London compared with Bermuda: an Ethnographic Comparison of the Basis of Trading and the Implications for Future Evolution.

Lead Research Organisation: Aston University
Department Name: Aston Business School

Abstract

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Publications

10 25 50
 
Description The study had the following objectives and key outcomes in relation to each objective:

1) To investigate the proposition that the Lloyd's and Bermuda marketplaces differ in terms of a predominance of expert, face-based judgment in the London market and electronic, modeling-based judgment in the Bermuda market.

Key Outcome: While some differences do persist between the two markets, the most striking finding is convergence in the use of modelling, but difference in the workflow process (see pages 4-8 of the executive report)

2) To provide a people-centered analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of each approach for the various stages of the transaction process

Key Outcome: Despite remaining differences between the two markets, there is no one best way. Rather, there are weaknesses in both approaches, with redundancies in the Lloyd's process and lack of richness in the Bermudian process. Hence, it is more important to understand different phases of the UW process in order to selectively and mindfully employ face and electronic interaction as is fit for a specific transaction (see pages 8-10 and 17-18 of the executive report)

3) To consider the implications and challenges of each business approach for industry evolution

Key Outcome: The generic findings show that a market built around a central physical location, such as Lloyd's, is valuable for business that requires face-to-face contact at the point of decision-making. However, much business can be transacted through selective use of face at prior stages in the process, rather than at the 'point-of-sale'. Bermuda is an example of such a 'transportable' reinsurance market; markets can be established where regulatory and taxation conditions are favorable rather than necessarily being bound to a particular physical location.

The specific findings show how the selective use of face-to-face and electronic interaction can reduce inefficiencies and improve decision quality in either type of market (see 32-page executive report, which provides detailed results and recommendations).
Exploitation Route The study has had considerable non-academic impact, as the results comprised the basis for 5 insurance industry and wider financial services sector presentations in London, Continetnal Europe and Bermuda. It was also the subject of 11 media articles, 9 in the insurance reinsurance specialized press and 2 in the mainstream business media.

We have also given feedback in the individual companies that worked with us at a range of levels from the CEO and senior executive level, through to the underwriting and broking teams with which we worked. I have used this opportunity to also induct my team into industry feedback presentations.
Finally, we released a report on our findings 'Trading risks: The value of relationships, models and face-to-face interaction in the global reinsurance market. (with M. Smets & P. Spee). Insurance Intellectual Capital Initiative Executive Briefing. This report was presented widely and also made available on the Lloyd's website, the Aston website and is now available on the Cass website.
Sectors Financial Services, and Management Consultancy

URL http://www.cassknowledge.com/research/author/paula-jarzabkowski
 
Description Our research, conducted across three grants, RES-173-27-0163, ES/I030662/1, and ES/K000926/1 and 2, has changed the business activities of major firms and has transformed understandings in the global reinsurance industry. This work has increased awareness of critical trends and signalled the potential dangers of systemic risk to an industry with a critical economic and social role. We have extended the understanding of financial markets by further developing its social perspective. Looking beyond economic assumptions of risk traders as rational individuals inhabiting markets, we explored the social interpretations that construct markets. Hence, we have generated new insights into the way people, their activities and tools, interact in the construction and collective interpretation of markets. Based on our research findings, we have produced an integrated suite of strategy tools and frameworks to support strategic positioning, relationship management and risk analysis and trading in the global reinsurance industry. We have facilitated the implementation of these tools and frameworks through tailored reports to firms worldwide, commissioned company-specific strategy workshops, targeted distribution of our industry reports, invited presentations at prestigious industry events, articles in the media, a free access website that includes research findings material, and training activities for reinsurance professionals. The scope and importance of the research impact was been highly recognized through the award of the inaugural ESRC's Outstanding Impact on Business Prize in 2013. The impact has been supported through high-profile engagement at both the (a) organizational level by producing customized reports for participating organizations and delivering strategy or training workshops, and (b) industry-level by producing industry focused reports, covering key issues in several media outlets and presenting key findings at numerous high-profile industry events. The impact of incorporating our research findings and implementing our models has been felt within companies, as demonstrated in feedback we received from many of them. Companies used our research findings to explain their management approaches and objectives and incorporated frameworks and models that we have developed to improve their organization processes. There has also been endorsement of our research findings by high-profile industry bodies and leading players as an impetus for industry change. The premier professional organisation in the insurance industry, the Chartered Insurance Institute, endorsed our reports, frameworks and calls for change to the degree of awarding accreditation credits for insurance and reinsurance professionals attending our research-related lectures and making the associated material available to their global membership. They thus incentivized the use of our materials in industry training and development. Further, a group of leading insurers, reinsurers and brokers from key markets supported a series of training and development workshops based on our strategy tools, specifically targeted at developing the strategic thinking of senior professionals, and attended by a selected group of future industry leaders.
First Year Of Impact 2011
Sector Education,Financial Services, and Management Consultancy
Impact Types Societal,Economic

 
Description A New Risk for Insurers and Reinsurers: Excessive Modeling (Global Association of Risk Professionals-GARP media) 
Form Of Engagement Activity A magazine, newsletter or online publication
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Industry/Business
Results and Impact Results and impacts of this activity are merged to a single answer below
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2015
 
Description A tale of two cities: Trading risks in Lloyd's and Bermuda 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Presentation and discussion Invited dinner speaker, intermediaries and reinsurance underwriters association conference, Bermuda

Disseminate my research and findings and asked to speak at other conferences and events
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2011
 
Description Are you building another Titanic (Capital Modelling Seminar, Institute and Faculty of Actuaries - Keynote Speaker) 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Some 80 insurance industry and risk professionals who were accredited members of the institute and faculty of actuaries came together for a professional development workshop on the topic of capital modeling for the insurance industry. The aim was to examine key issues and new developments which these risk professional could then take back to their workplaces.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2015
 
Description Cass Business Professor Describes Evolving Trading Risk for Global Reinsurance Sector (AM Best media) 
Form Of Engagement Activity A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Industry/Business
Results and Impact Results and impacts of this activity are merged to a single answer below
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2015
 
Description Catastrophe bonds pioneer hits back at book (Alistair Gray. Financial Times) 
Form Of Engagement Activity A magazine, newsletter or online publication
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Media (as a channel to the public)
Results and Impact Results and impacts of this activity are merged to a single answer below
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2015
 
Description Catastrophe deals threaten reinsurance sector collapse (Alistair Gray. Financial Times) 
Form Of Engagement Activity A magazine, newsletter or online publication
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Media (as a channel to the public)
Results and Impact Results and impacts of this activity are merged to a single answer below
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2015
 
Description Catastrophes naturelles : des couvertures d'assurance aussi risquées que les Subprime (L'Argus de l'Assurance media) 
Form Of Engagement Activity A magazine, newsletter or online publication
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Industry/Business
Results and Impact Results and impacts of this activity are merged to a single answer below
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2015
 
Description Changing times, changing types: positioning reinsurers in their global landscape 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Invited speaker, Insurance Day Summit, London.

Industry people asked me about my research and to speak at other conferences, including in Bermuda for IRU and Miami for ICMIF
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2012
 
Description Charting change in the global reinsurance landscape: Strategies for differentiation (Keynote presentation for Meeting of Reinsurance Officials at the International Co-operative and Mutual Insurance Federation) 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact This talk sparked questions and discussion about how mutual and cooperatives can remain competitive and ensure stable supplies of capital, given that the industry is increasingly differentiating to favour large, multinational players.

After my presentation, I collected several business cards from practitioners who wished to become part of the distribution list for the results from our research, was sent thanks by the convenors who informed me that my presentation had scored 4.3 out of 5, which was above the average of 4.1 and also in the top range of scores for the conference. In addition, I spoke with members of smaller Latin American cooperatives about their risk transfer needs, which are now forming the basis of future research topics I am pursuing.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity
 
Description Compacts of God: The market for risk is changing (The Economist) 
Form Of Engagement Activity A magazine, newsletter or online publication
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Media (as a channel to the public)
Results and Impact Results and impacts of this activity are merged to a single answer below
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2015
 
Description Convergence of Capital Markets and Reinsurance (International Bar Association conference - Keynote Speaker) 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact An international group of some 35 legal professionals specialising in the insurance industry, including QC and lawyers, gathered for a keynote presentation on the implications of my book for reinsurance industry convergence and the potential payment of claims. The presentation was supplemented by an industry panel discussion and a lively debate and Q&A about how to address the challenges raised.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2015
 
Description Does size matter? The impact of super-cedents and mega-risks on reinsurance buying and reinsurance products (Keynote speaker at the Insurance Institute of London, Lloyd's Old Library) 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact This talk made reinsurance participants in the London market aware of the profound and dramatic nature of change in their industry, and aware that the Lloyd's of London market, as a series of small syndicates, is somewhat threatened by the increasing consolidation in the industry, which demands larger players with more capital backing.

After my presentation, the podcast and slides were made available on the Insurance Institute of London website, being accessible to their members and the wider global Chartered Institute of Insurers, which is the key professional accreditation body. It was very influential, attracting many emails, including a note from a leading multinational insurance firm about their own strategies and concluding "thank you for sharing your presentation, it was extremely helpful".
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2014
 
Description Don't Lose Perspective in Reinsuring "Acts of God" (AM Best TV) 
Form Of Engagement Activity A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press)
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Industry/Business
Results and Impact Results and impacts of this activity are merged to a single answer below
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2015
 
Description ILS Products Are Changing Reinsurance Industry Norms: 'Acts of God' Author (Insurance Journal media) 
Form Of Engagement Activity A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Industry/Business
Results and Impact Results and impacts of this activity are merged to a single answer below
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2015
 
Description Insuring the insurers (The Business, Australian Broadcasting Corporation TV) 
Form Of Engagement Activity A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press)
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Industry/Business
Results and Impact Results and impacts of this activity are merged to a single answer below
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2015
 
Description Is the reinsurance industry at risk of collapse? (Bloomberg Surveillance. Bloomberg TV) 
Form Of Engagement Activity A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press)
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Industry/Business
Results and Impact Results and impacts of this activity are merged to a single answer below
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2015
 
Description It rained for 40 days and nights: Reinsurance and the art of pricing Noah's ark (Keynote presentation as principal guest at the Annual Lunch of the Worshipful Company of Insurers) 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact This talk made members of the London market aware of the potential systemic risk involved in more complex forms of bundling risk and reliance on modeling as a substitute for judgment of risk.

After my presentation, there was considerable interest in the Masterclasses that we told participants we would be developing. As a result, we added members to our distribution list and some of these members sent their top middle managers to the workshops we later ran from these Masterclasses
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity
 
Description Lloyd's in the global reinsurance industry: 'Boxed in' or centre of the world? 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Invited speaker to Insurance Institute of London (IIL), which is the London branch of the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII), the global accreditation body for the insurance industry. Venue: Lloyd's Old Library. This presentation also comprised a podcast for members.

Industry people asked me about my research and findings and to speak at other conferences and events
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2011
 
Description Making a Market for Acts of God (Insurance Institute of London, Lloyd's Old Library - Keynote Speaker) 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Industry/Business
Results and Impact Some 100 professional members of the Lloyd's insurance and reinsurance industry came to a presentation of professors Jarzabkowski new book on the challenges facing the reinsurance industry going forward, and some of its potential pitfalls. The presentation was chaired by Bronek Masojada, Group CEO of Hiscox, followed by a lunch with a number of high profile industry executives including the CEO of Lloyd's, Inga Beale, at which the implications of the book for firms and the industry were discussed.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2015
 
Description New capital, bundling, creating systemic risk (Reactions media) 
Form Of Engagement Activity A magazine, newsletter or online publication
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Industry/Business
Results and Impact Results and impacts of this activity are merged to a single answer below
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2015
 
Description Nightmare on Lime Street (Lombard column. Financial Times) 
Form Of Engagement Activity A magazine, newsletter or online publication
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Media (as a channel to the public)
Results and Impact Results and impacts of this activity are merged to a single answer below
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2015
 
Description Nous assistons à une déconnexion entre les risques et leurs perceptions (L'Argus de l'Assurance media) 
Form Of Engagement Activity A magazine, newsletter or online publication
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Industry/Business
Results and Impact Results and impacts of this activity are merged to a single answer below
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2015
 
Description Reinsurance Market's Evolution Could Affect its Stability: 'Acts of God' Author (Insurance Journal media) 
Form Of Engagement Activity A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Industry/Business
Results and Impact Results and impacts of this activity are merged to a single answer below
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2015
 
Description Reinsurance Market's Recent Evolution Could Have Implications on Its Stability (Carrier Management media) 
Form Of Engagement Activity A magazine, newsletter or online publication
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Industry/Business
Results and Impact Results and impacts of this activity are merged to a single answer below
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2015
 
Description Reinsurance and the future of large-scale risk transfer (Group of International Insurance Centre Supervisors - Keynote Speaker) 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact The 16 key insurance industry regulators from each off shore financial jurisdiction - e.g. Cayman, Bermuda, Guernsey, etc - met for a presentation of the findings from my book, followed by Q&A and a discussion on the regulatory implications arising from my findings, particularly indications of potential for systemic risk and regulating securitized reinsurance markets.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2015
 
Description Reinsurance market (Radio 2GB) 
Form Of Engagement Activity A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press)
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Industry/Business
Results and Impact Results and impacts of this activity are merged to a single answer below
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2015
 
Description Reinsurance risks banking style meltdown (Euro2Day media) 
Form Of Engagement Activity A magazine, newsletter or online publication
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Industry/Business
Results and Impact Results and impacts of this activity are merged to a single answer below
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2015
 
Description Reinsurers headed for catastrophe say academics (Insurance Asia News media) 
Form Of Engagement Activity A magazine, newsletter or online publication
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Industry/Business
Results and Impact • Results and impacts of this activity are merged to a single answer below
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2015
 
Description The Reinsurance Market in the Face of Change (Digital Actuaries media) 
Form Of Engagement Activity A magazine, newsletter or online publication
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Results and impacts of this activity are merged to a single answer below
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2015
 
Description The age of fierce competition in reinsurance (Keynote presentation at the NRV, Dutch Reinsurance Association) 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact This talk sparked questions and discussion about more effective ways to purchase reinsurance by insurance participants, and ways to cope with rising competition by reinsurance participants.

After my presentation, I collected some 25 business cards from practitioners who wished to become part of the distribution list for the results from our research as well as emailed thanks from the convenors for the high interest shown in the material I presented.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity
 
Description The doublethink insurance club (Gillian Tett. Financial Times) 
Form Of Engagement Activity A magazine, newsletter or online publication
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Industry/Business
Results and Impact Results and impacts of this activity are merged to a single answer below
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2015
 
Description The future for general insurance in the UK: regulation, competition and innovation (Westminster Business Forum - Keynote Speaker) 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Industry/Business
Results and Impact Some 100 people from industry, including policymakers/regulators, attended a series of presentations on the future of the U.K. Insurance industry, chaired by the shadow treasurer. The presentations sparked debate on key issues going forward and all presentations, including those of professor Jarzabkowski were fully transcribed and made available for participants and wider members of the community afterwards.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2015
 
Description Thinking outside the box: An ethnography of the Lloyd's and Bermuda reinsurance markets 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Invited presentation and discussion with professional practicioners at the London 100 breakfast presentation (www.london-100.com), which is a meeting of the top 100 London market insurance executives

Disseminate my research and findings and asked to speak at other conferences and events
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2010
 
Description Today's reinsurance firms should not forget mistakes of the past, says expert (Out-Law media) 
Form Of Engagement Activity A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Industry/Business
Results and Impact Results and impacts of this activity are merged to a single answer below
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2015
 
Description Trading risks: The value of relationships, models and face-to-face interaction in the global reinsurance market_1 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Keynote presentation and discussion with industry professionals at the Insurance Institute of London

Disseminate my research and findings and asked to speak at other conferences and events
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2010
 
Description Trading risks: The value of relationships, models and face-to-face interaction in the global reinsurance market_2 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Keynote presentation and discussion at the Aon Benfield breakfast briefing, Monte Carlo Reinsurance Rendezvous

Disseminate my research and findings and asked to speak at other conferences and events
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2010
 
Description Trends to bundle risk: The impact of super-cedents and mega-risks on reinsurance buying and reinsurance products (Keynote speaker at the Intermediaries and Reinsurance Underwriters Association Conference) 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact This talk made reinsurance participants aware of the profound and dramatic nature of change in their industry, as evidenced by the discussion and questions. Indeed, one participant later noted that he now realised how much the changes he was experiencing in his business were actually linked to these wider industry changes.

After my presentation, I held talks with the Intermediaries and Reinsurance Underwriters Association about their training and educational programmes which resulted in us giving them full access to the Masterclasses we have developed in order that they may share them with their members.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2014
 
Description Tribal warfare, Fiona Robertson (Trading Risk media) 
Form Of Engagement Activity A magazine, newsletter or online publication
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Industry/Business
Results and Impact Results and impacts of this activity are merged to a single answer below
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2015
 
Description Trust, information and reinsurance relationships in the wake of the Japanese earthquake and tsunami 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Invited speaker for Intermediaries and Reinsurance Underwriters Association Conference, Bermuda and executive panel discussion on the implications of the study on trust, information and reinsurance relationships in the wake of the Japanese earthquake and tsunami. Generated discussion and stimulated thinking around the findings of my research in the industry

Disseminate my research and findings and asked to speak at other conferences and events
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2011
 
Description Warning over reinsurance (BBC Radio 4) 
Form Of Engagement Activity A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press)
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Media (as a channel to the public)
Results and Impact Results and impacts of this activity are merged to a single answer below
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2015