We meet Jaspal in one of the City’s most trendy coffee shops on Creechurch Lane. It’s a noisy place even on a Thursday afternoon but Jaspal sips his cappuccino quite thoughtfully as he considers his London Market career to date.
What did you want to be at school?
No specific ambition but thought I would do something in finance.
Why did you choose a career in the London Insurance Market?
I needed some money to pay for my travelling, so did some temping jobs in the City. One of them was as a technician supporting aviation underwriters in a Lloyd’s syndicate. I liked aviation and space insurance so looked for a permanent position and eventually found one.
What does your role as an Underwriting Facilities Manager entail?
Marsh is a broker so most of what they do is on behalf of customers who want to buy insurance but my customers are actually the insurers who sell insurance. Marsh arranges terrorism insurance on risks around the world with a group of insurers. We make sure those insurers have the data they need to improve their marketing and grow their terrorism business profitably. It’s both marketing and financial analysis.
What do you enjoy most about your job?
I like drilling down into the detail of the data. What risks did they underwrite? Where were they successful? Why were they unsuccessful? Then we can generate insights into how the insurers can improve their performance.
What skills do you need to do your job?
Well, obviously it helps to be numerate and to be able to manipulate and interpret data. But you also need good verbal communication skills as you need to explain sometimes complicated trends to customers.
Do you have any advice for anyone wanting to join the London Market
Network. It’s a people business. The more people you know the more opportunities you hear about.
Fun fact about you
Well I studied for six months in Hong Kong and am also a black belt at karate.