This episode is hosted by Finity’s Dominic Thorn and features Rade Musulin. Rade is a Principal at Finity, leading the firm’s Climate and Perils practice. He served as the sole representative of the International Actuarial Association delegation at COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan.

In this episode, Dominic and Rade discuss the key messages, themes, and topics from the multi-week conference, which brought together political leaders, scientists, policymakers, and economists to address the challenges of tackling climate change. They also explore the implications for the Australian insurance industry, including the increasing need for climate resilience and risk management strategies.

Time Stamps

• 00:30 - Overview of the UNFCC and its objectives
• 01:30 - What is COP and its significance? What is COP's role in diplomacy and negotiations?
• 5:16 - The role of the actuary at COP and their involvement in climate activities
• 7:00 - What is the New Collective Quantified Goals on climate finance? And how it relates to funding gaps surrounding developing countries?
• 11:42 - Outcomes on Article 6 of the Paris Agreement
• 15:42 - How actuaries globally will play a role in carbon markets and climate finance
• 17:25 - Discussion on marine transport, Desert to Power decarbonisation initiatives and, clean water & sanitisation issues
• 22:05 - Insights on US politics and its impact on climate negotiations
• 25:20 - Discussion on nuclear power, fossil fuels and Australia's role

This episode is hosted by Finity principals, Marcello Negro and Edward Owen. Together, they discuss challenges and strategies for technology transformation in insurance.

Marcello Negro

Marcello is an Actuary and Principal at Finity who has worked in the general insurance industry since 2012. Marcello leads Finity’s Insurtech and start-ups practice, providing strategic and actuarial advice helping underwriting agencies develop their product, pricing and distribution strategies to launch their businesses. He has used his experience to develop innovative telematics motor products, embedded householders’ insurance offerings, as well as tech-enabled broker distributed business packages products.

Edward Owen

Eddie is a Principal at Finity and is part of the Artificial Intelligence team. He has extensive knowledge and experience in optimisation methods, statistical analysis, mathematical modelling and algorithms. Eddie has 22 years’ experience working on insurance applications. He has particular design and programming expertise, having made major contributions to Claims Outcome Advisor, Precedent and Talon.

Links

• Website | Finity.com.au
• LinkedIn | Finity Consulting
• Twitter | @Finity_au
• Facebook | Finity Consulting
• Instagram | @Finityconsulting

Timestamps

• 00:44 - Have you experienced an increase interest in use of technology in insurance?
• 02:30 - What type of people by employment level have been asking these questions?
• 04:42 - What are you seeing with various companies handling the transformation in technology?
• 07:39 - How do you see organizations using all in one systems or specialized modules?
• 11:40 - Do organizations prefer to build versus buy solutions?
• 16:00 - How do companies make sure they have the right team and skillsets for the technology being implemented?
• 18:15 - What were some of the steps performed when we were asked to build a platform for a large national insurer?
• 21:38 - Do you have any tips for the process of transitioning a business to more technological setup?
• 24:16 - Are there any other challenges with smaller businesses with limited budget?
• 26:24 - What is your role at Finity?

This episode is hosted by Finity’s Managing Director, Scott Collings and Director, Andy Cohen. Together, Scott and Andy reflect on the findings from Finity’s state of the market report - Optima, discussing FY23 General Insurance performance, as well as sharing in-house forecasts for FY24.

Scott Collings

Scott is a Principal and the Managing Director of Finity Consulting with over 30 years of experience in general insurance. He is a consulting actuary specialising in the financial and strategic management of General Insurance companies and Accident Compensation Schemes. Scott has been responsible for delivering actuarial advice across the spectrum of general insurance products with particular emphasis on reserving, pricing and capital management advice. His key focus areas include Appointed Actuary roles and leadership of Finity's Capital and Risk Management practice.

Andy Cohen

Andy Cohen is a Director and Principal of Finity and has over 30 years’ experience in the general insurance industry. He is or has been the Appointed Actuary to 14 insurance and reinsurance companies. Andy has extensive experience in a wide variety of insurance classes including workers’ compensation, public liability, lenders mortgage insurance, trade credit insurance, professional indemnity and reinsurance. He also provides advice on reserve levels, pricing, financial projections, capital management and reinsurance strategy.

Links

• Website | Finity.com.au
• LinkedIn | Finity Consulting
• Twitter | @Finity_au
• Facebook | Finity Consulting
• Instagram | @Finityconsulting

Time Stamps

• 01:16 - What was really driving the experts last year?
• 04:52 - Were there any classes in particular that did really well?
• 07:24 - What does FY24 looking like?
• 10:34 - What do you think can go wrong?