Hiscox has cut the time it takes to turn around a broker submission by approximately 75% in some lines, as the specialist insurer reported nine-month premium growth of 9.5% and accelerated the rollout of its artificial intelligence underwriting tools across its retail and London Market operations.
The AI submission-to-quote solution, which Hiscox has been developing in partnership with Google Cloud since late 2023, has now improved speed to quote by around 75% in terrorism and architects and engineers lines, with the quote-to-bind ratio also rising. The insurer said it is rolling out this solution more widely across its retail business, which covers the UK, Europe and the US.
A new broker portal is simultaneously being deployed across Europe, and a new pricing engine is in development in the UK, one that will expand the range of business eligible for auto-underwriting. In the US direct channel, Hiscox launched an AI-native portal in the third quarter offering self-service functionality. The company also announced the appointment of Phil Withey as Group Chief Information Officer. Withey joined Hiscox in 2025 as chief technology officer of Hiscox London Market, where he oversaw the expansion of AI-augmented underwriting before moving into the group role.
The direction of travel is consistent with what Hiscox has said publicly about its intentions. In an interview with Insurance Business in September 2026, Mike Maletsky, vice president of underwriting transformation at Hiscox, described the goal in direct terms: “AI is letting us do that more, because it’s taking off the administrative burden on underwriters, freeing up more time for them to talk to the broker, talk to the insured, and make sure we’re giving them the coverage they need.”
The other side of the story is in the London Market numbers. Hiscox London Market reported insurance contract written premium growth of 9.9% to US$1.05 billion for the nine months to September 30, but that headline figure is significantly flattered by prior-period premium adjustments. Strip those out and underlying growth falls to 3.9%.
The reason for the gap is cycle management. Hiscox said actions in major property, upstream energy, power and renewables reduced growth by nine percentage points as the insurer walked away from business where rates were inadequate. Hiscox said rates across its London Market portfolio fell 5% in aggregate over the first nine months of the year, consistent with the position it reported at the half-year.
Hiscox’s H1 2026 results in August shows that the insurer had already non-renewed 23% of its power and renewables book by the midpoint of the year. That retreat has continued. According to Hiscox, 76 per cent of the London Market portfolio was rated adequate or better at the half-year, which means around a quarter was not, and the insurer has been acting on that throughout the period.
Where Hiscox London Market is still writing business, it is expanding into adjacent lines: Hiscox Portfolio Solutions, downstream energy, technology errors and omissions, and casualty adjacencies, including general liability and financial institutions. D&O, which has been under pricing pressure for several years, is showing signs of stabilisation, with US rate declines moderating and IPO activity generating new business.
In the UK retail business, Hiscox reported constant currency growth of 11.1% for the nine months, with its art and private client division delivering a ninth consecutive quarter of double-digit growth. New business in the digital direct channel grew by around 40% year-on-year, according to Hiscox. The share of broker new business bound entirely digitally in the art and private client segment trebled year-on-year. That figure reflects both Hiscox’s investment in digital tools and the growing willingness of brokers to complete placements without manual intervention.
Hiscox said the change programme remains on track to deliver $75 million of P&L benefit for the full year, with the cost to achieve that figure also set at US$75 million.
