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Insurance Insider - Behind the HeadlinesAuthor: Sam Casey
Get the inside scoop on the major stories shaping the London Market through discussions with the journalists who broke them with insights from industry professionals on what these developments mean for the (re)insurance sector. Language: en-gb Genres: Business News, News Contact email: Get it Feed URL: Get it iTunes ID: Get it |
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Axis’s Sara Farrup on aligning fast follow and open market strategy
Thursday, 11 December, 2025
How do you harmonise distribution strategies in a rapidly evolving marketplace?Sara Farrup took over as head of global markets at Axis at the beginning of the year, assuming leadership of one of the largest syndicates in Lloyd’s and a major market maker in areas including cyber and renewable energy.In an interview with Behind the Headlines, Farrup explained that it’s essential for fast-follow and open-market strategies to align, as well as being thoughtful about which coverholders to partner with to drive value.And in this episode’s news discussion, Insurance Insider editor Fiona Robertson digests the latest market message issued by Lloyd’s.Sam Casey: 0:04Hello and welcome to Behind the Headlines, brought to you by Insurance Insider. I'm Sam Casey, and thanks for tuning in to the latest episode. Remember, you can subscribe to the podcast either on our website or on your podcast platform of choice. This week's guest is Sarah Farrah, Head of Global Markets as Axis Capital. Amongst the subjects we touch on in this is the delegated authority space where Axis is an active participant. Sara told me that to operate in the area successfully, it's essential to have alignment with the company's wider open market strategy.SPEAKER_02: 0:35Partnering with those trusted colleagues gives you diversification of product geography segment, but you need to understand who you're partnering with, and it's a trusted relationship that is guided by understanding the data, how that aligns with your open market strategies, and really being clear on what it gives you because it's very easy to get carried away.Sam Casey: 1:03First up, Lloyd's recently delivered its quarterly market message, which is the focus of this episode's news discussion. I'm joined now by Insurance Insider editor Fiona Robertson. Fiona, thanks for coming back on the show.Fiona Robertson: 1:15Always a pleasure, Sam.Sam Casey: 1:16So we had Lloyd's delivering their quarterly market message last week. It's always a good opportunity to gauge the feeling in the market and see what their priorities are. What were the overall messages and priorities which Lloyd's and Rachel Turk were communicating this time around?Fiona Robertson: 1:36I think really the key takeaway was this sense from Rachel Turk of asking underwriters or Lloyd syndicates not to kind of hurry themselves into the soft market any faster than they need to. So she was acknowledging the sort of competitive pressures that they face and the fact that they have to be competitive when they're quoting, but also kind of just urging them to sort of hold back where they can or just make sure they're still trying to stick to their business plan. So I think that was probably the key takeaway for me.Sam Casey: 2:07And as it got a bit more granular, it seems like the one class of business which was laboured out in particular for a bit of a recommend was the property DNF space. Why was it that that was in her sights?Fiona Robertson: 2:20Yes, yes. I suppose there's always one class that gets that kind of must-do better grade. Probably feels a bit like being back in school, I'm sure, for all the underwriters when they hear the market message. So I think the DNF market really it just comes down to the pace of change, is the uh message that came across. And that is one that we've been reporting on through the year, obviously. And I think the speed of rate reductions in the property markets have just taken some people by surprise and been one of the defining changes in the market over the past year. So it's it's not surprising. And I think the messaging was yes, there might still be margin. This is all coming off from a high, so we can handle it. But looking ahead, if that pace was to keep up, I think that is just what they w
