Ep311 Richard Brindle Group CEO TFP & Clive Washbourn CEO Navium: Being Brave

Today’s Episode is one of those interviews that give you a warm feeling of anticipation when you get it in the diary, then when you’re researching and preparing the questions, you’re really looking forward to it, and finally the recording itself session happens and it goes even better than you hoped. Now a couple of weeks later I have just listened back and I’m still smiling because this is something quite special and very different from the everyday. Richard Brindle and Clive Washbourn are two of the most celebrated underwriters of their generation and have each been on the podcast more than once in their own right. For the last five years Richard and Clive have been underwriting under the same group organisational roof in The Fidelis Partnership and Navium respectively. Richard even cited Clive’s new-found joie de vivre at Navium as the inspiration for the bifurcation of Fidelis into the Fidelis Partnership and Pelagos. This podcast is only briefly about the grand issues of the day. My interviewees very quickly deal with these and then we start examining much more timeless and valuable questions. The core of this meeting is really a long discussion about what makes a good underwriter and then what makes a good underwriter a great one. We examine all of this in the context of the AI revolution and how to apply it to the business of outperforming in insurance underwriting. This is a masterclass that will teach you an awful lot. Along the way you’ll also spend quality time with two of the market’s strongest and most charismatic personalities. The result is an instant classic that provides a valuable listen for any insurance professional at any stage in their career.

NOTES: At time of recording Fidelis Insurance Group had only just rebranded to Pelagos Insurance Capital, so if there is the odd slip of the tongue, be clear that we should have referred to Pelagos, and will definitely be doing so from now onwards.

Richard mentions the Sharpe Ratio, which is an investment metric used to measure the relative volatility of the returns of a company. Events in Iran, the Gulf States and the Straits of Hormuz are incredibly volatile and have already changed fundamentally, even in the short time between recording this interview and its release date. Please keep yourself best informed by using up-to-the-minute news and intelligence sources. Finally Richard mentions that there are two charities. The Fidelis Foundation is The Fidelis Partnership’s charity, and Richard’s personal charity is called The Muriel Jones Foundation. LINKS: We thank our naming sponsor AdvantageGo, now part of Sapiens: https://www.advantagego.com