{"id":10267,"date":"2025-12-22T07:20:26","date_gmt":"2025-12-22T07:20:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.advantagego.com\/en-us\/?p=10267"},"modified":"2025-12-22T07:21:29","modified_gmt":"2025-12-22T07:21:29","slug":"voi-podcast-with-ceo-of-oak-global","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.advantagego.com\/en-us\/content\/voi-podcast-with-ceo-of-oak-global\/","title":{"rendered":"Oak\u2019s Carr on Lloyd\u2019s revival and building a modern reinsurance franchise"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><iframe title=\"Ep282 Cathal Carr, Oak Global: Building a New Reinsurer at Lloyd's\" allowtransparency=\"true\" height=\"150\" width=\"100%\" style=\"border: none; min-width: min(100%, 430px);height:150px;\" scrolling=\"no\" data-name=\"pb-iframe-player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.podbean.com\/player-v2\/?from=embed&amp;i=fj9mg-19ef66b-pb&amp;share=1&amp;download=1&amp;fonts=Tahoma&amp;skin=3267a3&amp;font-color=auto&amp;rtl=0&amp;logo_link=episode_page&amp;btn-skin=1b1b1b&amp;size=150\" loading=\"lazy\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Oak Global Chief Executive Officer Cathal Carr explains why Lloyd\u2019s is central to global reinsurance, and why tech and culture matter as much as capital to build a new reinsurer.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For several years, a prevailing narrative in the re\/insurance world was that Lloyd\u2019s of London had lost much of its edge as a reinsurance platform, competing with the company market and rival hubs across the globe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That situation has since been transformed, according to Cathal Carr, Chief Executive of Oak Global, speaking on the latest episode of the <em>Voice of Insurance <\/em>podcast.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As the leader of a startup Lloyd\u2019s reinsurer, he believes that previous view of Lloyd\u2019s misses out on what was quietly changing beneath the surface.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Carr is the founder of Oak Global, a new Lloyd\u2019s-based reinsurer underwriting global reinsurance and retrocession, and one of a growing cohort of executives using the Lloyd\u2019s platform to build a modern reinsurance business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Before founding Oak and taking the plunge to \u201cback himself\u201d, Carr had spent two decades at RenaissanceRe, working in Bermuda as its global head of property catastrophe, and later chief underwriting officer for Europe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI always felt there would be a point where I would want to start a business from the ground up, but there were three macro reasons that made the timing feel right,\u201d Carr said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The first was the rating environment, which was weak after so many softening years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>From the market lows of 2017, Carr points to a steady and compounded improvement in pricing, with treaty reinsurance rates increasing by more than 100 percent through to the reset from 2023.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThat creates a healthy environment to engage and try to start a reinsurance business,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The second factor he describes is the Lloyd\u2019s market itself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Carr argues that Lloyd\u2019s historic share of global reinsurance placements, once close to a third, had fallen too far, creating an opportunity for new entrants with the right leadership and focus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWhen we looked at building a Lloyd\u2019s syndicate, we felt the opportunity was there to bring that leadership back to the market. It was also aligned with what Lloyd\u2019s leadership was trying to achieve,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The third driver was conviction around long-term demand, which underpins which lines of business the startup focuses on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Oak has organised its underwriting strategy around four risk pillars: climate risk, technological risk, geopolitical risk and economic risk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThese are areas where demand exists today and where we believe it will grow over the next five, ten and twenty years,\u201d Carr said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cOur ambition is to be a global risk partner, known for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.advantagego.com\/en-us\/products\/underwriting\/\" target=\"_blank\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.advantagego.com\/en-us\/products\/underwriting\/\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">market-leading underwriting expertise<\/a> and client-focused solutions,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Oak received permission to underwrite at Lloyd\u2019s in late November and quickly moved from launch to execution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Despite having only five weeks left in its first year of account, the syndicate exceeded its initial expectations, he explained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe had a business plan of $300m of premium for 2025. We were ahead of plan post 1 January and ultimately increased that to $400m,\u201d Carr said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The portfolio now spans about 400 clients globally, split roughly 50:50 between <a href=\"https:\/\/www.advantagego.com\/en-us\/lines-of-business\/property\/\" target=\"_blank\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.advantagego.com\/en-us\/lines-of-business\/property\/\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">property<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.advantagego.com\/en-us\/lines-of-business\/\" target=\"_blank\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.advantagego.com\/en-us\/lines-of-business\/\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">specialty lines<\/a>, including marine, energy, terrorism, cyber, credit and climate innovation products, including parametric covers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Carr is particularly emphatic about the role of Lloyd\u2019s in that success. He doesn\u2019t play it down as easy, but highlights the discipline inherent within the process and the value brought by Lloyd\u2019s access.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cOur engagement with Lloyd\u2019s was extremely positive. The process is rigorous, but it was responsive and efficient, and the ratings upgrades have been a huge advantage,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He also points to the depth of talent and distribution within the Lloyd\u2019s ecosystem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe broader ecosystem here, clients, brokers, distribution partners, that has been pivotal,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe genuinely feel Lloyd\u2019s is a great platform to launch and grow a reinsurance business,\u201d he continued.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Oak has already built a team of 50 people in its first year, including 20 underwriters, with a deliberate strategy of where it hires from to avoid monocultures, Carr explained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe have a maximum of two people from any one previous employer. That diversity of perspective is critical if you are trying to build something genuinely different,\u201d Carr said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Technology is another core pillar for the startup business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Starting with a clean slate has allowed Oak to avoid legacy systems, but Carr is cautious about over-engineering too early, conscious that today\u2019s internally developed tool can become tomorrow\u2019s drag as a legacy system to maintain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe don\u2019t want to create technical debt quickly, so the focus is on combining best-in-class tools with our own intellectual property, and making sure our data infrastructure is future-proof,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That includes preparing for some more advanced uses of artificial intelligence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe don\u2019t see AI as replacing underwriters, but as an interface that can help them access tools, data and insights more effectively, it could become a real differentiator,\u201d he suggested.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Quizzed on future ambitions, such as expansion to Bermuda or other market hubs, and what\u2019s next for his entrepreneurial streak, he was keen to keen to keep things grounded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThis is a decades-long project,\u201d he said. \u201cYou can\u2019t be an overnight success in reinsurance. We need to prove ourselves over time, but our ambition is to create something with true franchise value.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Oak Global Chief Executive Officer Cathal Carr explains why Lloyd\u2019s is central to global reinsurance, and why tech and culture matter as much as capital to build a new reinsurer. For several years, a prevailing narrative in the re\/insurance world was that Lloyd\u2019s of London had lost much of its edge as a reinsurance platform, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":10232,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[19,26],"tags":[34,35,10,39,14],"line-of-business":[24,23,29,20,32],"class_list":["post-10267","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-podcasts","category-latest-insights","tag-exact","tag-exact-max","tag-exposure","tag-reinsurance","tag-underwriting-workbench","line-of-business-cyber","line-of-business-energy","line-of-business-marine","line-of-business-property","line-of-business-trade-credit"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.advantagego.com\/en-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10267","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.advantagego.com\/en-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.advantagego.com\/en-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.advantagego.com\/en-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.advantagego.com\/en-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10267"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.advantagego.com\/en-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10267\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.advantagego.com\/en-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10232"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.advantagego.com\/en-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10267"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.advantagego.com\/en-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10267"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.advantagego.com\/en-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10267"},{"taxonomy":"line-of-business","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.advantagego.com\/en-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/line-of-business?post=10267"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}