Meet the team - Aaron Daly, Senior Analyst Manager

Data is revolutionising the way insurers approach underwriting in automotive protection. 

And QBE has been at the forefront, using data to make the underwriting process more tailored, efficient and consistent than ever. 

Senior Analyst Manager Aaron Daly manages two central elements of this approach: the pricing & analytics team and the data engineering team. 

Aaron and his teams are responsible for delivering business insights and pricing as well as a robust, scalable and secure data management system for the business. As a result, they’ve become essential to underwriting risks for some of the largest auto manufacturers and distributors in North America UK and Europe 

“Our team has a pretty significant impact on underwriting these days. In fact, there are now more analysts than traditional underwriters in the business,” Aaron reveals. 

A new approach to underwriting 

In contrast to many other insurers, QBE’s underwriters and analysts don’t operate separately. Instead, they collaborate to develop more effective underwriting strategies.   

“The analysts and underwriters sit together so we make pricing and business decisions together,” Aaron says. “We are part and parcel of the underwriting process.  

“You could say our analysts are the next evolution of the traditional underwriting role.” 

With low value policies traded at a high volume in the automotive protection market, data plays a crucial role in selecting the right risks for QBE and in pricing policies in a way that works for consumers. 

“The way we use data and our pricing techniques set us apart from competitors. Where other insurers might see an unacceptable risk, we might see an opportunity to develop a long-term relationship,” he says. 

Helping clients grow their businesses 

Those partnerships are key to the success of QBE Automotive Protection, with as much emphasis placed on developing existing relationships as finding new ones. 

“We’re always listening to our clients and working with them to develop solutions that can help them grow their businesses. Once clients partner with us, they tend to stay with us. We’re able to spend more time working with them on new ideas, rather than being out prospecting all the time,” says Aaron. 

And while he’s sure there will always be a need for humans, Aaron believes the influence of data and the insight it can deliver will only keep growing. 

“We want to increase the influence of data in our underwriting, so we’re in the process of recruiting even more analysts,” he says.  

“The greater our risk insight, the greater our ability to develop programmes that deliver for clients, their customers and QBE.”