CFC has appointed Chris Loake (pictured) as chief information officer, effective November, as the wider London market continues to move AI beyond back-office efficiency and into core underwriting.
Loake will join CFC's executive committee and take responsibility for the technology strategy underpinning the company's long-term vision and digital distribution capabilities.
Loake joins from Hiscox, where he has served as group chief information officer since 2023. At Hiscox, he has overseen an AI-enhanced lead underwriting model, which has cut quote turnaround on its sabotage and terrorism book from three days to three minutes.
He has more than 20 years of experience across insurance, banking and financial services, having previously held senior technology leadership roles at C. Hoare & Co., Close Brothers and Experian. He also sits as a non-executive director at Companies House, the UK government agency, a role he has held since 2025 that has seen him oversee technology and data matters as the agency rolls out mandatory identity verification for company directors.
Technology has long underpinned CFC's differentiation as a specialty MGA platform, supporting its ability to scale distribution and underwriting while simplifying insurance trading for brokers and customers. The appointment also comes shortly after CFC named John Howard as chair, succeeding Richard Ward, who remains on the board.
The hire reflects a broader shift across the London market. A Lloyd's Market Association survey published in April 2026, covering firms representing more than 60% of Lloyd's stamp capacity, found that AI adoption had more than doubled in twelve months, with 93% of respondents now having, or developing, formal AI governance frameworks, up from around a quarter of firms reporting any AI use just a year earlier.
The LMA has since published a principles-based AI Adoption Toolkit to help managing agents formalise governance as AI use moves from pilot projects into core underwriting workflows, with data privacy, cyber security and third-party risk now the leading concerns firms flag as adoption scales.
CFC's own commentary on the 2026 cyber market, one of its core specialisms, has pointed to record reinsurance capacity fuelling new MGAs and Lloyd's syndicates, alongside rising claims frequency that is beginning to slow the pace of rate softening. Munich Re estimated the global cyber insurance market reached close to $15 billion in premiums in 2025, with growth expected to bring the market to around $28 billion by 2030.
Loake said CFC had established itself as a technology leader in specialty insurance, in a part of the market with huge scope for continued innovation.
The company has consistently shown how technology can transform the experience for brokers and partners, and that opportunity is only becoming more exciting as advances in AI open up new possibilities across insurance," he said. He added that he was looking forward to working alongside CFC's leadership team to build on the foundations already in place.
