In an industry facing rapid technological change, particularly from artificial intelligence, insurance firms can no longer treat innovation as a side dish.
At ITC London 2026, senior insurance executives argued that sustained success will depend on cultures that actively reward experimentation and leadership teams willing to rethink long-standing business models.
In a keynote address, Louise O’Shea (pictured below), chief executive of CFC, drew on more than two decades of experience to outline how innovative cultures are built and how they can fail.
O’Shea cautioned that innovation is fragile without the right leadership mindset. Pointing to the decline of Kodak, she highlighted how risk-averse cultures can suppress breakthrough ideas even when organizations see disruption coming.
Kodak, she noted, invented the digital camera in the 1970s but failed to support it internally, fearing cannibalization of its core film business. Competitors ultimately reimagined the market, while Kodak doubled down on a fading model.
“The lesson is that innovative cultures don’t just happen,” O’Shea said. “They have to be fostered, and leaders must be willing to reimagine their entire business models—especially now, when AI is reshaping what’s possible.”
At CFC, she said, innovation has been embedded since the company’s founding more than 25 years ago, when it launched as a pioneer of tech-enabled cyber insurance for small and medium-sized businesses.
Over the past year alone, the MGA has delivered more than 90 product updates and launched cyber proactive response, a product that shifts cyber insurance from a “promise to pay” to a “promise to protect,” including 24/7 surveillance and broad coverage enhancements. Most recently, it introduced supply-chain business interruption cover, responding to the growing fallout from large-scale cyber attacks.
With global insurance penetration still estimated at just 7%, O’Shea concluded that the opportunity ahead is vast. To thrive, she argued, firms must be bold enough to challenge entrenched assumptions and brave enough to change before they are forced to.
Those themes carried into a panel discussion (pictured in header) moderated by Melissa Collett, chief executive of Insurtech UK, featuring innovation leaders from across the market.
For Rosie Denée, head of innovation at Lloyd’s, innovation must be aligned across capital, regulation and underwriting discipline.
“It’s really about embedding positive change or processes that add value to our customers,” she said. “And “customer” can mean the end user of a product, the user of a process, or even the market itself.”
Lloyd’s Lab, she explained, plays a key role in de-risking experimentation by supporting startups and market participants through structured accelerator programmes.
“Innovation doesn’t happen in a cupboard behind a closed door. All the pieces of the puzzle need to be aligned for it to be successful,” said Denée.
Offering the carrier’s perspective, Rob Jarvis, head of innovation underwriting at Tokio Marine Kiln, said innovation can encompass developing new products as well as improving operational efficiency.
“I spend much of my time working with colleagues to develop new types of insurance or ways of insuring new technologies. You’ll see this embedded across the business,” Jarvis said.
“When it comes to how we run ourselves, we don’t always label it as ‘innovation,’ but it’s still there. It’s about optimizing for efficiency, capital, profitability – making sure we’re doing things better.”
When it comes to embedding innovation into an organization’s culture, Kagabo Ngiruwonsanga, chief underwriting officer for innovations at Greenlight Re, believes in tying it back to the overall strategy.
The reinsurer has built innovation into its core by investing in early-stage MGAs while providing underwriting capacity, with nearly 20% of its workforce dedicated to innovation.
“If the C-suite isn’t aligned, it just won’t work,” said Ngiruwonsanga. “You also need to right-size the risk. Building a portfolio of innovation means taking bets, but those bets need to be manageable. The key is managing the downside.”
