Ep 16 Inside the first syndicate in a box with Stuart Newcombe, active underwriter

One of the most eye-catching parts of the Lloyd’s of London
Blueprint reforms has been the Syndicate in a box initiative.


The idea of a fast-track, light-touch, low-cost, fast-fail
Syndicate has gone down very well with the market.


This is because over the past two decades many players have
bemoaned the steadily increasing cost of starting a new Lloyd’s
business and have wondered where the next generation of new
Hiscoxes, Kilns, Catlins and Beazleys might come from given that
barriers to entry are now prohibitively high.


The received wisdom over that time has been that MGAs had become
to the go-to place for entrepreneurial underwriters to 
prove their mettle.


But while the Syndicate in a box initiative was well received as
an idea, the only trouble was that many in the market were a
little confused about what the new structures can and cannot do
in practice.


And that is why I tracked down this episode’s guest.


As the active underwriter of the first and currently only
Syndicate in a box, Stuart Newcombe of Munich Re innovation
Syndicate 1840 is uniquely positioned to enlighten us all on this
exciting new departure for the Lloyd’s community.


Stuart is an engaging and personable character with over thirty
years experience in the market.


I really enjoyed chatting with him and exploding some of the
myths around the new structures.


But what I liked more was hearing all about what the syndicate is
up to.


This includes guarantee products for solar panels and energy
saving schemes, ideas to insure the gig economy and autonomous
vehicles, as well as lots of interesting angles on the use of
parametric insurance to fill in the gaps left by traditional
indemnity cover.


I think you’ll enjoy it too...