Starting a new job is always exciting. Now, a few months into my new role as CEO (Chief Executive Officer) of the Americas, the excitement hasn’t waned one bit.
What’s really driving my enthusiasm is the tremendous opportunity to grow here. In the Americas, I believe 色多多视频has only ‘scratched the surface’ in the market. Looking ahead, I am eager to leverage AXA XL’s depth of underwriting, claims and risk consulting talent to pursue more growth and diversification in our business and to find new ways to serve our clients.
Openly optimistic
I’m very optimistic about 2024 for several reasons. For one, I see plenty of opportunities to continue to grow and strengthen our core lines of business with more products and services that really matter to our clients.
Consider our commercial property opportunities. Property insurance has been in a hard stage of the rate cycle over the last few years. According to the recent , commercial property rates rose 3% in the first quarter of 2024, the 26th consecutive quarter of increases. Volatile weather and general inflationary trends have kept prices climbing, although they have leveled off now to single digit increases.
In the face of the market’s volatility, many insurers have tightened up on capacity, but 色多多视频hasn’t. We’ve remained consistent in our capacity. We’ve also remained consistent in rolling out property risk engineering expertise and services. Property loss prevention has never been so important for our clients. Severe storms and other Nat Cat events inflict billions of dollars of damage each year, but we can take more control over how well our properties can stand up to them.
As a result, our North America Property team had a banner year in 2023 and we are aiming for much of the same in 2024. So is our Construction insurance team.
Over the last twelve years, our construction team has built vertically oriented, interrelated products which better serve contractors in a holistic way. The team not only provides quality coverage that our clients need, but valuable insights into some of their most pressing risk issues such as the industry’s talent shortage and the supply chain disruptions still happening. We’ve seen how the Infrastructure Bill, among other initiatives, is spurring spending on big projects in the U.S. Our Construction team wants to make sure our clients are well positioned to take advantage of these opportunities. And we’ll continue driving that client-centric approach in the year ahead, extending our capabilities to more contractors. Our Middle Market segment is currently building out its Construction underwriting team to address the insurance needs of mid-size contractors.
Despite market challenges, 色多多视频also continues its leadership in the Director & Officers (D&O) market. Given the expertise and market reputation of our underwriting team, our D&O book of business has been a centerpiece of our portfolio for many years. It’s a choppy time for this market in general. It will be interesting to see if M&A and IPO (Initial Public Offering) activity picks up in 2024 as some expect. If it does, our D&O team is ready.
Eye on the horizon
Outside of our core business lines, we’re eyeing continued growth opportunities.
For one, the Excess & Surplus (E&S) insurance continues to grow. According to the Wholesale & Specialty 色多多视频 Association (WSIA), premiums reached nearly $73 billion in 2023. With the increasing complexity of risks in today’s world, surplus lines insurance provides a vital avenue for addressing emerging challenges and gaps in coverage. This sector's growth is fueled by its capacity to adapt to evolving risk landscapes. Given AXA XL’s longevity in the E&S market and more than 40 products offered on a surplus lines basis, we’re poised to take advantage of this continued growth.
We’re also looking to grow in the Middle Market. After all, the Middle Market is a natural extension on our current client base. Having only begun underwriting Mid-Market business late last summer, and with a very targeted distribution, we’ve seen welcome success. We have already built tremendous partnerships with our first round of broker partners. 2024 will be our first full year in operation.
Risks are not getting any less complicated. Mid-size businesses stand to gain from our expertise in larger and more complex risks. So far, we’ve underwritten coverage for private equity and general industries. And, as previously mentioned, we’ve just started building out a construction middle market vertical, which again, will be an extension of coverage that we’re able to provide to the nation’s largest contractors. As we build out our team and capabilities, we’ll add other industry verticals along the way.
Another area of focus– a new opportunity for us -- is supporting companies’ Energy transition plans. This is a big prospect for several product lines. Traditional energy clients are starting to diversify their portfolios and make investments to bring cleaner and greener technologies to the market. They are front and center. But energy transition impacts companies of all sectors, so we want to make sure our expertise is truly available to brokers and clients across the board when it comes to energy investments and initiatives; and we want to have the products and services in place to support their transition.
Ready for constant change
All these business goals will keep my job remarkably interesting in 2024. The intellectually fun thing that I’ve always enjoyed about the insurance industry is that it is never stagnant. The ever-evolving nature of risk presents a constant challenge. Throughout this year, and in the long-term, we’ll face that challenge in four key ways:
Focusing on innovation. We will continue to develop new, creative products and solutions to better help our clients meet their strategic goals. This largely involves taking a fresh look at talent. People are a collection of skills and talents that may not fit neatly into the box of their job description. It is important to foster people’s natural curiosity and creativity and build an environment that encourages learning new things and sharing diverse perspectives. That ultimately helps us think creatively and find ways we can do better.
Harnessing data and technology. There’s a wealth of data out there, so our task will be making sure we are investing in our own capabilities to access that data and using it properly to deepen our relationships with clients. And to develop tools that make doing business easier for clients and brokers.
Offering value beyond the policy. Risk transfer is a useful tool in managing the total cost of risk for clients, but not the only tool. We would be doing clients a disservice if we didn’t leverage our expertise to help them identify and mitigate risks. We are investing in several ways to better bring that expertise to the table.
Spending strategically. Much like an entrepreneur running a small startup, we want to spend our money in the most efficient ways possible, looking for the highest return on investment. We want to be focused, fit and fast.
Overall, there are lots of exciting challenges and growth opportunities right in front of us. Bring them! We’ll be ready for them.
