The Trading Capability of Underwriters

This research aims to explore the following two questions:

"How well do insurers develop their underwriters to enable them to trade effectively with their brokers?"  and

"How good are underwriters at building relationships with brokers to enable them to be productive and effective when trading?"

For each of the nine statements below, please provide your personal opinion based on the trading skills you have observed and witnessed yourself. 

Please answer the questions in relation to the largest number of underwriters where you have a consistent and informed view – whether that is your team, your department, your division of the business or the company as a whole. Please base your answer on your view of this group as a whole. 

We recognise that your personal views are not the official views of your Company. All responses will be aggregated and no single response attributed to an individual or company. 

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* 1. About You

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* 2. From my experience and from what I observe our underwriters demonstrate and utilise an in depth technical understanding of their products to ensure they can provide the right solution to their brokers’ and clients’ needs

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* 3. From my experience and from what I observe our underwriters demonstrate a full understanding of the company’s business strategy and appetite and take every opportunity to ‘sell the message’ when dealing with their brokers.

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* 4. From my experience and from what I observe our underwriters demonstrate a good understanding of the wider insurance market and the trends and issues affecting and shaping it in conversations with brokers and colleagues

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* 5. From my experience and from what I observe our underwriters use their knowledge of our brokers’ business strategy and the key individuals at the broker to build and maintain effective relationships

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* 6. From my experience and from what I observe our underwriters leverage their broker relationships to build and seize opportunities to achieve profitable growth

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* 7. From my experience and from what I observe our underwriters make effective use of a new and cross-sell business pipeline

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* 8. From my experience and from what I observe our underwriters apply the principles of negotiation, knowing how and when to negotiate to ensure a win-win outcome, pulling all levers of the proposition (not just price) and can effectively close the deal

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* 9. As a company we are clearly committed to the consistent delivery of trading excellence to our brokers and  this is evidenced through investment, communications and a reputation in the market for having ‘go-to’ underwriters that  supports this

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* 10. As a company we have programmes targeted at developing trading skills in our underwriters with clearly defined aims, target audiences and learning objectives

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