Carbon Underwriting Issues First Year Update

Carbon Underwriting Limited (Carbon) the specialist, independent managing general underwriter (MGU), is delighted to today provide an update on its successful first year of operation.

Following June’s ‘in principle’ approval from Lloyd’s for the formation of its Syndicate 4747, established under the Future at Lloyd’s Syndicate in a box initiative, Carbon has now achieved its Year One ambitions including:

• Permission for Syndicate 4747 to underwrite: Carbon has been granted authority to underwrite two classes of business across three continents
• First Coverholders onboard: Carbon has onboarded its first three Coverholder clients and secured five principle binding authorities in line with its long-term partnership model
• Graphene platform development: Carbon has launched a bespoke technology ecosystem supporting superior analysis, management and sharing of data

Stephen Card, Carbon CEO, said:

“Successfully achieving our first year ambitions – all negotiated and actioned remotely under lockdown conditions – is a testament to the dedication of our team, our global relationships and the digital agility of our solution. I’m delighted that we now have authority to underwrite in our chosen classes of business, in the international property and casualty space in the first instance.

We’re here for the long-term, and the next phase of our development will see us dive deep into the data insights that can support our clients and Lloyd’s – and drive profitable underwriting growth. Our mission is to become the Lloyd’s Benchmark for data driven quality delegated underwriting in line with the Future at Lloyd’s strategy, and to reinforce their position as the globally preferred binder capacity market.

We are developing a fresh approach to binder underwriting, delivering a strong lead market for binder consortiums, and lowering the cost of doing business at Lloyd’s. Key to this is demonstrating that our partners can access quality Coverholder business at a markedly lower net operating expense. Going forward, our vision is to reset and transform the market’s approach to delegated authorities with a Lead/Follow model culminating in a Carbon-led consortium in the next three years. Watch this space!”

Jacqui Ferrier, Carbon Chief Underwriting Officer, said:

“The Carbon model is all about enabling partnerships to accelerate profitable growth, backed by data-driven intelligent underwriting to streamline processes and lower costs. We are now well underway in our mission to support the modernisation and growth of our Coverholder partners.

We have a clear focus on strong market entrants who meet our high entry criteria, and align with our incubation, enhancement and springboard partnership model. Carbon has carefully selected three Coverholder partners for our first year. These have been chosen from a wide pool after assessment through our Coverholder selection process ‘Diamond Accreditation’ while underwriting data has been analysed and priced by Carbon and this work verified by the experienced Asta actuarial team.

The syndicate-in-a-box (SIAB) framework offers entrepreneurial, expert teams the best chance for success through a lower-cost and fast-tracked route into the market, encouraging new, accretive and innovative business and talent. Carbon Underwriting Syndicate 4747 achieving its first year business goals, clear evidence of the innovation and hard work of the Carbon team within the SIAB model at Lloyd’s.

Syndicate 4747 is supported by our proprietary technology platform Graphene and the data insights that can be derived from this technology are critical to the drive for profitable, efficient and accurate underwriting – all with a low expense base. With such a strong start, I’m proud to say the future is bright for Carbon and our partners.”