There has been much debate about AI recently, which makes this LIIBA research quite timely. Here’s the word;
Trust, personal relationships and human judgement will remain fundamental to successful trading in the London insurance market, even as artificial intelligence and data radically reshape the way risks are assessed and placed, according to new research by the London & International Insurance Brokers’ Association (LIIBA).
Called The Trust Imperative: How digital trading can revolutionise client outcomes but why humans must stay in control, the research explores what digital trading will mean in practice for the people matching risk with capital across the London market.
LIIBA gathered views from its Executive Committee and wider Board, together with digital leaders from member firms, before cross-referencing their perspectives against four workshops involving brokers who have worked in the market for less than three years.
The work forms part of LIIBA’s 2026 agenda, which identified the need for a clearer, broker-led vision of digital trading and challenged the market to move the debate beyond technology and systems to consider how trading itself will evolve. In the coming days, LIIBA will publish a series of vignettes exploring the principal themes emerging from the research.
Trust and long-term relationships are key to a functioning market
Central to the research findings is the importance of trust. While technology will increasingly perform tasks within the placement and claims process, participants questioned the extent to which firms, trading partners and clients will be willing to allow technology to make decisions independently when reputation and client outcomes are at stake.
The research also highlighted the continuing importance of human judgement and nuance, particularly when dealing with complex and emerging risks where complete data may not exist.
Participants identified the ability to take informed decisions without perfect information as an important characteristic of the London market. Long-term relationships between clients, brokers and insurers can provide the confidence required to take calculated risks, manage the impact of insurance cycles and develop solutions for new and evolving exposures.
Christopher Croft, Chief Executive of LIIBA, said: “Digital trading is talked about constantly, but too often the debate starts with the technology rather than with the people who actually trade. We wanted to turn that around and ask brokers, including those who will be trading in this market for decades to come, what a genuinely digital future should look like.
“What came through particularly strongly is that technology cannot be considered separately from trust. Reputation and relationships have underpinned this market for centuries and our research suggests they will remain fundamental to the way business is done, irrespective of how sophisticated the technology becomes.
“The opportunity is therefore not to replace human judgement, but to give traders much better tools with which to exercise it. The future our participants described is one of humans augmented by data.”
Key skill set of a front-line trader will need to evolve
The workshops also identified significant changes ahead for the role and skillset of the London market broker. The ability to transform increasingly large volumes of data into usable information could enable more dynamic and real-time assessment of risk, moving away from reliance on static annual renewal cycles and supporting the development of more tailored risk solutions and new financial instruments.
This will require front line traders to develop new capabilities, including greater confidence in interpreting data and critically assessing the output generated by AI. Participants highlighted the importance of retaining the expertise necessary to recognise when technology may be providing incomplete or incorrect information.
While the research concluded that firms are unlikely to trust technology to replicate the nuance involved in complex trading decisions in the immediate future, LIIBA believes significant change is nevertheless inevitable.
Croft added: “The question for the digital trader should not be what they can do for technology, but what technology can do for them. If we get that relationship right, we have an opportunity to combine the qualities that have made London successful – expertise, relationships, judgement and innovation – with technology capable of providing information at a speed and scale we have never previously had.
“That should ultimately allow brokers and insurers to make better decisions and, most importantly, deliver better outcomes for clients.”
LIIBA will publish a series of vignettes examining the themes emerging from the research, including trust, human judgement, the changing role of the trader and how technology and data could reshape the London market trading model.
To find out more, please visit the Trust Imperative – Liiba microsite.
Be the first to comment