SCOR’s underwriters build resilience through their practices

Career Compass

For those starting to learn about (re)insurance, you’ll notice that the role of an underwriter is very prominent across all levels of the industry. But what is an underwriter? How do you become one? And what are their tasks and responsibilities?

In this article, some of our expert underwriters within SCOR’s Property and Casualty business will answer common questions to help you further understand their role in the (re)insurance industry.

What does an underwriter do?

Caitlin Herron: An underwriter, in short, selects risks. They perform a detailed assessment of the risk and price the risk so that it can cover future payments and provides a return on shareholders’ capital. SCOR maintains a balanced risk profile through geographical and product diversification as a global reinsurer.

Estelle Bouquet: In P&C’s SCOR Business Solutions (SBS), our underwriters work with a broker, who is the intermediary between the client and the insurance company. The underwriter receives all necessary information from the broker like insured values, insurance contracts, survey reports, loss history, and more, which enables the underwriter to review and assess the risk. If the client is eligible, the underwriter determines the appropriate pricing based on the risk quality, exposure, loss experience, and other important aspects, negotiating throughout the process until the contract is signed.

How do you become an underwriter?

Mark Sissons: Traditionally, the industry has not had a definitive undergraduate career path, but risk management majors are becoming more mainstream. However, other majors like finance and economics are also beneficial. Ultimately, underwriting teams often include individuals from various majors and specialties.

EB: This field is open to diverse backgrounds, but we appreciate candidates from the industries we insure because they bring valuable knowledge. For example, engineers make good property or power underwriters due to their technical risk knowledge, but candidates from many backgrounds can succeed through experience and curiosity.

What important qualities should an underwriter have?

MS: The best attributes at the ground level are curiosity, collaboration, analysis, and time management. Curiosity is essential because every day we learn about new companies, products, risks, and global changes. Collaboration is crucial because this is not a one-man show; if you cannot work with others, you’ll struggle in this business. Analysis involves understanding the numbers, where they come from, and being able to explain how and why they came to be, which is vital for developing your underwriting career. Finally, time management is one of the most important soft skills you can have. In this role, there are many different responsibilities, making you a jack-of-all-trades, so time management is crucial.

CH: From a soft skills perspective, building client and broker relationships is key since we access treaty business through brokers. Effective communication and market understanding are essential. On the technical side, underwriters typically have a background in primary insurance or technical expertise, such as actuarial science or catastrophe modeling. Good treaty underwriters understand both the macro view of the portfolio and the risk selection processes of the underwriting companies they support. They need to know how these companies manage risk, whether they are growing or shrinking, and how they handle risk accumulations.

What is the difference between underwriting in insurance and in reinsurance?

MS: The biggest difference for me is the level of business line knowledge. In insurance, you often become very focused on one group and one line of business. In reinsurance, you need a whole set of skills and tools at your disposal and it applies to a wide range of businesses. That’s because in reinsurance we’re looking at a company’s overall portfolio, which could encompass different business lines.

CH: Insurance underwriting focuses on selecting individual risks. Generally, the volume of deals evaluated by an insurance underwriter is greater and more transactional than the deals evaluated by a reinsurance underwriter. A reinsurance underwriter takes a macro view of the cedent company’s insurance policies. They are looking at the portfolio diversification, the underwriting philosophy, underwriting guidelines, and aspects of the reinsurance structure and pricing to figure out if they are willing to support them.

What is the difference between underwriting in Life and Health (L&H) and Property and Casualty (P&C)?

MS: P&C, specifically Casualty, has a unique factor in that it is quite subjective. The reason we need underwriters is the “art” of the business. Each risk comes with unique leadership, challenges, and strengths that sometimes can be more qualitative than quantitative. Due to this, the personal touch of an underwriting team is required to make tough decisions when involved in portfolio and book management. If we had perfect data and a defined formula, the clients wouldn’t need reinsurance in the first place! Having said that, to my knowledge, L&H seems to be more data-driven and formulaic as it is focused on large pools of people and macroeconomics.

What are the potential growth opportunities and career paths for an underwriter within a company?

MS: There are different trajectories within the underwriting field, each yielding unique results based on your progression. You can become an expert with widespread knowledge, serving as a referral or consultant by providing guidance and guidelines to underwriters. Alternatively, you can move into management, becoming a team leader or business lead, which requires strong management and people skills. Another path is client management, where you ensure strong relationships between brokers and clients and provide timely solutions to clients’ needs. Finally, you can specialize in a niche product, becoming the go-to resource on that specific topic.

What does underwriting mean to you?

MS: It means putting my best foot forward in understanding risk and working alongside people to achieve the best outcome for myself, my company, and our clients.

CH: Being a reinsurance treaty underwriter isn’t a common childhood dream, but our work has a significant societal impact. For example, small mutual companies may rely on reinsurance to survive catastrophes and continue supporting their clients. This risk distribution is vital for the global economy. We don’t sell tangible products, but (re)insurance allows economies to grow in the face of risks.

What advice would you give to someone aspiring to become an underwriter?

EB: It’s a very good aspiration, because it is a very complete job with a lot of interactions, providing a global view of various economic sectors. I would recommend taking your time to gather skills and knowledge because being an underwriter is also a question of experience. You gain experience as you go because nothing is set in stone and the world of risks is constantly changing. Be patient, learn, and stay curious.

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