Marine Insurance Broking & Underwriting
Broking or Underwriting? Advance your Marine Insurance Career
At its simplest level, marine insurance is like any other product with a buyer, a seller and a middleman to bring the two together. Insurance brokers are known as intermediaries and their clients are the buyers of insurance, known as insureds or assureds. Brokers place their insurance with insurers, known as underwriters, who may be insurance companies or, in the case of the Lloyd’s market, insurance syndicates.
Underwriters assess the risk and set the terms of coverage, ensuring the insurance company is protected. Together, brokers and underwriters ensure that the client’s needs are met while managing risk for the insurer. The broker represents the client's interests, while the underwriter ensures that the insurance company is willing to assume the risk under fair terms.
Producing and placing broker roles commonly overlap, but for simplicity’s sake, producing brokers win the business, and placing brokers place the business. Technicians support them and do the back office and client care work, while claims brokers pick up the pieces and present their clients’ claims to the underwriters’ claims departments as well as negotiate payments.
There are many classes of insurance within the marine market. The main classes are:
Hull & Machinery (Hull or H&M), Protection & Indemnity (P&I)/Liability, Cargo, Offshore/Energy. There is also a range of more specialist risks covered, including war risk, political risks, loss of hire and industrial action.
At Spinnaker we are here to help with your next Insurance Broking or Underwriting job role.
Example Job Descriptions
Insurance Broker
Insurance Brokers are experts who specialise within market niches, acting as advisors to clients on a broad range of products to help them manage and mitigate risks to their business. While in many cases it may just be a question of covering a simple risk with a standard insurance policy, we are also talking about complex global interlocking risk management strategies for major businesses.
Underwriter
An Underwriter evaluates risks for marine insurance policies, determining coverage terms, conditions, and pricing. They assess factors like vessel condition, cargo type, route hazards, and operator history. Responsibilities include reviewing applications, conducting inspections, and collaborating with brokers and clients to tailor insurance solutions. They ensure compliance with industry regulations and minimize potential financial losses for insurers by accurately managing and assessing marine risks.
Example Job Titles
Broker Technician, Claims Broker, Placing Broker, Producing Broker, Marine Producing Broker, Marine Insurance Broker, Underwriter, Marine Underwriter, Underwriting Manager, Underwriting Assistant, Underwriting Officer, Shipping Underwriting Manager.
Where can I work in insurance broking & underwriting?
Everywhere, but London is still the leading centre.
Key Skills and Experience
- There are no formal entry requirements, but nowadays it is usual to enter with a degree. Subjects such as shipping, law, economics, management or a numerical degree are the most attractive to employers. Professional training and qualifications are available from the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII). Some employers insist that staff take them, most value them.
- Personality, discretion and good communications skill are important as brokers need to develop business and persuade underwriters to take a piece of business or to pay a claim. Attention to detail and accuracy is also important.
- Competition is fierce nowadays and there are fewer, but larger, brokers because of a spate of mergers and consolidations.
- Underwriting roles generally require good numeracy and, as they have a business development focus, underwriters also tend to be confident outgoing individuals due to the nature of ‘dealing with others’ in this role.
Ready to search for your next career in Insurance Broking & Underwriting?
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To find out more about Insurance Broking & Underwriting jobs, please get in touch with the team who specialise in these vacancies.
Real Life Stories from Marine Professionals
As a young graduate in maritime law, I had little experience in P&I insurance. My first encounter with this industry was at Budd S.A. where I worked as a P&I club correspondent. Whilst I learnt a lot in cargo liability claim handling in West Africa, I was also keen to broaden my legal knowledge of marine operations, and joined Bourbon Offshore Services as a junior lawyer for that purpose. I was then reviewing offshore servicing contracts in collaboration with a P&I club, which somehow cemented my interest for P&I insurance. Following a short broking spell at Marsh, I thought it was time for me to step into P&I underwriting. Luckily I was offered to join RaetsMarine Insurance Services BV as a Charterers Liability Underwriter, and started off my career as a P&I underwriter. Through various corporate mergers, I ended up in London back in 2015, where I pursued my career as a P&I underwriter at MS Amlin. Not long after, my eyes were set on the world of mutual P&I insurance.
Thanks to Spinnaker and their professionalism, I managed to achieve that move and got into the Standard P&I Club as Offshore Underwriter. From there, I leapt into Skuld where I could combine writing P&I and upstream energy insurances. Looking back on this journey, I would definitely recommend a career in P&I insurance for those who have a genuine interest in maritime law and a taste for a global working environment.
Senior Underwriter
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