Bob Kimmel's guest appearances

Bob Kimmel

The Voice of Insurance

Jason Howard

Inga Beale

James Kent

David Ritchie

Andrew Newman

Dan Trueman

Andrew Robinson

John Turner

James Vickers

Mike Reynolds

Richard Watson

Nick Cook

David Bearman

David Walsh

Patrick Tiernan

OwlTail

David Carson

I really enjoy talking to people who are full of energy because some of that energy rubs off.   Bob Kimmel CEO of K2 Insurance Services’ return to the podcast with K2 CAT’s Head Underwriter David Carson is a case in point.   Here we find Bob buzzing with the possibilities that significant new investment from Warburg Pincus can afford the firm as it looks to accelerate growth and double in size to a $3bn GWP platform over the next 4 to 5 years.   David’s also full of energy after the decisive rupture in the reinsurance market at 1.1 has produced what he describes as the best market in property cat since 1993.   This is an incredibly candid and fluid discussion.   Bob is very open about the potential squeeze that may be coming for MGA and other intermediaries’ margins as reinsurers and carriers push back hard on commissions and trim underperforming agencies from their portfolios.  But he’s also really happy about having fresh dry powder to make the most of cooling valuations and special situations as interest rates rise and debt-heavy buyers are priced out of out of a hitherto frothy M&amp;A market.  Bob also explains why being a hybrid carrier with a balance sheet was great when K2 was smaller and needed to incubate underwriting talent, but became a distraction to the core business as the group scaled to the $1.5bn of gross premiums it now underwrites on behalf of the market.   This is fascinating under-the-hood stuff and no aspect of the market and K2’s plans is left uncovered.   It’s also delivered at an almost breathless pace and with great rapport between the Bob, David and this interviewer.  If you want to get well ahead of emerging trends in the fast-developing MGA world, this is absolutely essential listening.  NOTES:  Bob speaks first.   The abbreviation LOC snuck in. It means a Letter of Credit.   LINKS We thank our naming sponsor AdvantageGo: https://www.advantagego.com/

I really enjoy talking to people who are full of energy because some of that energy rubs off. Bob Kimmel CEO of K2 Insurance Services’ return to the podcast with K2 CAT’s Head Underwriter David Carson is a case in point. Here we find Bob buzzing with the possibilities that significant new investment from Warburg Pincus can afford the firm as it looks to accelerate growth and double in size to a $3bn GWP platform over the next 4 to 5 years. David’s also full of energy after the decisive rupture in the reinsurance market at 1.1 has produced what he describes as the best market in property cat since 1993. This is an incredibly candid and fluid discussion. Bob is very open about the potential squeeze that may be coming for MGA and other intermediaries’ margins as reinsurers and carriers push back hard on commissions and trim underperforming agencies from their portfolios. But he’s also really happy about having fresh dry powder to make the most of cooling valuations and special situations as interest rates rise and debt-heavy buyers are priced out of out of a hitherto frothy M&amp;A market. Bob also explains why being a hybrid carrier with a balance sheet was great when K2 was smaller and needed to incubate underwriting talent, but became a distraction to the core business as the group scaled to the $1.5bn of gross premiums it now underwrites on behalf of the market. This is fascinating under-the-hood stuff and no aspect of the market and K2’s plans is left uncovered. It’s also delivered at an almost breathless pace and with great rapport between the Bob, David and this interviewer. If you want to get well ahead of emerging trends in the fast-developing MGA world, this is absolutely essential listening. NOTES: Bob speaks first. The abbreviation LOC snuck in. It means a Letter of Credit. LINKS We thank our naming sponsor AdvantageGo: <a href="https://www.advantagego.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://www.advantagego.com/</a>

Ep165 Bob Kimmel & David Carson of K2: Now hunting all kinds of game

Bob Kimmel the CEO of K2 insurance services came on my radar and that of most other London-based insurance folk when last year his US-based MGA group picked up the remnants of what had been the Pioneer group of MGAs to form K2 International.  K2 owns a major collection of MGAs in the US, writes over a billion dollars in premium and is highly acquisitive both of talent, new agencies and other ancillary insurance businesses   I didn’t know Bob personally and researching K2 ahead of our London meeting I suppose I came into this podcast with lots of preconceptions about what the CEO of such a fast-growing and aggressively expansive US-headquartered group would be like.  I was completely wrong.   Bob is clearly very ambitious for K2 but he is also very easygoing and charming as well as being disarming about how steep the learning curve has been for him, a former reinsurance broker, moving much closer to the end insurance customer in the decade since K2’s formation.  New MGA start-ups and acquisitions, a potential Lloyd’s syndicate in the offing and a conscious hunt for talent in specific classes – Bob’s in-tray is absolutely overflowing and in this interview he discusses all aspects of MGA management in a disarmingly open way.   I really enjoyed my time with Bob and I think you will too.  LINKS   We thank our naming sponsor AdvantageGo - enabling an enterprise view of exposure:  https://www.advantagego.com/  We also thank Claims Direct Access (CDA) and Free Partners for their support today:  https://www.claimsdirectaccess.com/ https://freepartners.com/

Bob Kimmel the CEO of K2 insurance services came on my radar and that of most other London-based insurance folk when last year his US-based MGA group picked up the remnants of what had been the Pioneer group of MGAs to form K2 International. K2 owns a major collection of MGAs in the US, writes over a billion dollars in premium and is highly acquisitive both of talent, new agencies and other ancillary insurance businesses I didn’t know Bob personally and researching K2 ahead of our London meeting I suppose I came into this podcast with lots of preconceptions about what the CEO of such a fast-growing and aggressively expansive US-headquartered group would be like. I was completely wrong. Bob is clearly very ambitious for K2 but he is also very easygoing and charming as well as being disarming about how steep the learning curve has been for him, a former reinsurance broker, moving much closer to the end insurance customer in the decade since K2’s formation. New MGA start-ups and acquisitions, a potential Lloyd’s syndicate in the offing and a conscious hunt for talent in specific classes – Bob’s in-tray is absolutely overflowing and in this interview he discusses all aspects of MGA management in a disarmingly open way. I really enjoyed my time with Bob and I think you will too. LINKS We thank our naming sponsor AdvantageGo - enabling an enterprise view of exposure: <a href="https://www.advantagego.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://www.advantagego.com/</a> We also thank Claims Direct Access (CDA) and Free Partners for their support today: <a href="https://www.claimsdirectaccess.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://www.claimsdirectaccess.com/</a> <a href="https://freepartners.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://freepartners.com/</a>

Ep 91 Bob Kimmel CEO of K2 Insurance Services: On the hunt for talent and capacity