Underwriting opportunities

What is underwriting?

As an insurer, we cover risks for people and businesses. For personal customers this could be the risk of their car being damaged in an accident, for corporate customers it could be the risk of their business being interrupted by a fire on their premises.

Underwriting is the part of our business that decides which risks we should insure and how much we should charge to insure them, so that our business runs profitably.

Some risks are bigger than others – both in terms of the chances of a claim and the potential costs involved if a claim happens. When a customer asks us to insure them, our underwriters will assess all the risks involved. Once they’ve done this, they will decide whether to cover the risks and on what terms, including the insurance premium.

What do we do?

In Underwriting, we strive to out perform the market through superior risk selection and pricing - even in tough market conditions. As technical experts, this does not mean writing every risk shown, but rather selecting the well managed quality risks. At all times, we aim to be seen as trusted providers of financial protection that mutually benefit our customers, our brokers and our own business.

What roles are in underwriting?

The General Business Underwriting community has over 800 people providing underwriting expertise across 15 locations within the UK. The roles and experiences within our underwriting community are varied, with people:

• providing key support to the underwriting function, in roles varying from deal architecture to portfolio administration;
• working as technical underwriters across a variety of customer segments, focusing on risk selection and technical pricing; as technical expertise and experience grows, so do the opportunities to work with more complex and varied risks; and
• providing underwriting leadership in a variety of management roles.

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How are we structured?

Underwriting teams are structured in Business Areas as follows:

• Zurich Global Corporate UK – Motor, Commercial Property, Casualty and Professional Indemnity are the major lines of business that we underwrite, along with a number of speciality lines. Customers are global corporate entities with whom we like to build a profitable risk sharing relationship with the support of our Broker networks. Underwriters in Zurich Global Corporate UK develop specialist expertise in a given line of business.
• Zurich Commercial – Motor, Commercial Property and Casualty underwriting are also the major lines of business for ZC. Customers range from small to medium businesses, through to large, complex businesses that are domiciled in the UK. By working with chosen brokers, they provide superior levels of service. Underwriters in ZC typically develop specialist expertise in one or more lines of business, and work within teams aligned to specific customer segments.
• Zurich Municipal – Motor, Commercial Property and Casualty underwriting are our major lines of business. Customer groups range from local parishes, charities of varying sizes, through to schools and local authorities. Underwriters in ZM typically work across multi-lines of business, and work directly with the customer groups.

• UK Personal Lines – Home and Motor underwriting is central to what we offer. We also provide specialised underwriting in areas such as yachting and high net worth. Customers are either direct or via an intermediary, including partnerships.

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How do we work?

In Zurich Commercial (ZC), Zurich Global Corporate UK (ZGCU) and Zurich Municipal (ZM), we have ‘returned to basics’ with CUE, Creating Underwriting Excellence. In the simplest terms CUE is an underwriting journey, where we are finding many ways to underwrite more effectively by harnessing the talent within ZC, ZGCU and ZM. This means being smarter at underwriting by sharing knowledge and best practice. By capitalising on teamwork, sharing ideas and copying knowledge, CUE is boosting the underwriting bottom line for the benefit of all of us.

In the Personal Lines, we strive to provide market-leading excellence in all underwriting disciplines, within a highly competitive market. Across our Consumer Services Business, we have underwriters providing technical expertise and support to our customer service consultant teams. Our underwriters lead the development of profitable accounts with Regional and National Brokers.

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Who are our business partners?

Underwriting is a collaborative way of working; to support our work, we liaise closely with our business partners in our respective Claims, Actuarial and Sales teams in each division.

General Business Underwriting is part of a Shared Service. In GB Underwriting, we have people providing support and expertise across our Underwriting business on Technical issues and underwriting best practice, legislation, Compliance, actuarial, management information and auditing.

What makes a good underwriter?

As well as developing technical excellence, a good underwriter is results focused, customer centric and has the ability to trade and negotiate within a fast moving, constantly changing market place.. They have an enquiring mind, an ability to probe, analyse and provide a sound rationale for actions taken. With a hunger to learn and to challenge the status quo, a good underwriter is also a team player who enjoys working collaboratively with others.

Insurance markets follow a cyclical pattern and although market conditions have markedly improved, we continue to focus on delivering a positive underwriting result for our shareholders. A good underwriter values and drives a strong monitoring and performance culture, learning from others, regardless of business area or background. By working in this way, our shareholders can enjoy the rewards that they expect from a winning underwriting operation able to ride the insurance market cycle.

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What's available to support my technical underwriting and development?

Developing the technical knowledge, experience and talent within our Underwriting community is a key success criterion for the Underwriting Leadership. To support this, we have a GBU Learning and Development function, within which sits a Technical Underwriting L&D Team. This team works in partnership with our underwriting community, providing training solutions to support us to achieve our individual and business objectives. In pursuit of technical excellence, we also encourage our underwriters to pursue professional qualifications with the Chartered Insurance Institute.

Summary

As you can see, we have a wide range of roles within General Business Underwriting. The table below provides a list of many of the roles, with the majority of our team providing expertise as technical underwriters. Depending on the business area, our underwriters may develop breadth of knowledge and skill working across multi-lines of business, or specialise by lines of business, customer groups and/or technical expertise.

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