Insurance underwriters are seemingly pulled in many directions today as risks quickly evolve, from extreme weather events to changes in the legal and regulatory landscape to general inflation trends. Underwriters who work to understand the changing landscape and how it affects the classes of business they write will have a leg up on the competition.
Executive Summary
As insurance underwriters navigate a challenging risk landscape with changes in weather patterns, legal and regulatory hurdles, and economic uncertainty, experts say they'll need to learn to balance both the art and science of underwriting. Using behavioral science to understand client needs and introduce more personalization is one step of this process, as well as developing deep expertise in specialized areas. Most of all, experts say the use of data and automation is key for underwriters moving forward.“It’s art and science, and we wrestle with both of those every single day,” said Tracey Ant, head of middle and large commercial business units at The Hartford. She was speaking with Carrier Management for its newest episode of Between the Lines, a video series that explores topics in the latest magazine issue.
“Making data-driven decisions has become part of our DNA, but there’s also underwriting judgment, and that’s the art that comes over the top,” she added. “When you meet a client and understand how important safety is to them, you get some insights that the data doesn’t always tell you.”
