During a keynote at Zywave’s 2024 “Cyber ​​Risk Insights” conference, Vicki Carter (pictured left), Head of International Global Capital Solutions at reinsurance brokerage giant Guy Carpenter, was joined by Rachel Turk (pictured right), Office Lloyd’s of London’s lead underwriter to discuss the key challenges facing the reinsurance market – including attracting and retaining talent.

What is clear is that the industry is not good enough at promoting its amazing diversity and the role it plays in creating the world as we know it, Carter said. It is only when you join this sector that you begin to understand this, and it is the responsibility of those in the industry to share this message with the next generation of talent.

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How has the reinsurance sector developed?

“When I got into this industry, it was very different than it is now,” she said. “(…) And after seeing how it had developed, I wanted to create a platform that could bring young people together to give them insight into the diversity of this industry. So, I created a two-day forum featuring global speakers on all the important topics facing the industry. Suddenly it turned into a very big event.” It is now attended by 1,000 people.

With the next edition of the event taking place in June, it is an insurance event like no other, and it is exciting to see the reinsurance market coming together in this way, she said. From politicians to astronauts to leading voices on crucial topics including GenAI, cyber and geopolitical risks, the event seeks to introduce the younger generation to the opportunities offered by a career in industry and to the fact that it truly offers something for everyone.

“Despite all the technology entering the industry and the massive amounts of data we see as we move to more digital systems, we cannot forget how important the face-to-face (aspect) is when building relationships.” She said. “It’s great to see Lloyd’s making a comeback again… It’s a far cry from what it was a year ago… It’s coming back and you can see that our young talent wants to come back and they want to be there to build those face-to-face relationships. “

Finding the right balance between work and life

For Turk, finding the right balance between remote and in-person work remains crucial to ensuring that the reinsurance/insurance market does not lose the benefits that hybrid working has brought to the sector and its workers. Assessing what is happening at Lloyd’s, she noted that she is seeing more people returning to the trading floor than ever before.

“When I was a guarantor, I benefited greatly from face-to-face trading and establishing relationships with brokers,” she said. “I’ve been (recently) with some of the brokers I’ve worked with over the past 10 years, and I haven’t seen some of them for four or five years, since I stopped underwriting. It was great to reconnect and reminisce about old times while sitting in the box, as you learned a lot about Each other’s lives That’s a wonderful thing that the London market has that we don’t necessarily want to give up.

“The flip side, of course, is that when we talk about attracting and retaining talent, there are huge benefits to being able to work more flexibly. So, it’s very difficult to chart a course at the moment – ​​how do you encourage people to come back? How do you create an environment that people want to come back to? “Coming to it? I think that’s the key. You need people who want to come to London and I’m not a huge proponent of forcing this issue.”

The reality of most people’s lives is that they need some flexibility, she said, and the reinsurance market must keep that in mind if it wants to attract — and more importantly, retain — the best talent.

“Lifestyle balance is definitely very important for the younger generation,” Carter agreed. “When we interview people, one of the things they interview us about is: What’s your policy on working from home? I’m a big believer in working hard and playing harder. I think it’s really important that we allow young people (flexibility).”

Rethink how re/insurance thinks about business

She said the reinsurance market needs to rethink the way it thinks about business. Traditionally, there has been a mindset that it is important for people to come into the office five days a week. But the Corona virus has already proven that it is possible to work very effectively from home.

“If you had told the industry a month before the first lockdown that the whole world was going to go into lockdown, it would have been ridiculous and people would have said it would never work,” she said. “But guess what? Overnight, we went virtual. It worked really well, we did mergers and acquisitions, we raised capital, we put disaster programs in place and so on. Everyone did their job and it all worked out.”

When under extreme pressure, people prove that they can change and adapt, and the same is true for the sector. In Carter’s view, the industry needs to get much better at listening to the younger generation and listening to their ideas. They have a lot of information at their fingertips today, and they use that to develop great ideas, she said.

“I’m a big proponent of bringing young people into and through (the industry) and letting them have their say,” she said. “Because it opens up new ideas and brings new tools and new skill sets – which is what innovation is about… Diversity and inclusion for me is not about males and females, it is about bringing in really good ideas and different skill sets. This is very important to ensure that the industry continues to evolve and innovation, which will help us create greater resilience in our communities.

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