Meet the team: George Davies, Assistant Underwriter, Crisis Management

13 Jul 2023 by Jonathan Watson

How did you first arrive in the insurance industry?

It’s a family affair, which is common, so I have grown up hearing stories about insurance, so I knew more about the industry than most people. Both my parents started in insurance, my dad as a reinsurance broker. After I finished school, I wanted to get straight into work and start earning, rather than going to university.

My first few roles in the market were short-term contracts at Gallagher and MS Amlin and moved into underwriting five years ago when I joined HDI Global. I was most recently at HDI Global SE for four years as Assistant Liability Underwriter, Senior Underwriting Technician, and Underwriting Technician. I moved from working on motor fleet to become more and more involved with international liability. In early 2023 I joined IQUW in the Crisis Management team.

I like my work because it’s technically challenging. I was good at maths at school and was attracted to a role where I could play with numbers. Insurance is based on relationships with clients and brokers and on customer service. Being able to combine a sociable environment with a technically challenging job brought me into the market and has kept me there. Everyone I’ve met is driven and genuinely wants to be in the industry, and that aligns with my ambition to be as good as I can be and as involved as possible.

Tell us more about IQUW’s crisis management line of business

The crisis management book was launched in April 2022 and predominantly covers product recall and we have plans to expand this over the coming years. We mainly cover North America and Canada, with some business in Europe, although we are looking to diversify into other markets.

Clients include a broad spectrum of manufacturers in industries such as Food and beverage, Automotive component parts, Consumer goods etc.

Our focus over the next year is on growth and anticipate doubling our book with new business in 2023. We try to be as accommodating as possible for our brokers, but we have a tactical rather than a scatter-gun approach to underwriting.

What makes IQUW’s crisis management book different to other insurers?

A key differentiator for not just crisis management but all IQUW products is the age of the business. Having been launched two years ago we are free of legacy and are able to be much more nimble to be where our clients and brokers need us most.

As a business we have also been launched with data and analytics at the core to ensure we are able to offer first-class service. In the last year we have implemented a change in our rating tool to generate technical premiums. Instead of an auditor guiding us to whether we want to quote for a risk, now we are making decisions based on our own data.

In 2022 we also selected RQA Group as our retained crisis consultants globally which enables us to provide 24/7 incident support and pre-incident risk management services to policyholders. By harnessing product recall data to monitor risk types and trends we are able to collaborate on model creation and optimisation to provide greater insights to our brokers.

What made you join IQUW?

As someone starting out in their career it was the growth opportunities that attracted me to IQUW the most. The businesses entrepreneurial, fast-paced, innovative approach to insurance and client service has taught me so much. I was also drawn in by the calibre of expertise the business has. Working with Jon Atkinson, Lead Underwriter, Crisis Management, has also taught me so much about underwriting and learning new ways of managing risks.

IQUW is bringing something new to the market and I am excited to support it as it grows from start-up to leading re/insurer.