How Markel Is Scaling AI Across Specialty Insurance
AI adoption across specialty insurance is moving beyond individual productivity tools, with Markel looking at how the technology can reshape entire underwriting processes and create new opportunities for growth.
In a conversation with Bain & Company, Simon Wilson, CEO of Markel Insurance, discusses the insurer’s approach to putting AI at the centre of its strategy and why he believes businesses need to rethink processes from the ground up rather than simply use AI to make existing ways of working more efficient.
One example comes from warranty and indemnity underwriting. Traditionally, underwriters could spend around a week reviewing thousands of financial and legal documents associated with an M&A transaction. Markel says its AI agent can now synthesise the information and produce a report for the underwriter in under 10 minutes, allowing the underwriter to focus on assessing and pricing the risk.
The impact extends beyond speed. According to Wilson, over the past 12 months the business using this approach has grown by more than 75% on a top-line basis, while its expected claims cost, or loss pick, has fallen by five percentage points. Markel has also expanded the team rather than reducing headcount, adding three people to a team of 10.
Another example is Cortex by Markel, an AI-enabled business unit developed with Bain & Company for hard-to-place US casualty risks. Processes that previously took one or two days can now prepare information for underwriting in five to 10 minutes, with responses reaching brokers in under half an hour. In its first four weeks, the operation quoted risks worth more than $1 million a week in gross premium.
Importantly, the approach keeps underwriters in control of decision-making. The aim is to remove time-consuming manual work while giving specialists more time to assess risk, negotiate with brokers and make informed underwriting decisions.
For Wilson, the next stage of AI in specialty insurance will be about scale. He argues that the businesses that put AI at the heart of their operations and redesign processes end-to-end now will be best positioned to build a long-term competitive advantage.
The examples offer a practical view of what AI adoption in specialty insurance could look like when the technology moves beyond incremental efficiency gains and begins to change how risk is assessed, priced and traded.
