Automation and portfolio thinking are reshaping what it means to be an underwriter, pushing the role closer to an investment and capital‑deployment function than a pure risk‑by‑risk gatekeeper, according to Falvey Insurance Group CEO Jack Falvey (pictured).
He argues that the insurers making real progress are not those “chasing the latest technology,” but those that understand their workflows, know where the friction points are, and design solutions “with their teams, not just for them.”
Automation needs to be approached as “a business strategy, not a tech project,” Falvey said. “Begin with a clear understanding of the outcome [you] want to drive, whether that’s reducing underwriting cycle time, lowering expense ratio, or freeing up teams to focus on judgment‑based decisions. Then [you] build around that goal.”
For him, that mindset is the foundation for what he calls portfolio underwriting – an approach that treats the book of business more like an investment fund than a collection of individual transactions.
Falvey defines portfolio underwriting as “the shift from evaluating individual risks in isolation to managing an intentional, balanced book of business.”
It means you are not just saying yes or no to a submission – you are making decisions based on how that risk fits into the overall portfolio you are building, he said.
In practice, that means setting appetite and strategic mix in advance, then tracking performance against those targets.
“Approach each product line the same way an asset manager might approach an investment fund,” Falvey said.
The right approach, he said, is to define appetite and strategic mix in advance, establish performance thresholds, and then deploy tools that keep insurers aligned with those targets.
“That includes technology, dashboards, and real‑time monitoring of concentration, geography, and segment performance.”
Falvey said the goal is to stop reacting to submissions and “start managing to an outcome,” creating alignment across the organisation and building a more resilient, profitable book over time.
Seeing the book as a portfolio rather than a pile of files also changes expectations for underwriters.
“It elevates it,” Falvey said of the underwriter’s role. Underwriters become portfolio managers rather than individual gatekeepers. They’re responsible not just for selecting good risks, but for understanding how their decisions impact the performance of an entire book, he added.
He said Falvey encourages underwriters to think in terms of patterns, trends, and strategic balance, looking at concentration, channel dynamics, profitability by segment, and emerging exposures.
“They still need deep technical expertise, but they also need data fluency and commercial acumen,” he added.
In that model, underwriters are “operators, not just evaluators,” helping shape product, influence distribution focus, and support long‑term value creation, rather than only processing incoming opportunities.
Technology underpins much of this shift, but Falvey is explicit that automation should support, not erase, the human element in underwriting.
“By using technology to remove the noise, not the human,” he said, insurers can keep underwriting personalized while still gaining efficiency.
“Insurance is, at its core, a relationship business,” Falvey said. “Brokers and clients don’t remember the rate sheet – they remember how we made them feel in moments that mattered.”
In his view, automation should handle the mechanics: data entry, clearance, and routing, so underwriters can spend less time pushing paper and more time having real conversations, offering advice, and deepening trust.
“We’ve seen that when you automate the mechanics of underwriting … you actually create space for the human side to thrive,” he said. You are “able to pick up the phone more, understand the context behind a deal, and solve problems creatively.”
Looking ahead, Falvey expects underwriting to continue moving in this direction.
“By 2030, the best underwriters will be multi-dimensional,” he said. “They’ll blend technical expertise with strategic judgment, data literacy, and the ability to work across functions. They’ll be powered by intelligent systems that surface insights, track portfolio drift, and support real-time course correction.”
He urged the insurers to prepare by building tools that give underwriters live visibility into portfolio performance, training them to think beyond the transaction and focus on long‑term value creation, and investing in collaborative structures where underwriting, claims, and risk engineering work together as a unified team.
“Underwriting will always be about risk selection,” Falvey said. “But by 2030, the most successful underwriters will also be business leaders. They’ll know how to deploy capital with precision, shape product strategy, and deliver exceptional service, all at scale.”
