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When organisations bring in temporary leadership or senior support, there is often an unspoken expectation about the role it should play. Keep things steady. Avoid mistakes. Don’t make waves. In other words: hold the fort . There are times when that is exactly what’s needed. During crises, regulatory intervention or sudden disruption, stability takes precedence. Preservation is more important than progress. But many times of change are not crises. They are gaps. Handovers. Gr

The idea that temporary leadership can outperform a permanent hire (even briefly) can sound counterintuitive. Stability, after all, is usually associated with permanence. Continuity. Commitment. But in practice, many organisations experience their most decisive periods of clarity and control before a permanent appointment is made. Not because permanent leaders lack capability. But because timing, context and incentives matter more than job titles. When a senior role becomes

There’s a moment that comes very early on when you step into a portfolio, often within the first few days, where you can feel whether the organisation is genuinely in control or simply comfortable. It’s rarely about the numbers. Loss ratios, premium growth, claims trends and dashboards all matter, of course. But they’re not where I start. In fact, they can be actively misleading in the early stages. Well-presented numbers can mask uncertainty just as easily as poor ones can e

Across the insurance world, the conversation about underwriting innovation is increasingly dominated by automation, algorithms and AI. The promise is seductive: faster quotes, cleaner data and instant decisions. Yet in practice, the future of underwriting won’t be machine-driven; it will be machine-accelerated and human-led. Technology can process, prioritise and predict but only people can interpret, balance, and decide. In the Pacific and other emerging markets, that bala

Every insurer wants to be more efficient. Most start by asking: “How do we quote faster?” or “Where can we automate?” But true efficiency doesn’t begin with process - it begins with perspective. You can’t improve what you can’t see. And too often, underwriters are flying blind to the portfolio patterns sitting just beneath their feet: pockets of adverse selection, brokers driving concentration, regions creeping past tolerance or wordings that no longer match risk appetite.

The insurance industry is in love with the language of innovation. Every conference, every white paper and every panel seems to point to AI, automation, or data science as the saviour of underwriting. But for most mid-sized insurers, MGAs and mutuals, the road to innovation doesn’t begin with a new system; it begins with structure. Innovation is Nothing Without Alignment Underwriting innovation isn’t about building a new workflow. It’s about rebuilding alignment . When appeti

In today's insurance environment, growth alone isn't enough - sustainable, profitable growth is the absolute benchmark. Yet many insurers and MGAs only realise too late that their portfolio profitability has started to erode. At Storm Strategy, we work with insurers across the Pacific, Australia, and Southeast Asia to optimise portfolios - and time and again, we see the same early warning signs that indicate a portfolio needs urgent attention. Here are five critical signals t

The best-performing portfolios aren’t always the most aggressive - they’re the most consistent. When people hear 'governance' they think...

Underwriting is not just a technical discipline; it’s a strategic one. In the race to grow premium and meet top-line targets, it's easy...