‘We could double the size of this market’ – Kevin Gill eyes a bright future for legacy solutions

The legacy solutions for the live market in insurance and reinsurance could double in size over the next few years.

That was one of the optimistic messages that Kevin Gill put across in a Voice of Insurance podcast with Mark Geoghegan.

Gill, chairman of the Insurance and Reinsurance Legacy Association (IRLA), said: “If you look at the LPT (loss portfolio transfers) type solutions providing the capital relief, at the moment, we are literally just scratching the surface of the live market. We could double the size of the market quite easily in the next 5, 10 years.”

Rugby accident 

It’s an industry cliché that people fall into insurance rather than choosing it as a career. Gill did fall into insurance – but only by a twist of fate. 

He says: “I made a big career decision to get into legacy by breaking my leg playing rugby.

“I was training as an auditor in Bristol, and I had to drive to Cheltenham in Gloucester, and Swindon, to do my audits, and then broke my leg playing rugby.

“So I couldn’t go and do that. And I then I got seconded to a little place called Coopers Lybrand Insurance Services.”

Gill worked at Coopers covering run-off for failing bus companies in the early 1990s.

His career took him across PwC, KLG Associates and EY-Parthenon, building up his insurance expertise and skills. He was asked to join the IRLA board and then he became chairman. He has been on the board for five years. 

On IRLA’s purpose, he explained: “Its primary driver is to educate the marketplace, to provide a network for the marketplace, and then to represent the marketplace. And I think over the 25 years that has been in existence now, it’s been really strong around the education and networking side, and we want to push more the promotion side of the marketplace.”

Legacy strength

The duo discussed the strength of legacy, with Gill pointing out that IRLA has a Bermuda branch. 

This led Geoghegan to enthuse about the longevity of legacy: “‘I’ve always thought it’s the great comfort of anyone working in insurance, is that even if we stopped underwriting all insurance, and the London market, for example, lost all its licenses and was downgraded to zero as of now and shut down, and there was no more live underwriting – we’d still probably be dealing with the legacy for another 100 years.”

 Gill felt ‘really positive’ following IRLA’s Brighton conference in 2025.

He said: “I think with all the bigger deals we see in the marketplace now, a lot of the loss portfolio transfers and ADCs (accrued disputed claims) that the larger companies are writing, we are providing real value to the live insurance market, and it’s a place we’ve never really been to before.

“So if you look at that opportunity that comes from that, we’re really just scratching the surface of what this market can provide to the live marketplace.”

Talent rising

Another highlight for Gill was all the talent making its way into the legacy solutions market, another positive he picked up from the Brighton conference.

He said: “The other thing that I really noticed this year is around the talent programmes that we’ve been bringing in. We’ve got new skills coming to marketplace, around chief technology officers, chief investment officers, looking at that side of the organisation.

“And actually just bringing through young talent. The room is full of young talent doing different things. That was really nice.”

The conversation noted how legacy solutions has evolved from an end-of-career option to professional career with various challenging roles. 

Gill commented: “I think lots of people are coming to the market, whether the graduates are school leaver, and they see a career in an interesting, challenging industry.”

Market cycle and life opportunity 

The podcast moved on to the topic of how legacy plays in the different cycles of the market.

Gill explained the role of legacy is flexible.

“I think the legacy market can play with the live market no matter what cycle it’s going through. So obviously, in a hard market, we can provide capital to place capital for them or supply them with capital to write new business going forward. I think when it’s a bit softer, they sometimes want to just draw a line under business and move it on.”

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