Tall Buildings

Having decided not to pursue a degree in Business Management and Finance, Max found his way into specialty insurance with three months of work experience at Ed Broking which turned into a full-time role in claims – the beating heart of insurance.

“For me, the ability to get a job and learn from there, whilst earning, was a much better option than obtaining a degree. And, if you want to learn about insurance, then working in claims is the best place to be. You are at the centre of everything. Every day you look at different policies, you learn what it is that we are selling and what is included or not. Our job is to be there for the client and look how to get their claim paid to get them back on their feet quickly”.

Max focused on property in North America – a huge land mass prone to hurricanes, wildfires, tornados, and earthquakes. Early in his career he dealt with eight separate disasters in a single year. “This is where the rubber hits the road in insurance, the client has suffered a loss and it’s our job to make it better. The skills l learnt were all around how to deal with people when they are in trouble, and sorting the complex and urgent claims so you respond fast and effectively for them”.

The skills required in claims are as much about relationships as they are to do with the legal and financial issues. “In claims you sit between the people who have sold the policy and those that bought it. Its peoples’ lives and businesses and you need to be human and show empathy – working out what everyone needs and managing expectations”. It is also an area where new technology has an important role to play. “Before you perhaps had to wait to send in an expert, now you can access drone photography almost immediately to see where the problems are. It’s a real game-changer”.

The other joy of specialty insurance is the ability to combine personal interests with your work. Max added “As I have built up my insurance knowledge, I am now able to work with my colleagues at Howden handling claims for professional athletes and teams.

For Max, the best things about his role and the industry are being able to help people, sort out tricky issues and solve problems – as well as working in a market that is a real community. “There is a lot of social activity around our work, you meet a lot of other professionals which makes the day job much easier and more fun”.

With a degree in Economics, and some familial pressure to look for opportunities in conventional graduate routes like banking, Cindy found her happy place in specialty insurance through an unconventional route

“The big questions for me were where should I look for a role and what is out there? I really did not know where to start. My first job was with Ford in Essex but only four months into it I knew it was not for me. It was in fact a post on Instagram that gave me the courage to make a change!”

Cindy had friends who studied actuarial science and who talked a lot about what specialty insurance had to offer. “So, I applied for the WTW graduate scheme, not really knowing much about the industry. The bad news was that I did not get a place, but the good news was that I did get offered an entry level role as a broker. It was a happy accident but it turned out brilliantly.”

Cindy mainly focuses on property risks in an area known as facultative reinsurance where insurance companies protect themselves against large risks by buying their own insurance. , “The best thing about property is that they are things you can relate to – theme parks, hotels, office buildings. I walk around the streets of London and feel excited by the real life application of what I am doing in my job.” Cindy is looking at what can possibly go wrong. That might mean damage from natural events like bad weather, but it also means being aware of man-made risks like terrorism that might close a property or cause a fire. “The types of risk I look at tend to be where the financial consequences of something going wrong are very high. It is also incredibly varied.

Cindy is also actively studying for the Chartered Institute of Insurance exams and is being sponsored by WTW. “Professional qualifications are really important for career development and mean you can demonstrate real progress to your employer.”

“What I love is the variety and the people” said Cindy. “I talk to different people every day and I have to build relationships with them so I can understand what they need so we can find the right solutions. No day is the same as the last one. It is fun and dynamic and London is the centre of global insurance. But working for a multi national firm like WTW means that our clients are truly global. We are looking at risks in Asia, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. That means conferences and client visits in those countries, so as I build experience and expertise I expect there to be opportunities to travel.”

“My working life started by complete happenstance at a squash match at university” said Brenna, focuses on protecting professions such as lawyers, architects and financial advisers from the risks of legal action being taken against them. Brenna, who is American has now worked on both sides of the Atlantic and has gone from advising businesses that face the risks to now being the person that takes those risks away from them.

Being any sort of professional adviser today means you face a whole range of risks that can bring your business to its knees. That might be new laws, changes to regulations or just how the world is evolving. For example, architects are working on increasingly tall buildings and with new materials. Lawyers are working on cases that will change the world. And these risks are different around the world – they all need protection and that is why they come to buy insurance in London.

Brenna began her career with Marsh, one of the largest broking houses in the world. Initially she worked mainly with financial services firms in the US, but then was offered a secondment to London. “London is the birthplace of insurance, it’s where it was invented, so it was a really exciting opportunity to move here.” She shifted to working with the world’s largest law firms and describes the process of finding them the right insurance as “like putting together a puzzle”. Nothing is standard and the risks keep changing as the world evolves.

The next move was from adviser to risk taker – working for the insurer Beazley, a leading firm for insuring professionals. “I am surrounded by thinkers” she says. “We are talking to firms about the issues they face and then to brokers and insurers about how to find solutions. London is unique in that a lot of this is face to face, you are not just sitting behind a computer. It is a great mix of talking to people and trying to fix problems.”