[Greatest Hits] The Speed Advantage: How AI and Customer Obsession Are Reshaping Specialty Insurance | Christian Stobbs
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
There is a documentary that you can find about Lloyds of London filmed in 1961. And it's easy for me to be critical as a Brit on this thing, but you know, it was we had this series of documentaries back then filmed by I think a company called Pathay. And it was a sort of chest-thumping British Empire documentary about how great this wonderful institution, Lloyds of London, is. And you watch this on YouTube. And the traumatizing thing for me is how much of that process they go through when they talk about the broker wandering to the underwriter at the box and they talk about last night's football and then they sort of look at the risk and they sort of write a few things down and they stamp it and then they go off a glass of sherry at the captain's table.
The traumatizing aspect of how much of that I see today
Hello, my name is Juan DiCastro and you're listening to Making Risk Flow. Every episode I sit down with my industry-leading guests to demystify digital risk flows, share practical knowledge, and help you use them to unlock scalability in commercial insurance. Welcome to another episode of Making Risk Flow. Today I'm thrilled to be joined by Christian Stopps, who's the Chief Strategy and Corporate Development Officer at Markel. And I think it's going to be a fantastic conversation. So Chris, first of all, thank you so much for joining me today.
Juan, great to be here. Thanks so much for having me on your podcast.
This is very exciting. So let's start perhaps for those that do not know you. If you can give us a brief overview of your current role, how did you get to your current role? That would be helpful.
Well, I've oversee strategy and corporate development for Markel, a role I've been in for just over six months. I've actually been with Mark L for eleven years. I started with them fresh out of management consultancy in London, and I came into insurance in beginning of twenty fifteen at a time where I was genuinely quite excited about the change that might take place in insurance. I'd observed it from the outside as a consultant. And seen elements of its processes and value chain that I thought might have a bit of change over time. And I probably could say I've been disappointed for 10 years, actually, in the sort of small amount of change that's happened in the industry, but rather excited about what's going on now.
But just going back to that 2015 moment, I did strategy for a couple of years for our international division based in London. I then went off to run a tax business we had recently bought. Working in a very glamorous place called Rugby, which is uh birthplace of the sport, but also birthplace of a fantastic business we'd bought just before I joined Markel. I did that for a couple of years, all the fun of working in the Midlands. And then they said, How's about going to Singapore? And I thought rugby, Singapore is a difficult choice to make, as you can imagine, and went out to Singapore Bini of 2019 and really led the build out of our business there, a hugely enjoyable time working across the Asia Pacific region.
And then the middle of last year, they said to me, we're doing a bit of change over in the US. Might you ever able to come out and come and help us out here? So right now, really sort of overlooking what we're doing strategically as a business, not just in the US but across the globe. And then from a MA perspective, what are the opportunities we might inorganically go after? So really enjoying it so far. are new to a very exciting and dynamic economy out here and currently based in New York and you can sort of see the not very glamorous tall buildings we have here in midtown Manhattan behind us.
That's really interesting. You were talking about how slow things were perceived at least ten, twelve years ago. And probably I think you're gonna have the opposite feeling now, which is like almost that there's too much change or things are moving so fast. It's more about where do you focus? And I'm sure we will talk about that in a few minutes. But I think one of the aspects of your background, which I think is fascinating, is that move to Asia.
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Chapters
4 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:05–3:56
2
How did Christian Stobbs’ career path lead him to the Chief Strategy role at Markel?
3:56–11:55
3
Why did Markel decide to expand into Asia and what challenges did they face there?
11:55–18:33
4
How does localizing management and product impact specialty insurance in Asian markets?
18:33–39:50
Speakers
2 identifiedMore from Making Risk Flow | The Future of Insurance
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