General Insurance Article - Actuaries v Underwriters: Internal pricing conflict

 Valen Analytics interviewed more than 200 P/C insurance professionals and found that over three quarters of participants confirmed that their companies face pricing disputes between actuaries and underwriters. Of the 77% who cited the conflict, the vast majority selected “underwriters dismiss data for judgment” (43%) as the reason, followed by “actuary rates are too high for market” (21%), “actuaries are too conservative” (19%) and “underwriters are too optimistic/aggressive” (16%).

  “As the insurance industry continues to face disruption at an accelerated pace, there is an increasing disparity between companies who are more advanced in analytics and those who aren’t,” said Dax Craig, CEO of Valen Analytics. “The race is on for underwriting profitability, and if carriers don’t take necessary steps to repair the misalignment between actuaries and underwriters, they will have a very difficult time maintaining their competitive market position.”

  

 Valen Analytics surveyed a variety of insurance decision-makers, with over half of all participants in executive-level roles in actuarial, underwriting, and IT. These findings are largely reflective of an earlier survey from Valen in April, which found that 82% of participants expressed underwriting adoption as a ‘significant’ or ‘high concern’ when deciding to implement analytics, citing the similar reason that underwriters believe their experience is more valuable than a predictive score when assessing risk.

  

 Valen Analytics will be hosting a webinar on Tuesday, September 22 discussing the survey results and how a solid analytics strategy can mitigate the tensions between actuaries and underwriters. To register for the webinar please visit here