I really enjoy talking to people who are full of energy because some of that energy rubs off.
Bob Kimmel CEO of K2 Insurance Services’ return to the podcast with K2 CAT’s Head Underwriter David Carson is a case in point.
Here we find Bob buzzing with the possibilities that significant new investment from Warburg Pincus can afford the firm as it looks to accelerate growth and double in size to a $3bn GWP platform over the next 4 to 5 years.
David’s also full of energy after the decisive rupture in the reinsurance market at 1.1 has produced what he describes as the best market in property cat since 1993.
This is an incredibly candid and fluid discussion.
Bob is very open about the potential squeeze that may be coming for MGA and other intermediaries’ margins as reinsurers and carriers push back hard on commissions and trim underperforming agencies from their portfolios.
But he’s also really happy about having fresh dry powder to make the most of cooling valuations and special situations as interest rates rise and debt-heavy buyers are priced out of out of a hitherto frothy M&A market.
Bob also explains why being a hybrid carrier with a balance sheet was great when K2 was smaller and needed to incubate underwriting talent, but became a distraction to the core business as the group scaled to the $1.5bn of gross premiums it now underwrites on behalf of the market.
This is fascinating under-the-hood stuff and no aspect of the market and K2’s plans is left uncovered.
It’s also delivered at an almost breathless pace and with great rapport between the Bob, David and this interviewer.
If you want to get well ahead of emerging trends in the fast-developing MGA world, this is absolutely essential listening.
NOTES:
Bob speaks first.
The abbreviation LOC snuck in. It means a Letter of Credit.
LINKS
We thank our naming sponsor AdvantageGo:
https://www.advantagego.com/
Ep164 Andrew Horton QBE: An injection of pace
Ep163 Richard Clapham & Luis Muñoz-Rojas of DUAL Group: Get the ham, not just the bone
Ep162 Scott Egan CEO SiriusPoint: Re-establishing credibility in the marketplace
Ep161 Greg Hendrick CEO Vantage Risk: There’s no such thing as The Vantage Way
Special Ep Andrew Bart, CEO International Operations Crawford & Company: The Future of Loss Adjusting
Ep160 Andrew Robinson CEO Skyward Specialty Insurance: Still navigating by the North Star
Special Ep John Neal CEO Lloyd’s: I’d love to be underwriting today
Ep159 James Baird & Paul Richards Co-CEOs Consilium: Do you pass the barbecue test?
Ep158 Trevor Carvey CEO Conduit Re: The Cat tide has lifted all the property ships
Ep157 Killian McDermott Executive Partner POP Holdings: The opposite of the Palo Alto approach
Ep156 Duncan Dale, CEO Dale Underwriting Partners: Everything’s better than we planned for
Ep155 James Hands CEO Miller: Always looking through a client lens
Special Ep. Risto Rossar CEO of Insly: How no-code software will unleash an age of insurance innovation
Ep154 Richard Watson and Stuart Bridges of Inigo: Curiosity & Hard Work
Ep153 Ben Hubbard CEO & Co-Founder of Parsyl: Bringing a good kind of naïveté to insurance
Ep152 Phil Hobbs President & Managing Director at Liberty Specialty Markets: Meeet the $24bn (re)insurer
Ep151 Rob Schimek Group CEO bolttech: Cooperate to graduate
Ep150 London: Creative when we need it to be, with John Sutton and Jonathan Tritton of Acrisure London Wholesale
Ep149 Adrian Cox CEO Beazley: High Risk & High Reward
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
The emPOWERed Half Hour
NABOR® TALKS
U.S Property Podcast
Aligned Money Show
The Ramsey Show
Planet Money