The seventh annual Women in Insurance Summit Australia enjoyed its largest turnout ever. In Sydney, on Wednesday, more than 300 delegates engaged with panel discussions and talks covering issues impacting women and men in the insurance industry.
The event included the launch of a Women in Insurance Mentorship program, sponsored by Canopius. Other sessions looked at empowering women in the industry, the gender pay gap, practising mindfulness and how to deal with clients in difficult situations.
Former Matilda’s soccer star Sarah Walsh gave the opening keynote. As head of Women’s Football for Football Australia, Walsh helped catapult women’s soccer to incredible commercial and on-field success. She detailed how she drove inclusion, equity and innovation in the sport.
Florence La Carbona (pictured immediately below), a panellist during the generative artificial intelligence session, also engaged with sports during her panel. The general manager of data and insights for Rest Super said one way to define AI would be to compare this technology to an Olympic athlete.
“We had a bit of the Olympic fever at home so I’m going to surf on this wave,” said the French native turned Sydneysider who, according to her biography, enjoys triathlon training in her free time.
“AI would be like an athlete that we prepare for a competition,” said La Florence.
Except unlike the athlete, she said, AI trains on data.
“So you need to know what you are training your model for,” said La Florence. “Then you need to have a training plan in place.”
Winning the AI equivalent of a gold medal, she said, also depends on having a good team.
When moderator Amber Auld, head of insurance for Microsoft Australia, asked La Florence how she is approaching AI application at her company, the French data expert issued a warning to delegates.
“The first thing is what AI is not - AI is not a magic wand that can solve all your problems,” said La Florence.
For challenges of a different kind, mindfulness facilitator Sacha Stewart had some tips. Her Summit talk focused on dealing with stress. One method, she said, is called the stop technique. There are four steps involved: Stop, breathe, observe and then proceed mindfully.
The insurance industry is also facing a raft of economic challenges. Ron Arnold, managing director of 11eight, moderated a “fireside chat” looking at the economy’s impact on insurance.
“Macroeconomics has a massive and significant impact on insurance,” said Katrina Shanks (pictured immediately below), CEO of the Australian and New Zealand Institute of Insurance and Finance (ANZIIF). Shanks gave a talk during the session.
She said inflation, emerging technology, the geopolitical situation, global markets, natural catastrophes and climate risks were all playing into this economic challenge.
One additional hurdle for insurance firms is regulation.
“We’re going to get more regulation over the next few years,” said Shanks. “The important thing is that the insurers have got their technology and the data to be innovative in how they’re addressing the compliance.”
During the panel session about addressing the generational divide, Dave Bazen, CEO of ASTA Group, gave a perspective from the loss adjusting sector.
“I would dare say that in the last 10 years I’ve seen more change in the loss adjustment space than probably has occurred in the last 50 years,” said Bazen. “The older generations tend to be very resistant to that.”
Bazen’s fellow panellists - Iryna Galyapa, QBE’s head of distribution and underwriting digitisation, and Pegah Vaghaye, CGU’s executive manager of broker relationships - said that in their workplaces it can be hard to predict how different generations will respond to technological and organisational changes.
Early feedback about the event was very positive. In voluntary comments submitted in writing, numerous delegates described the Summit as “fantastic”. Others appreciated the variety of relevant topics.
“Precise content in a positive tone,” said one delegate.
Key Media would like to thank Suzi Leung, chief commercial officer for Hollard Insurance, who chaired the event.
Thanks also to mentorship program sponsor, Canopius; gold sponsors, Gallagher Bassett, Microsoft and Sparke Helmore; silver sponsors, Brooklyn Underwriting and Flynn Builders; and, associate sponsors, AAMC and Envest.
