Thomas Pereira

Underwriting Assistant (Energy)

Again, its apt we meet up for a virtual coffee with Thomas as he also started his London Market job at home.  Here’s what Thomas had to say about his London Market career to date

What did you want to be at school?

I knew I wanted to do something involving numbers or computing which I was good at, but I did not want to be an accountant. I also grew up in Crystal Palace in south London and always wanted to have a job in the middle of the city.

Why did you choose a career in the London Insurance Market?

When I was at university, we were offered the opportunity to have an Insight day at Aon, the large London insurance broking firm.  I attended and I thought “I like this insurance thing”.  The pandemic made applying for jobs difficult, but I was lucky enough to get an internship in the insurance department of a large shipping company and still enjoyed it so started applying for jobs in underwriting. I completed 15 applications, got two offers and finally started with Starr in April 2021. I liked the sound of the role as it was in both construction and property insurance underwriting including on and offshore energy.

What does the job of an Underwriting Operations Technician involve?

You have probably heard that insurance is data driven and our role is to make sure

that all the data that underwriters use to price risks and ultimately pay claims is accurate and up to date. We also can get involved in agreeing and documenting changes to the risk and ensuring the contracts are correct.

What do you enjoy most about your job?

I work in a great team who support the underwriters across all the types of insurance Starr underwrites.  We are all a similar age and get on really well, even when we were all working from home. I enjoy collaborating with people to get things done and we have achieved a lot as a team in the six months I have been here.

What skills do you need to do your job?

Attention to detail is certainly important as the data must be accurate or bad underwriting decisions will be made. You have to be familiar with common computer programmes such as Word and Excel. And you have to be a team player, we often have to work to tight deadlines and have to share the work to get things done.

Where do you see yourself in five years’ time?

I would love to be an assistant underwriter, or by then even an underwriter, probably in Energy insurance. The renewable energy market will be an exciting place to work in the next few years.