Liberty Mutual’s Mark Butler (left) and AIG’s John Doyle
At the end of the final panel of Advisen’s Casualty Insights conference in New York last month, the industry’s top executives were asked what keeps them awake at night.
Liberty Mutual’s Mark Butler, president of National Insurance Operations, mentioned over-regulation and the conflicting demands imposed on insurers by many different legal jurisdictions, as well as new risks to underwrite, such as traumatic brain injury.
He emphasized the need for the industry to maintain “underwriting discipline,” by which it can be inferred insurers should carefully weigh the risks they undertake.
AIG’s John Doyle, executive vice president and CEO of commercial insurance, pointed to the plentitude of regulatory bodies and the times “when US courts rewrite your policy,” through decisions that require underwriting adjustments.
But ACE’s Chris Maleno, senior vice president and division president, contended it had been an exciting 15 years for the industry, from the Internet boom, to the dot-com bubble, 9/11, the financial crisis, epic storms and cyber threats.
At the end of it all, he said, “our balance sheets have gotten stronger,” and the industry was no longer as cyclical as it has been.
“We’ve had a great run,” Maleno declared to the more than 500 risk managers, brokers, underwriters and other insurance professionals in attendance.
Guy Carpenter’s Andy Marcell, CEO of US operations, and Lockton’s Glenn Spencer, executive vice president and COO, concurred with his view, adding that “reinsurance is about resolving uncertainty” and “turmoil and change is good for our business.”
All of which led Advisen’s Dave Bradford, president of its research and editorial division, to ask the panel: “With supply increasing faster than demand, aren’t economic forces aligned against a sustained increase in rates” seen since the end of the financial crisis.
John Doyle responded by saying that much of the new capital rushing into the market was pressuring segments other than casualty, that the economy was better in the US but not globally, and that in Asia major weather events had gone entirely uninsured.
“In balance, it doesn’t seem to me to be that great” a time for the industry, he said, such that it could afford to lower rates.
And that concluded the panel dubbed The View From the Top.
