Underwriting with Intent - Aligning underwriting with business strategy

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 to focus on pricing adequacy, loss ratios and broker relationships in isolation.

But unless those decisions are grounded in a clear, enterprise-wide understanding of why the portfolio exists and what the business is trying to achieve, even the most sophisticated pricing model won’t save you from drift.

Here’s the challenge:

Too many insurers still operate with disconnected pieces; pricing teams refining models, underwriting teams applying 'gut feel' rules and executives chasing growth metrics.

What’s often missing is a shared understanding of risk appetite and how it connects to strategic objectives.

Underwriting becomes reactive if that alignment isn’t in place and opportunities get lost.

How do you align underwriting with business strategy?

Here are five steps that can make the difference:

1. Translate Strategy into Underwriting Terms

If your strategy is to grow SME market share in regional hubs, what does that mean in underwriting language?

Which occupations are in? What property types? What CAT zones?

The best underwriting teams convert strategy into specific, tradeable risk segments.

2. Move from Pricing Models to Portfolio Intentions

A good pricing model tells you what to charge.

A good underwriting strategy tells you what you want to write.

Appetite should lead pricing, not the other way around.

3. Build Feedback Loops Between the Floor and the Boardroom

Underwriters on the ground know what’s shifting in the market.

Use that intel to inform strategic pivots.

Equally, make sure strategic shifts are clearly communicated downstream so frontline decisions support longer-term positioning.

4. Clarify Non-Negotiables

What risks will you never write, no matter the premium?

Clarity here gives your teams confidence to say no and avoids an accumulation of 'exceptions' that quietly destabilise the portfolio.

5. Empower with Guardrails, Not Just Guidelines

A risk appetite framework shouldn’t just be a spreadsheet.

It should give underwriters the tools, context and confidence to make decisions that align with strategy; even when the data is incomplete or the risk sits in a grey zone.

In short, when pricing, underwriting and strategy operate in lockstep, you create a portfolio that is both disciplined and dynamic.

That’s where long-term value lives.

It’s not just about writing more business. It’s about writing the right business.