EDITOR’S LETTER
Be the difference: why risk entrepreneurs can shine right now
“Launched by two women, the business is a prime example of a company with the ambition and skillset to create something that will truly stand apart.”
It remains a period of evolution and innovation for the risk transfer industry—and that is a good thing. A combination of enforced, accelerated digitisation, triggered by COVID-19, continued developments and breakthroughs in technology (aka insurtech) and a period of disruption and rising prices (a hard market) have created fertile ground for new ideas and enterprises to thrive.
In this issue, we again meet entrepreneurs intent on making ideas and dreams a reality, plus more seasoned executives spearheading new and innovative initiatives elsewhere in the industry.
The quote in the headline here and on the cover comes from the founders of Nivante, a new managing general agent launched during the COVID-19 lockdown, who are intent on offering specialist insurance products for buyers in the UK care sector, which has been hit hard by the pandemic.
Launched by two women, the business is a prime example of a company with the ambition and skillset to create something that will truly stand apart in a sector that needs a shakeup in the products available to it.
Creating solutions
Equally exciting and interesting is a new product launched by Steel City Re. This publication has talked much about the pervasive influence of environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) in recent months. Its principles are, indeed, hard to ignore—but there can be a big difference between virtue-signalling such intent in marketing spiel and actually doing the right thing.
This can create a gap between expectation and reality—and when that gap is of great interest to investors and regulators, that also creates risk. And where there is risk, of course, the industry creates solutions. Or at least it has in this instance—in a pretty innovative way as we hear from the firm’s chief executive officer.
Such innovation is exactly what is needed in a directors and officers liability sector desperate for some certainty and, ideally, extra capacity. This market has been a problem for some time now, so we assembled a panel of experts to dissect the problems and suggest some solutions.
Elsewhere in this issue, we cover many other topics and executives operating at the cutting edge of change within the industry. From parametric insurance to partnering insurtechs to developing innovative ways of managing cyber risk—welcome to a new age of innovation within this industry.
Wyn Jenkins is managing editor of the Newton Media insurance group
Image: shutterstock.com / Glyn Swanson
