Very little gain in ‘joining the herd’ in the subscription market, says Atrium CEO John Fowle

Atrium’s Chief Executive John Fowle believes the market is ‘getting their heads around’ the reality of what it takes to be a leader in the subscription market.

Fowle, speaking in the Voice of Insurance podcast, said: “There is very little to be gained in just joining the herd and setting yourself up as a leader when frankly, you’re really not.”

Fowle told host Mark Geoghegan that brokers would not give credibility to a leader lacking in the right qualities.

Brokers’ ambitions are ‘delivering good solutions to their clients in a really efficient way’, Fowle explained. 

He said: “That’s where consortium, where other forms of lead, follow mechanism, work extremely well, because they want to get the business priced properly. 

“They want the coverage to be bespoke appropriately for their clients needs. 

“They want to make sure that they are doing that appropriately. So they definitely need to be able to speak to a number of leaders. 

“But once that bit is done, they really just want the most efficient way to fill out the placement.”

Big numbers

Fowle, who became chief executive in October last year, spoke on a broad range of subjects during the interview including: Atrium’s strategy; market lines; and innovation and technology.

In February, Atrium announced it would stop writing property XL reinsurance. 

Explaining the decision, Fowle said to be a relevant player capacity had to be deployed in ‘big numbers’.

He said: “I use that terrible analogy that I think Atrium had ended up sort of sending its team into a knife fight armed only with a toothpick, and that’s tough. 

“And despite the acumen and skill and diligence of the team, I think the job is just very tough to do. 

“So redeploying those skilled people, and indeed our appetite into areas of the business where we have a more meaningful presence for the brokers have just seemed like an appropriate thing for us to do.

Fine underwriters

Fowle described the history of Atrium as one which always had ‘very fine underwriters’ who are ‘disciplined’.

Underpinning that was good support services and excellent claims adjustment, making Atrium a top performer.

Atrium’s focus on specialisms, serving global clients from its London headquarters with a US service office, worked well, Fowle explained. 

He said: “We feel we can take that understanding of what good looks like and go into new areas where we think there’s a real need, where we think we can bring in or develop real knowledge and expertise that, frankly, our customers, the brokers, actually care that we’re delivering it. 

“So we’re not just rushing into a very busy party where there’s already too many people.”

Artificial intelligence

Atrium had been exploring AI for ‘five or six years’, partnering up with a Lloyd’s lab participant.

Atrium had found AI beneficial on the claims side.

He described its usefulness in comparing policy language with unstructured claims documents. This had enabled an early idea of the nature of the loss. 

He said: “So it just speeds up the claims handling process. That’s been super, super efficient.”

Conduct

Host Geoghegan asked about Lloyd’s proposed new conduct framework. 

Announced in September, the framework addresses improper conduct and behaviour in the marketplace, covering both financial and non-financial wrongdoing. 

Fowle said he ‘welcomed’ the consultation and Atrium would contribute. 

He explained it was important to learn the lessons of how conduct has been handled to date. 

He added: “The whistleblowers and the witnesses in any of these conduct situations really need to be kept at the centre of the process in a way that protects them.

“Because if we want a market environment where people feel that they can whistle blow and that not be to their detriment, that must be key, because that’s the way that you’re going to uncover poor conduct and then be able to deal with it.”