Podcast
The Reinsurance Podcast
Hosted by The Reinsurance Podcast · EN
Navigating the world of reinsurance can feel complex, but it doesn’t have to be dull. Join Jerad Leigh and Ben Rose—co-founders of Supercede and genuine reinsurance nerds enthusiasts—as they unravel the nuances of market dynamics. With industry expertise, they dive into the trends, challenges, and stories shaping the reinsurance landscape. Whether you're a seasoned professional or just looking for a little more knowledge to ensure the glazing over of eyes at parties, tune in for an engaging journey through the world of reinsurance!
12episodes
Episodes
Newest firstAll episodes
Maurits Van Joolingen: The Insurability Crisis No One Is Pricing In | TRP #175
4d ago00:21:56Tap to summarizeEveryone in reinsurance obsesses over the claims side of the balance sheet: what happens when things go wrong. Maurits Van Joolingen, Managing Director of Climate Scenarios & Sustainability at Ortec Finance, spends his time on the assets insurers actually hold, and whether the models pricing that risk are dangerously optimistic. WHAT YOU'LL LEARN:Why the industry-standard NGFS climate scenarios might be underestimating the real riskHow nonlinear warming assumptions change the math on portfolio exposureWhat a 25%-uninsurable-housing scenario means for insurers' long-term business modelsWhy divesting from high-emission sectors might be the wrong move for asset ownersHow leading insurers are moving from "raising awareness" to actually changing capital allocationEPISODE LINKS:Maurits's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mauritsvanjoolingen/Ortec Finance: https://www.ortecfinance.com/CONNECT WITH US:Say Hello: producer@thereinsurancepodcast.comWebsite: https://www.supercede.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/supercedehq X: https://twitter.com/SupercedeHQ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@SupercedeHQ RSS Feed: https://anchor.fm/s/7e741c8c/podcast/rss OUTLINE & TIMESTAMPS:00:00 - Intro03:44 - The Two Ways Insurers Model Climate Risk06:10 - Why Ortec Bets on Nonlinear Climate Risk08:00 - From Awareness to Decisions: Where Scenarios Fell Short08:57 - Why 25% of Housing Could Become Uninsurable by 205010:47 - Why You Can't Just Pull Out of a High-Risk Region11:45 - Should Governments Backstop Climate Risk for Insurers?13:15 - What Should Risk Officers Be Doing Right Now?15:37 - Are Clients Waking Up to the NGFS's Blind Spots?16:51 - Regulators, Governance, and the Case for Scenario Planning18:08 - What's Next: Blending Top-Down and Bottom-Up Models20:44 - Closing Thoughts
Transcribe →James Rendell: Why Your Cat Model Is Blind to Secondary Perils | TRP #175
4w ago00:26:08Tap to summarizeBetter cat modelling isn't just about avoiding bad risk, it's about finding and writing the good risk your competitors are mispricing. James Rendell, CEO of BirdsEyeView, saw that gap and convinced the European Space Agency to back him, and built something that the big vendors hadn't properly tackled. WHAT YOU'LL LEARN:- Why secondary perils like wildfire and severe convective storms are fundamentally harder to model than hurricanes — and how to tackle that properly- How year-old fuel data makes most wildfire models quietly unreliable, and what it means for your next renewal- Why a higher-resolution cat model is a revenue tool, not just a risk-avoidance one — and how soft market conditions make this more urgent- The meaningful difference between physics-based machine learning models and LLMs when you need to explain your risk view to an actuary- How an ESA-backed startup went from contingency market niche to a cat modelling platform used across Lloyd's syndicates, Australian cover holders, US MGAs and beyondTIMESTAMPS:00:00 James Rendell: from broker to insurtech founder01:54 BirdsEyeView and the ESA05:34 The cat modelling landscape07:00 The contingency market gap09:30 Why secondary perils are harder to model12:35 Wildfire, SCS, and building better models14:10 Physics, machine learning, and satellite data16:06 The fuel data problem18:00 AI and the future of cat modelling21:50 Soft market advantage: write more premium
Transcribe →2030 Reinsurance Predictions We Might Regret | TRP #174
Jul 700:29:24Tap to summarizeJerad and Ben skip the small talk and jump straight to 2030, asking the one question worth asking about AI and reinsurance: what actually changes, and what's just getting a shinier coat of paint. They cover cat models, capital allocation, contract structuring, dying market standards, and an industry expense ratio that's somehow gone up instead of down. No guest this week — just two hosts making predictions they might regret.WHAT YOU'LL LEARN:Why AI-driven cat modeling might be the one part of reinsurance that actually gets faster and better, not just differentWhy the relationship-driven, napkin-deal side of the business probably won't look any different in 2030Why the market's expense ratio has crept up instead of down despite a decade of technology investment, and what that says about how the industry should be valuing tech spend in the first placeWhy rigid market standards and clause libraries might not survive contact with natural language processingWhy nobody's handing a nine-figure placement to an autonomous agent any time soon, and where automation actually helps insteadCONNECT WITH US:Say Hello: producer@thereinsurancepodcast.comWebsite: https://www.supercede.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/supercedehq X: https://twitter.com/SupercedeHQ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@SupercedeHQ RSS Feed: https://anchor.fm/s/7e741c8c/podcast/rss OUTLINE & TIMESTAMPS:00:00 Intro01:09 Has reinsurance actually changed by 203002:11 Cat models get the biggest AI upgrade in the industry04:44 How AI reshapes reinsurer portfolio and capital strategy05:46 Why brokers couldn't care less whose paper it is07:21 Alternative capital's coopetition with reinsurers08:06 Testing five contract structures before lunch10:48 The expense ratio problem nobody in reinsurance can explain12:25 What Silicon Valley's AI spend says about return on investment14:50 Is AI reinsurance's Concorde, or its Metaverse18:23 Why natural language could kill reinsurance market standards21:53 Would you hand a $50m placement to an autonomous agent25:07 The most impactful reinsurance app was never built for reinsurance26:53 Monte Carlo, quants, and the last of the 2030 predictions
Transcribe →Why Brokers Lose Clients (and How to Fix It) | TRP #173
Jun 3000:24:47Tap to summarizeReinsurance brokers are famous for remembering the small things — the underwriter's dog, the client's restaurant preference at Monte Carlo, whose birthday party they attended last spring. Less famous for: knowing why that market got signed down two renewals ago, or finding the email that explains a call a colleague is now questioning. This episode is about that gap, and why it costs more than the industry admits.WHAT YOU'LL LEARN:Why annual reinsurance cycles mean brokers are always working from memories 12+ months old — and how that memory decays faster than anyone acknowledgesWhat most firms actually track (signings, authorisations, quotes) — and why the gaps between those tiers quietly kill your leverage at renewalHow staff movement strips firms of institutional knowledge, and what that means when a competitor tries to poach your client mid-RFPWhy charming a counterparty and remembering their portfolio history aren't interchangeable — and why one without the other falls apartWhat CEO-to-CEO meetings could look like if the full relationship picture were actually accessible, not just a deal snapshotTIMESTAMPS:00:00 Intro01:34 Is closing the deal the end of the story?02:13 How value leaks during & after placement05:00 The email archive problem08:00 What firms actually track 09:15 When human memory becomes institutional memory12:00 Staff turnover and the knowledge exodus14:20 Why brokers keep losing RFPs 16:00 Horror stories from the archives17:15 Prepping meetings with half the picture20:30 The case for technical recallCONNECT WITH US:Say Hello: producer@thereinsurancepodcast.comWebsite: https://www.supercede.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/supercedehq X: https://twitter.com/SupercedeHQ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@SupercedeHQ RSS Feed: https://anchor.fm/s/7e741c8c/podcast/rss OUTLINE & TIMESTAMPS:
Transcribe →How to Win a Soft Market Without Burning Bridges | TRP #172
Jun 1000:24:45Tap to summarizeIn a softening reinsurance market, it’s tempting to chase the cheapest capacity, squeeze every last point out of pricing, and call it a win. But that’s how you burn bridges. In this episode, Ben and Jerad unpack how cedents and brokers should approach renewal season when capital is abundant, pricing pressure is building, and everyone suddenly has options again.CONNECT WITH US:Say Hello: producer@thereinsurancepodcast.comWebsite: https://www.supercede.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/supercedehq X: https://twitter.com/SupercedeHQ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@SupercedeHQ RSS Feed: https://anchor.fm/s/7e741c8c/podcast/rss OUTLINE & TIMESTAMPS:00:00 Intro01:06 Soft Market Strategies02:17 New Narratives & Softening Conditions03:49 Cedents: Opportunity or Trap?06:24 How Poor Data Damages Relationships08:27 The Broker’s Role in a Soft Market09:11 Price Cuts vs Long-Term Partnerships11:31 Why Hammering Existing Partners Can Backfire15:20 A Benign Cat Year… But What Comes Next?19:14 Spotting Gaps Across Programmes20:23 Using the Soft Market to Rethink Structures21:23 Broker Nimbleness & Proactive Ideas24:09 Closing Thoughts
Transcribe →How Challenger Brokers Are Winning Clients in a Soft Market | TRP #171
Jun 200:18:45Tap to summarizeReinsurance brokers invest heavily in analytics, cat models, and back-office systems. Almost none of it faces the client. In a softening market where cheaper reinsurance is table stakes, Ben Rose and Tom Spier break down why the broker-client relationship is the one that actually needs the technology — and why most firms have completely overlooked it.WHAT YOU'LL LEARN:Why getting clients a cheaper deal is no longer enough to keep their business in a soft marketHow challenger brokers backed by private equity are forcing the big three to rethink their value propositionThe structural reason brokers can't build client-facing tools in-house (and why clients don't want them to)Why the broker who meets the client where they already work will win over the one with the flashiest portalWhat cedents should be looking for when choosing between ten credible brokers instead of threeCONNECT WITH US:Say Hello: producer@thereinsurancepodcast.comWebsite: https://www.supercede.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/supercedehq X: https://twitter.com/SupercedeHQ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@SupercedeHQ RSS Feed: https://anchor.fm/s/7e741c8c/podcast/rss OUTLINE & TIMESTAMPS:00:00 Intro01:57 How Supercede Started04:06 The Real Friction Isn't Between Broker and Underwriter05:54 The Broker Landscape: From Big Three to Top Fifteen08:13 Hard Market vs Soft Market: How Broker Value Shifts09:19 Cheap Reinsurance Is Table Stakes — Now What?10:31 What Brokers Actually Spend Their Tech Budgets On12:34 The Gap: Nothing Between Broker and Client13:56 Why In-House Portals Don't Work for Clients14:48 Analytics & the PDF Report Problem16:08 Meeting Clients Where They Are17:48 Minimising Change Management by Using Existing Workflows
Transcribe →Your Reinsurance Tech Isn't Making You Money | TRP #170
May 2000:32:36Tap to summarizeSince cat modelling landed in the early '90s, nothing in reinsurance tech has stuck with the same force. Blockchain, digital exchanges, Blueprint 2 — the graveyard is long. Ben Rose and Tom Spier trace the history of failed innovation and land on a question the industry still hasn't answered well: if efficiency doesn't move the needle and speed doesn't matter, what does technology in reinsurance actually need to do?WHAT YOU'LL LEARN:Why the efficiency argument falls flat in reinsurance — and what to pitch insteadHow blockchain's transparency killed its own value proposition in a market built on information asymmetryThe chicken-and-egg problem that buried most market-wide adoption playsWhy single-player value — tech that works even if nobody else uses it — is the pattern that survivesWhat AI actually changes for reinsurance software and where vibe-coded solutions will fall shortTIMESTAMPS:(00:00) Intro(01:57) Cat Modelling: The Last Innovation That Stuck(04:58) The Graveyard — Why Digital Reinsurance Keeps Failing(06:50) Reinsurance Is Not a Commodities Market(09:00) Digitisation vs. Digitalisation — What Actually Adds Value(10:49) The Efficiency Trap — Why It Doesn't Move the Needle(14:47) Speed, Timing and Precision — The Real Nuance(15:17) Blockchain's Transparency Problem(17:02) Information Asymmetry and Why It Matters(17:56) The Chicken-and-Egg Adoption Problem(19:54) AI's Promise — And the Vibe Coding Trap(22:37) Niche Software, Common Standards and Interoperability(26:27) Why the Placement Process Hasn't Changed(27:20) Trust, Relationships and £100M Decisions(31:39) Will Robots Be at Monte Carlo This Year?CONNECT WITH US:Say Hello: producer@thereinsurancepodcast.comWebsite: https://www.supercede.comLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/supercedehqX: https://twitter.com/SupercedeHQYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@SupercedeHQRSS Feed: https://anchor.fm/s/7e741c8c/podcast/rss
Transcribe →Why Cedents Still Buy Reinsurance Blind | TRP #169
May 1200:31:48Tap to summarizeThe reinsurance market spent 2025 promising to invest in technology. In 2026, something actually happened — and it wasn't what anyone expected. In this episode, Ben and Tom Spier unpack why the market suddenly stopped fearing tech, what "placement intelligence" actually means for cedants, and why the biggest shift wasn't new software but a change in how people talk about it.WHAT YOU'LL LEARN:Why Q1 2026 became the best quarter insurtech vendors had ever seen — after years of stalled budgetsHow cedants went from flying blind during renewals to getting a broker's-eye view of their own dealsWhat killed the appetite for "big bang" transformation projects — and what replaced themWhy the word "platform" became a liability and how reframing as "intelligence" changed buyer behaviourHow integrations with accounting, capital modelling, and settlement systems made adoption feel invisibleEPISODE LINKS:Placement Intelligence for Cedants: https://supercede.com/placement-intelligence/CONNECT WITH US:Say Hello: producer@thereinsurancepodcast.comWebsite: https://www.supercede.comLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/supercedehqX: https://twitter.com/SupercedeHQYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@SupercedeHQRSS Feed: https://anchor.fm/s/7e741c8c/podcast/rssTIMESTAMPS:00:00 Intro00:38 Ben and Tom set the scene01:28 Two propositions getting traction in the market02:04 The positioning shift: same tech, different story02:52 2025's tech budgets vs 2026's reality04:36 The sentiment shift: from big-bang projects to quick wins06:23 Getting back to basics after the AI honeymoon06:46 Starting with the cedant side of the chain07:31 Why Supercede started as a placing platform08:22 The educated buyer: why cedants drive reinsurance deals09:16 What cedants had before — spreadsheets and waiting10:14 Information asymmetry and the system rigged against buyers11:55 Why there was no technology serving cedants13:00 From placing platform to cedant-first product14:34 Starting with firm orders and audit compliance16:17 How compliance risk drives behavioural change17:13 The post-Blueprint 2 shift away from "platform" language18:06 Minimal operational change, maximum positioning shift20:06 The product evolution: APIs, integrations, and real use cases21:39 Partner analysis dashboards and capital modelling25:06 Quote-to-signed-line: intelligence brokers weren't tracking25:40 Placement intelligence — what's behind the name27:01 Placement intelligence vs placement automation28:00 Where broker value actually lives in the process29:42 Step-by-step data transformations as proof of value30:56 Why brokerage fees aren't extortionate (when you can see the work)31:15 Outro and what's next
Transcribe →Reinsurance News | April 2026
Apr 3000:20:54Tap to summarizeBen & Jerad run through what’s happened within the world of reinsurance during the past month.CONNECT WITH US:Say Hello: producer@thereinsurancepodcast.comWebsite: https://www.supercede.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/supercedehq X: https://twitter.com/SupercedeHQ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@SupercedeHQ RSS Feed: https://anchor.fm/s/7e741c8c/podcast/rss OUTLINE & TIMESTAMPS:00:00 Intro01:19 1/4 Renewals & Softening Rates02:34 Record Reinsurance Capital03:43 Cedent Performance & Data Quality04:56 Lloyd’s Syndicate Results06:00 Performance Variation Across Lloyd’s07:22 Reinsurance Strategy Across Syndicates08:32 Q1 Cat Losses & Secondary Perils09:29 Non-Hurricane Losses to Watch11:03 Atlantic Hurricane Forecast11:35 What Could Move Pricing?12:34 Aggregate Covers & Selective Capacity12:49 Q1 Cat Bond Activity13:20 Third-Party Capital & Investor Appetite14:42 Cat Bonds as a Competitive Pressure16:14 Softening Isn’t Universal17:05 Marine, War, Energy & Political Violence18:36 Specialist Risk as Revenue Opportunity19:26 Pricing Risk Through the Cycle19:47 April Wrap-Up
Transcribe →How Brokers Prove Work with a Client Workspace | TRP #168
Apr 2800:22:40Tap to summarizeIn this episode, Ben and Jerad put reinsurance brokers centre stage and tackle one of the market’s most awkward questions: how do brokers actually prove the value of the work they do?EPISODE LINKS:Client Workspace for Reinsurance BrokersCONNECT WITH US:Say Hello: producer@thereinsurancepodcast.comWebsite: https://www.supercede.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/supercedehq X: https://twitter.com/SupercedeHQ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@SupercedeHQ RSS Feed: https://anchor.fm/s/7e741c8c/podcast/rss OUTLINE & TIMESTAMPS:00:00 Intro01:28 Why Broker Value Is Hard to See02:50 Outcomes vs Evidencing the Work04:28 Why Technology Matters for Brokers05:13 Making Broker Work Visible06:01 The Risk of Black-Box AI07:12 Explaining the “How” and “Why”08:02 When Broker Data Creates Confusion09:34 Introducing Client Workspace10:22 Turning Data into a Living Workbench12:20 Helping Clients Make Better Decisions13:53 Evidence Over “Trust Us”14:49 Showing the Receipts15:33 The Map Analogy: Advice You Can Follow16:48 Remembering Why Decisions Were Made18:14 Tracking Market Conditions and Assumptions19:46 The Broker’s Spreadsheet Nightmare20:19 Cold Sweats During Renewal Season21:29 Building a Shared Space for Brokers and Cedents22:04 Final Thoughts on Client Workspace
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