Claudia Goodridge, Senior Executive, Technical Underwriting, Lloyd’s Market Association
My first role in insurance was as a broker, but it wasn’t long before I made the common transition into underwriting. Broking was too sales-focused for me, and I realised I was more suited to underwriting because it played better into my detail-oriented nature.
Moving from line underwriting to portfolio management, I came to realise that the part of the job I loved most was looking at the wordings more broadly, especially the structure and language that underpinned the whole insurance product. Unsurprisingly, given I studied linguistics at university, words have always been my forté. My love of language has been my asset in these roles and this passion, alongside my precise nature, is what initially led me into this discipline.
Once I transitioned into a wordings role, I spent 15 years deep in the engine room of the company, mainly working with internal stakeholders. When I was looking for a move, what drew me to the LMA was the variety and vibrancy it offered. In my role now, I get to work across the market, engaging in a range of different projects and challenges with different departments, operating by committee and focusing on delivering the best model wording solutions for the market.
Due to the broad scope of work we do, the LMA team is naturally diverse, made up of individuals from backgrounds all around the market and outside. Starting in a wordings role 15 years ago could at times be quite a solitary environment, with often only one or two people responsible for the function in a business. Since that time, the role of a wordings professional has had a real makeover.
Where previously it was more common for us to be reactive to the needs of the business, we are now much more proactive. In recent years, there have been several seismic risk events that have needed genuine innovation in wordings; the pandemic brought scrutiny to business interruption wordings like never before; the rise of cyber has sent everyone back to review wordings across all policies, hunting for silent cyber exposures. With risks like these, companies across the market are seeing the true value of wordings professionals.
One of the most engaging projects I’m currently working on is project “Spring Clean”. The project involves organising and pruning the 2,500 model clauses in the Lloyd’s Wordings Repository. Throughout the process, I have been working with subject experts in all sorts of business lines to get insight into which wordings are still in use and which can be safely archived. The oldest clauses date back more than 100 years! Reviewing these documents requires a detailed and analytical approach, which is one of the aspects of the job I really enjoy.
As someone with a passion for this industry, I am energised by the way it is constantly evolving and changing. I am hopeful the pipeline of talent coming into the wordings community will grow organically as the profile of wordings continues to grow, and as the job itself evolves to be more dynamic and collaborative. The LMA is already a champion of early talent, and I have very much enjoyed getting involved in mentoring new wordings professionals through the LMA Academy Kickstarter Programme and the Contract Wordings Foundation Course. These are exactly the kinds of opportunities I would have leapt at in the early stages of my career.
There’s still a lot more to be done to attract talent to insurance, both into entry-level and more senior roles. We need people from diverse backgrounds and those who bring skills from other specialisms to ensure that insurance can remain relevant and innovative in the future. I can confidently say that insurance – and especially wordings – has been an incredibly rewarding career so far. In my book, it is well worth exploring, especially for those who value variety and precision in their work.
claudia.goodridge@lmalloyds.com
Senior Executive, Technical Underwriting
Lloyd’s Market Association
