XL Catlin’s North America Construction insurance business recently hit a major milestone, surpassing the $2 billion gross written premium mark.
Executive Summary
How did XL Catlin build a $2 billion business in North America Construction? A project-centric leadership, planning and execution model and a dedicated team of efforts focused on one customer segment—North America's top construction contractors—helped it become a $1 billion business in just four years and a $2 billion business just 18 months later. Here, Gary Kaplan, president of the division, describes the project-centric process used to prioritize efforts on what matters the most, the compilation of a talent database that fuels continued growth, and the use of metrics to keep things on track.In other words, in its six-and-a-half years of existence, this dedicated team underwrote $2 billion of multiline insurance coverages exclusively to the construction industry. The most interesting thing about this feat is that, having hit the $1 billion premium milestone in 2015, we doubled it in just a little over 18 months. This says a lot about the vitality of our current construction market, but it also says quite a bit about how a team that is dedicated to serving its customers can achieve such unbelievable success.
Here’s a bit more about why, in my opinion, our team has succeeded and is poised for continued growth, profitability and success.
Establish a Vision and Set Strategy
Building this business unit was both the easiest and most difficult thing that I have personally ever done. The easy part was recognizing what the customers—top contractors—wanted and seeing the opportunity. The best contractors in North America want an insurance partner that works with them to help them grow profitably, provides a complete solution to their risk management needs and is responsive by listening well. And most importantly, they want a partner that will execute on what they say through the development of products, services and talent required for delivering on those needs.
