Sharing his perspective on the outlook of the international specialty insurance market in 2023 with IBTV, Mark Gregory, CEO at AXIS International, noted that despite headwinds, the outlook is “very good” and is building off the strengths seen in 2022.
With that in mind, he identified his key advice for brokers as the year continues to unfold.
“We’re all riding the wave of rate and it’s good,” he said. “Frankly, it’s appropriate and I think, certainly as a carrier, we’ve seen that price adequacy has just not been there for such a long time. With rate increases now we’re seeing price adequacy, meaning that business is viable again.”
Having been a broker for 30 years, Gregory said, he’s able to put his broking ‘hat’ on and see how new business is coming into the marketplace. Some of it is for innovation but some of it is just for capacity. And that business will stay until all the domestic markets and retail markets become active again and then some of that business will flow away.
“I think it’s a bit of a fool’s paradise to say we’re doing great, rates are up, [it’s all] fantastic,” he said. “That is great for now. But I don’t think it’s sustainable in the long term. I think we need to focus in on our people and we certainly need to focus in on innovation. My clarion call to brokers is – to make sure that you’re close to your customers. Make sure that you’re talking to your customers in their language, understanding their industry, and understanding their issues.
“Make sure that you’re providing as good value as you can. Make sure that your customers see how hard you’re working on their behalf, because often we try to gloss over that. But the reality is that brokers are working very hard for their clients right now. Make sure that your customers see that. Be clear about what your value proposition is to your customers, and then hopefully we can manage any outflow of business as the market begins to soften again and as other alternatives become available to those customers.”
