How to make best practice underwriting decisions

While many underwriters and actuaries are expected to have a crystal ball to help them review new and existing business, we share our advice on critical items to consider.

Unfortunately, no such crystal ball exists, but there are a few simple processes we can all follow to make best practice underwriting decisions.

1. A customer-centric approach

It’s important to recognize that underwriting requires a comprehensive set of capabilities across both hard and soft skills. It’s integral your team brings quality judgements about future industry performance, an in-depth understanding of business development activities, the agility to handle rigorous portfolio management, and a customer-centric attitude. This approach will ensure your underwriting team is not taken by surprise, and is why we work so closely with our carrier clients through our Waypoint system, to ensure they’re across any changes to the reserve on an open claim, claim complexity, and portfolio performance.

2. Incorporating new technology

The benefits of modern technology in underwriting are too good to ignore. While the previously manual load has worked for years, integrating data analysis and workflow automation can enhance your company’s ability to flex and adapt to the market. We created the Luminos Interactive Dashboard to solve this problem for carriers and allow underwriters to have complete oversight of the performance of claims portfolios. We’ve incorporated data points on litigation, closure rates, duration stratification, and many other customisable features, to allow underwriters and carriers to see exactly what’s happening in their business.

3. Remaining risk-averse

Though many of us know underwriting as our bread and butter, underwriting in insurance remains essential to performance excellence so it’s important to keep committed to refining the practice. As we continue to face changing economies, varying levels of financial sustainability across our populations, and of course, a vulnerable health outlook, today’s carriers will need to bring agility to the table like never before, to ensure they meet the industry and customer needs of tomorrow. To support this, we’ve created the SMART (Severity Mix Adjusted Rating Technique) Benchmarking Tool, which takes into account numerous claim characteristics to understand performance and deliver benchmarking insights. The score this program produces ensures the right file is with the right level of personnel, with a full understanding of the complex risk environment the file is operating in.

To learn more about how GB can help your business improve its underwriting outcomes, connect with our experts today.