Underwritten Weekly

Gina and Andrew made a point in the town hall on Tuesday that I want to pick up on, because it’s one I care about.

I was sat about 4ft from Andrew’s face, pretending I was completely relaxed about it. At least, being American, he didn’t have the cultural reference to think “Hang on, why the bloody hell is Louis Theroux in my digital town hall?”

Anyway. The point.

Lloyd’s is a human market. AI is never going to replace it, and even if it could I’d stand in its way.

I heard this for the first time about fifteen years ago, from my late insurance mentor, Geoff. It was my first week at Lloyd’s. I’d been in the Room for maybe three days and – full of the confidence that only complete ignorance can provide – I suggested we could probably replace the whole thing with an app.

It is the only time Geoff ever got exasperated with me.

He sat me down and explained that what was happening in The Room isn’t process. It’s judgment. It’s relationships. It’s a broker knowing which underwriter will look at a risk sideways and find something interesting in it. You can’t put that in an app. You can’t automate a raised eyebrow across a box.

He was right; and he still is.

A few weeks ago, Geoff’s daughter Lauren did work experience at <Company Name>. One of the proudest moments I’ve had in this industry. Walking the same floors, learning the same market, meeting the same kinds of people her dad spent his career alongside. The market that runs on humans is literally regenerating itself.

So when I stood up at the town hall and talked about what our team is building, I hope I was clear on what we’re doing. We’re not replacing underwriters. We’re not even close. We’re doing something much more exciting and much more useful.

We’re removing the work that shouldn’t be human in the first place.

Right now, underwriters spend a huge chunk of their day on submissions they were never going to write. Reading PDFs for risks that don’t fit our appetite. Rekeying data that already exists somewhere else. Working through a queue they can’t see the shape of.

That’s not judgment. That’s admin wearing a lanyard.

If we stop underwriters researching submissions they were never going to write – genuinely never, not even after a particularly agreeable broker lunch – we’ve just doubled our human capacity.

If we then let them focus on the risks we actually want to write, with the data already structured, the pricing already seeded, the noise already filtered out – we’ve trebled it.

Have I done the sums on that? I have not.
Is this a Sunday nonsense email? It is.
Am I going to let rigor get in the way of a good point? I am not.

But the direction is real. Not one extra pound spent on staff costs. Treble our footprint in the market. The human market. Write better risks. Shape the slip, not just follow it. Spend underwriter time on underwriting, not archaeology.

That’s what <Product Name. is. Not a technology project. Software that learns what deserves an underwriter’s attention and what to quietly bin, so that when they sit down in the morning, the work in front of them is the work that deserves them.

The market Geoff taught me about isn’t threatened by what we’re building. It’s the reason we’re building it.

Lauren’s already been here. Let’s make sure the market she comes back to is one where the humans get to do the human work.

Which is why I ask you daily: are we ready to ship <Product Name>.

If you’re not confident, tell me what you need. We’ll go find it – or burst a blood vessel trying.

Folks. We are getting there.

Have a good week.

Rob

P.S.

Sadly, Lucy leaves us next week, so this is her last Sunday nonsense email.

She’s off to have Little Baby <Product Name>, and deserves every bit of the break she’s about to not get.

Lucy was our first delivery manager. She helped shape this team from its initial formation and introduced the structure that means when we talk about shipping, we actually mean it. We’ll miss her.

Lucy, you once said to me: “I never thought I’d find insurance interesting, but you’ve changed all that.” I was genuinely so pleased.

If anyone ever tells you insurance is boring, you now know how to reply.

And just like Lauren, Little Baby <Product Name> is already on the team.