maintaining its lead-market position. Looking ahead, he aims to position LSM as a market-leading, global franchise, leveraging its footprint and strategic partnership to navigate future market cycles.
According to Nelson, “The market is past its inflection point, which presents us with a new challenge.” Trading in all the major global insurance hubs, LSM needs to adopt a different mindset to meet new market challenges. He stressed that there needs to be a “gear shift” as the market enters its next phase, with LSM’s great value proposition central to its offering.
“The market that we’re trading in today needs a slightly different mindset, and that’s something that we talk to our teams about a lot.”
Nelson said that LSM would need to promote its brand proposition to clients and stress its “historic and stable” business as the market hardens.
“Our underwriters need to be in hunt mode. Business is no longer just going to come to us, we need to go out there and get it,” he said.
Nelson said LSM now needs to concentrate on delivering its value proposition “as quickly as possible” to clients in an increasingly competitive market.
“The good news is that the portfolio is in great nick, the market is adequate and there is lots of good business on the books. The focus is going to be more on service levels, more on customer experience than it has been previously… fundamentally the rules of the game are changing…”
“If data was the sort of buzzword of the last market cycle, I think speed is the next one.”
Liberty was previously described as a sleeping giant. Describing the now well-established brand, Nelson said, “The first thing to mention is our mutual status. We take the business of transferring risk from a customer’s balance sheet onto our balance sheet incredibly seriously.”
“We are 112 years old, we are long standing, and with that comes the trust, expertise and capabilities that you build up over time. Nelson stressed the importance of that stability and the long-term view that affords the business, being a partner through market cycles “To stick with our clients through the tough times as well as the good.”
What is the brand synonymous with? Nelson says, “We can’t be good at everything – but we are a quoting, lead market, which is incredibly important to us.”
Leadership is extremely important in today’s market. “We have built up a hard-earned leading market position that we value. Brokers ask us to lead more business, get in front of clients more and offer the insights we have.”
Having a lead position means generating real partnerships, whether that be at point of underwriting, coming up with different products, thinking about how we can better service client needs, or at the point of a claim. Leading in the London market means you are there, when your customer needs you. “That is incredibly valuable to us, our brand and ultimately our customers.”
Insurindex data demonstrates that claims are increasingly becoming a point of sale when brokers are talking to clients. LSM’s ‘integrated business units’ provide insights across the value chain. “Whether that be actuarial sharing insights from models, underwriters talking about broader market dynamics, and claims talking about our offering and trends they are seeing across portfolios – clients want that perspective.” This allows clients to see how their risk compares with the wider market.
Another important aspect of brand is of course culture. As previous Chief of Staff, Henry has a distinctive perspective. “We’ve got a hugely diverse business with market-leading positions in lots of markets.” These positions have been established in key insurance hubs globally while Nelson has been with the business. That has given me a front row seat into what good culture looks like.”
Nelson attributed good culture to empowering individuals to make good decisions. Trust is a buzzword internally and externally. And consistently the difficulty comes with globalising and scaling culture. “Sometimes globalisation is synonymous with slowing things down”. Finding harmony between “globalisation, empowerment and decision-making” is vital.
The changes over the last two years at LSM are apparent. Internally, there is opportunity, people are beginning to see different career progression, talent pipelining and learning more about the wider business. The perception in the market has changed too. “The way that global brokers are talking about us, coming to us more strategically and the way we are going to them in a more joined up fashion. It definitely feels different.” This is reflected in LSM’s results.
LSM has grown in every material market it operates in, in almost all products and almost all distribution channels. “That’s because the market has been there for us to do that, in some cases we’ve had headroom, and in some cases, the cycle has dictated our response.” Growth is still on the agenda, customers want more from LSM, as do brokers as there is an element of consolidation in the market. In UK & MENA, in three years’ time Nelson hopes “We will be recognised as a market leading franchise that looks to lead placements to price risk.” In order to address the bifurcation of the market, “We will have a very, clear approach to how we think about where we lead and where we don’t”.
See the full interview here.