After the first week of inductions – which Tom, Jay and Pavlos, have covered – I joined my team: Underwriting Performance.

I’d chosen to join Underwriting Performance because I wanted to understand how business is done at Lloyd’s and the role that the Corporation plays.

Underwriting Performance interacts a lot with the market and even in my first week I went to a meeting with one of the syndicates.

October is a very busy month for Underwriting Performance as all the syndicates submit business plans that have to be reviewed by my team. I helped out with some of this process and, with the support of others in my team, I did some of the analysis.

Getting to grips with the numbers was tough to start with and I know I have a long way to go. There’s so much you need to understand: the insurance cycle, classes of businesses, Lloyd’s Franchise guidelines, loss ratios, types of reinsurance, delegated authorities and more. I had hardly any idea about these before I joined the team!

Once the plans have been analysed, it’s often necessary to have further discussions with the individual syndicates.

The role of Underwriting Performance is to be a partner to the market: to work together to make the best plans for the following year.

I’ve really enjoyed how much involvement the team has with the market.

It’s been a steep learning curve for me over the past few months. But I’ve loved the challenge and am looking forward to the next three months.