Matthew Wilson, Group CEO, Brit – A digital, data-led business

This week’s guest on The Voice of Insurance podcast is one of the best examples of a leader walking the talk when it comes to innovating and digitising the insurance value chain. Matthew Wilson, Group CEO, Brit, is a genuine advocate of embracing technology and algorithmic-based underwriting. He leads by example with the transformation project to move Brit’s entire IT infrastructure to the cloud in the last three years and to prepare the company for a digital future. Matthew also chats about Ki, the first fully digital and algorithmically-driven Lloyd’s of London syndicate, and the structured targets for this business.

We were delighted to hear Matthew speak candidly about his own education and personal journey on what it means to be innovative, how Brit supported its entire workforce to think creatively, and why he wants Brit to be synonymous with digital. Matthew also discusses company culture and why Brit puts Inclusion before Diversity and not the other way around.

When asked about Brit’s journey so far and future plans, Matthew discusses how the last decade was spent driving underwriting quality and performance, and how the next five years will be about creating a “digital, data-led business.”

At the forefront of change

The insurance industry is studded with best intentions and mission statements when it comes to digitisation, but Brit has made it happen. Matthew speaks about the process of wanting Brit to be at the vanguard of digital innovation versus making it happen, and Brit’s efforts to foster an innovative culture that supports creative thinking.

As the conversation moves to digital underwriting, Matthew discusses how the insurance industry still has one of the highest expense ratios in the corporate world, which is unsustainable in the long term. Matthew describes how digitising processes that drive efficiencies and reduce wastage is one of the key ways to drive down expense ratios. He comments: “digitising the pieces that we can will make ourselves much more productive; that is exactly the model we want to produce.”

Algorithmic underwriting

When asked about algorithmic underwriting and if it will replace Underwriters, Matthew is clear that this won’t be the case and that he has a duty of care to Brit’s Underwriters.

Discussing algorithmic underwriting in Lloyd’s, Matthew comments: “I do think that algorithmic trading as a general concept in Lloyd’s will sort of be omnipresent in five years, but actually taking it to that next level of leading is an enormous challenge.”

Commenting on Lloyd’s Blueprint Two, Matthew believes that Lloyd’s is “doing a phenomenal job” and, “if we get this right and actually create a fully digital Lloyd’s, not only will it be the only digital insurance market place for complex risk, but I really think it creates significant value for all of the businesses operating in Lloyd’s.”

This episode is a must-listen for anyone wanting to find out more about the benefits of innovation and digitisation.