Strategic report of the Managing Agent - continuedPrincipal risks and uncertainties - continued
Insurance risk
Insurance risk is the risk associated directly with the Syndicate’s underwriting activities. This includes the risk associated with inaccurate or inadequate pricing of insurance policies, inappropriate or poorly controlled underwriting guidelines and authority limits, unexpectedly high frequency, or severity of claims experience, and inadequate or inaccurate loss reserving.
To mitigate these risks, the Syndicate has in place controls and governance processes designed to closely monitor its underwriting activities. These include, but are not limited to, the oversight of the Underwriting Committee, the operation of the underlying working groups, the issuance of underwriting authority limits and guidelines, the extensive use of technical pricing models, and regular underwriting audits.
Financial risk – Credit, Market and Liquidity
Financial risk includes the risks associated with investment activities, credit, liquidity and foreign currency exchange. Investment risk includes the impact of market volatility on asset values associated with interest rate volatility. Other notable exposures are bond default risk (the risk that an issuer of a bond may be unable to make timely principal and interest payments) and reinsurer default risk (the risk that the Syndicate’s reinsurers would be unable or unwilling to pay their share of reinsurer liabilities). Either may result in financial loss to the Syndicate.
The Syndicate manages investment risk through an Investment Group, responsible for establishing and maintaining an investment policy in line with the risk appetite of the Syndicate. In addition, the Investment Group is responsible for the management of all investment asset risks, the selection of its investment manager and reviewing investment performance.
Operational risk
Operational risk arises from the risk of losses due to inadequate or failed internal processes, people, systems, service providers or from external events. Risks include those from information security (including cyber) and technology related activities, legal and regulatory, financial reporting, and financial crime as well as those from operations, outsourcing and change. The Syndicate has in place business processes (including business continuity and resilience plans) and relevant internal controls to substantially mitigate operational risk, including a business continuity plan and IT disaster recovery plan.
Emerging risks
Emerging risks are newly developing or changing risks which are difficult to quantify, that could impact the Syndicate’s ability to achieve its strategic objectives. Emerging risks can be new risks or evolving familiar risks.
Proactively researching and discussing these risks allows the Syndicate to reduce its exposure to these risks, develop strategies to protect the business and leverage these risks into commercial opportunities.
A framework is in place to identify, assess, mitigate, and monitor emerging risks via a working group of stakeholders across Risk, Claims, Risk Control, Exposure & Catastrophe Management and Underwriting.
Emerging risks are assessed on their velocity and potential impact on the Syndicate’s strategy, focusing on potential mitigation actions and recorded in an Emerging Risk Register categorised using the PESTLE (Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Legal and Environmental) framework.