Ben Bolton, Managing Director for Gracechurch peers through the lens of our research from the last 15 months and has compiled four predictions for a post-pandemic London Market.
Needless to say, 2020 was not what anybody had expected, and it affected everyone in every industry across the world, for better or worse.
For the insurance industry it has amped up the modernisation process for many, considering most business over the last 15 months had to be done virtually. We’ve all grown accustomed to a new way of interacting with businesses and with each other, the importance of team synergy and brand loyalty has been more apparent than ever.
#1 The market will now modernise at an unthinkable pace
The pandemic has shown that creativity and ideas happen in person, not on Teams calls: the pent-up desire to do things better will unleash huge creative and competitive forces, transforming the industry, bringing innovation and (I hope) efficiency.
#2 The winners will be those who use digital to enable human innovation
The digital domain is no longer ‘the great unknown’ and we can do things faster and more efficiently without having to traipse into the office. In our London e-Trading study 83% say that they expect e-Trading to be the norm for all broking within 18 months. The point is that this will release time and space for the talented people to develop new and better ways of doing things and gain competitive edge.
#3 Only scale and specialist plays will matter
Our research has shown an increasing share of business flowing to the largest carriers, a trend that shows no sign of stopping. At the same time a new breed of portfolio plays and ‘boutique’ specialists who really know their classes of business and deliver added value to the customer will thrive, both in terms of profitable risk selection but also in terms of building valuable business partnerships.
#4 The Lloyd's trading room will be consigned to history
We tracked the increasing shift away from trading at the Box for at least 5 years pre-Covid. The main raison d’etre of the Room had become to enable the clearing of smaller, straightforward risks efficiently. Insurers were also under the illusion that presence in Lloyd’s helped their brand, but there was zero brand take-out from Lloyd’s transactions. So, the simple stuff will move to digital platforms while more complex high value business will be broked in purpose-designed ‘trading spaces’: these will offer privacy, areas that encourage collaboration, working facilities and will be environments where businesses can market their innovative products and services.
All these trends, and more are essentially accelerated versions of what was already happening and reflect a fast-modernising industry. It’s exciting, but we must focus on getting our story out and attract the best talent to make the most of the opportunities.
Do you have an opinion on e-Trading platforms?
We are looking for those who either broker or underwrite risk in the London Market to have their say in our newest survey – the e-Trading platforms report.
Your insights will help support e-Trading providers to improve their user experience and functionality, as well as help provide objective evidence for businesses when selecting new providers.
Click here to find out more