‘Looking forward, we cannot predict what the next big thing will be so we use a framework to helps us invest in the levers we can pull to be ready and agile for whatever comes next,’ said Kyung of USAA.

For USAA, this means investing in data and modelling, ensuring rigor and governance around core analytics, building partnerships with third party providers and recruiting the right talent. ‘You need to have these capabilities ready to go,’ added Kyung, ‘because if you’re not ready when the next thing hits, the ramp up time is too long and you will miss the window.’

Underwriters are being challenged on many fronts, not least by the sheer scale and speed of the risks now emerging and for which there is no historical data, pushing them out of their comfort zone and into the role of futurists.

‘It’s the velocity of the risk, the uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity of the risk,’ said Taffy Jo Mayers, Global Head of Commercial, Property and Casualty and Specialty Propositions at WTW. ‘We have had status quo thinking which means the talent, capabilities and competencies have not kept up with the velocity of the risk landscape.’

This leaves the profession dangerously adrift of the forces, from AI to climate change, that are reshaping our world at speed – and its customers who are paying.

‘Our clients pay for the inefficiency in the system so it’s incumbent on us to reduce the friction that contributes to the rising cost of the insurance product and widens that protection gap,’ said Mayers, adding that regulators are also failing to keep up with the changing risk landscape. ‘We have to be architects of our own future and that means changing the model of how we interact with our clients and distributors and to create a new marketplace of risk and stop relying on the past marketplace.’