We focus on doing our best to invest in the knowledge and ability of our people. One of the ways we do this is by supporting them in trying out another area of the business. From short to longer term placements, part time or full time, our business has also benefitted from the broader perspective this brings.
Here’s some examples from our colleagues.
Ross Grimstone
“I jumped at the chance to spend time working in the Property Treaty team to gain an insight and understanding of the Treaty market, as well as work alongside colleagues from the wider business. When I joined Brit my Divisional Director was a strong advocate of rotating throughout the business, and I can see it’s a fantastic opportunity that wasn’t available at my previous company.
Immersing myself in a different division for eight weeks was fantastic. I built new relationships, and got an insight into underwriting decision-making and the tools used in the treaty market. Having spent all my career on the insurance side, understanding how the reinsurance market operates was fascinating.”
Mara Moore
“I work Brit in the Claims team but had the opportunity to spend some time working in the Syndicate Finance team. I've been studying for ACCA, and I came from a finance insurance background so the team saw it as complementary to my skills and what I like to do.
It was nice to get a holistic view of everything buy looking at it from both claims and finance. It helps you to piece everything together. Two different sets of people may have found it hard to see the synergies – hopefully, I've helped the projects move faster.
I think it has strengthened my knowledge and made me a lot more confident in what I do. I had great support from my line managers and I expanded my network at Brit as a result.”
Don Gordon
“I spent some time working in Commercial Property underwriting team. I'm in the underwriting-facing part of actuarial, so I knew the teams well. We help them with class-specific analysis for pricing, reserving and planning. Prior to working in their team I’d spent a lot of my time on the pricing and strategy side of things, but not had any underwriting experience.
I learnt a lot about all aspects of underwriting, such as negotiations, wordings, legal checks and compliance. The role allowed me to get stuck into negotiations and I even managed to secure a few great deals! There is a lot of thinking on your feet; balancing providing a service with securing the best terms. I came to understand how important strong relationships are and I showed the team the value of good data and analysis in how it can help drive sound underwriting decisions.
I returned to my actuarial role with new insight and enthusiasm and a better sense of collaboration between the two team.
Elena Jimenez-Rodriguez
“I'd worked in Political Risk for 11 years but I'd never experienced reinsurance so was excited by the opportunity to try it for a while. I wanted to get a different perspective and I liked the idea of zooming out from the granular details to see the wider perspective. In Political Risk we insure a lot of banks who want to insure portfolios through significant risk transfer. It made sense for me to learn the mechanisms, the models, and the variables that come into play when deciding whether to accept or decline a portfolio.
The property casualty team has a very good reputation within Brit and in the market. They lead most of the business they write and are one of the company's biggest, most profitable areas. So I knew I would be learning from the best.
It was really fulfilling in both a technical and a personal way. It gave me the chance to meet people and an appreciation for another team's dynamic. I knew my team was motivated and energetic to do a great job. It was great to feel that same energy in casualty treaty as well.”
