00:11 Insurance Business TV recently attended the 25th Annual TMPAA in Scottsdale
00:09 Annual Summit. While there, we met with leading insurance professionals to address some of the top challenges
00:17 The industry is facing today. Hi, I’m here with Raymond Hannan, EVP and Head of Corporate Underwriting at Westfield
00:26 Specialty. Raymond, we’re talking about a specialty insurance here at the Target Market conference and now everything is getting more complex and more specific.
00:35 I wondered if you could talk about this in your organization.
00:38 Absolutely. Um, Target Markets has been a great conference for us so far. uh,
00:44 This is a place where we can actually bring together many different programs. umm,
00:51 I certainly agree that the underwriting process is becoming more and more specialized and uh the program is a great opportunity for a carrier
00:58 Take advantage of that expertise. You know, at Westfield Specialty, we use the program when any underwriting
01:06 There’s expertise that we don’t have or there’s a distribution source that we don’t have or maybe even technology that we don’t have. And when we think
01:13 That underwriting underwriting expertise, um that’s definitely where that comes into play.
01:18 Okay. Thank you. So I wondered if we could talk about partnerships and insurance of infrastructure investments that are carriers
01:25 Prioritizing supporting these lease programs, especially when it comes to data sharing, claims handling or compliance in unique verticals.
01:36 Yes, that’s a big question. Uh, when it comes to the carrier side, it’s really important that we can work
01:43 Very effectively with that MGA partner, who is working with a broker to introduce that business to us. Umm, we use a very complex model when it comes to
01:52 Evaluating you know our program opportunities and one of those evaluations is the technology piece, the technology piece. So, uh, in Westfield
02:01 Typically, we have a thorough onboarding process and we bring our IT team in very early on to assess our potential MGAs.
02:08 Partners. Um, I think, uh, our mission is to try to make it better. So, uh, better for MGA,
02:17 Better for us, better for the brokers running the business, and better for the insurers. Uh, so we’re currently spending a lot of money on our upgrades
02:25 Ability to connect directly through APIs and other technologies. And I think you know overall what we are
02:33 What we will see in five years is very different from what the market is seeing today.
02:36 Okay. Thank you. And as things become more complex, arguably the broker industry is becoming more in need of relationships between people who actually
02:44 Understanding complexity and amo and how technology is helping, it’s really leveling the playing field of the complexity that we’re seeing now.
02:53 Yes. Yeah, and hopefully we’re becoming more efficient, right? Uh, the whole process, you know, bringing AI into the mix, we’re looking at it
03:01 Happens at the underwriting level through various MGA efforts. Uh, you know, especially on the triaging and submission process. ability to uh
03:09 Taking unstructured data and turning it into structured data has really been a game changer in the AI market.
03:15 Thanks, Raymond. Thanks for talking to me. Thank you.