Reference: GILA/7BM/LB02/100826
Entity: Large Indian listed general insurer; client confidential
Seat: Independent Director; intended Chair of Risk Management and member of Audit and Policyholder Protection committees
Primary geography: Mumbai / Hyderabad, with claims-hub and catastrophe-exposure visits
Expected cadence: 6 Board meetings; 7 Risk meetings; 5 Audit/actuarial reserving sessions; 3 claims or distribution reviews
Anonymised corporation profile
The insurer writes more than ₹25,000 crore of annual gross premium across motor, health, property, marine, liability, crop and selected specialty lines. It distributes through agents, brokers, banks, motor partners, digital channels and government-linked programmes. The business has scale, a nationally recognised franchise and a large investment portfolio; its next value-creation phase depends less on premium ranking and more on reserve credibility, claims fairness, risk selection and disciplined reinsurance.
Calibrated market hint: A multiline book, strong motor and health presence, significant commercial risks and a mix of proprietary and partner distribution could describe several established insurers. Ownership history and channel rankings are intentionally omitted.
Why this seat exists
Medical inflation, motor third-party development, extreme weather, social inflation, fraud and repair-cost escalation are changing ultimate claims faster than traditional annual planning. The Board wants an independent director who can connect actuarial uncertainty with actual customer outcomes and capital—not treat reserving, claims and policyholder protection as separate committee topics.
Strategic charter — first 18–24 months
- Establish a reserve-governance protocol covering actuarial methods, management overlays, prior-year development, large losses, latent claims, claims inflation and uncertainty ranges by line.
- Require an independent view of motor third-party and long-tail liability development, including court trends, settlement behaviour, ageing, legal expense and adverse-scenario capital.
- Reprice health risk using medical inflation, hospital network behaviour, disease mix, fraud, waiting periods and customer persistency while preventing blunt claims controls that harm legitimate policyholders.
- Rebuild catastrophe governance using accumulation data, geocoding quality, climate-adjusted scenarios, probable maximum loss, reinstatement needs and concentration by industrial cluster and flood basin.
- Review reinsurance as a capital and counterparty decision: attachment points, exclusions, hours clauses, recoverability, concentration, collateral, wording disputes and economic value across the cycle.
- Create Board visibility into claims truth: repudiation and partial-settlement reasons, turnaround distribution, litigation, ombudsman outcomes, repeat complaints, leakage, fraud indicators and vulnerable-customer treatment.
- Align distribution economics with customer value by examining broker concentration, bank-partner incentives, motor-dealer practices, digital disclosures, renewal friction and claims-service promises.
- Challenge commercial underwriting where price, engineering survey, catastrophe accumulation, sanctions, ESG exposure or claims capability do not support the accepted limit.
- Integrate investment risk and insurance liabilities through liquidity, duration, credit migration and stressed claims-payment scenarios.
Decisions expected to reach the Board
- Whether a favourable combined ratio is sustainable or partly created by optimistic loss development and delayed recognition.
- Whether a high-volume health partnership should be renewed when acquisition economics are attractive but complaints and hospital disputes are rising.
- Whether catastrophe cover remains sufficient after rapid exposure growth in flood- and cyclone-prone districts.
- Whether a large industrial risk should be declined or reduced because survey actions and business-interruption data are inadequate.
Candidate evidence sought
Essential: Former general-insurance CEO/CRO/Chief Actuary/claims leader, reinsurance executive or insurance supervisor with enterprise-level accountability; deep command of reserving uncertainty and insurance capital; first-hand experience of a catastrophe, large claims deterioration or conduct remediation; ability to interrogate appointed-actuary, finance, underwriting and claims views without displacing them.
Differentiators: commercial-lines and reinsurance expertise; health or motor claims transformation; policyholder-protection committee leadership; data/AI governance in pricing and claims.
Independence, eligibility and conflict hard gates
Active IICA Databank inclusion and verified test/exemption status are mandatory. Companies Act, SEBI and applicable insurance-regulatory fit-and-proper conditions will be checked. Candidates must disclose relationships with insurers, reinsurers, brokers, TPAs, hospital networks, motor partners, surveyors, law firms, actuarial advisers, auditors and major insured groups. A celebrated industry profile will not cure a conflict that impairs judgement or appearance of independence.
Candidate-side diligence before consent
The process includes confidential access to actuarial reports, reserve triangles, management overlays, reinsurance recoverables, top claims, catastrophe accumulations, repudiation and complaint analytics, material distribution arrangements, investment stress tests, regulatory observations and D&O cover. Candidates will be encouraged to meet the appointed actuary, CRO, claims head and internal auditor without sales management present.
Outcomes expected by month 12
- Board-approved reserving ranges and escalation rules with transparent attribution of assumption changes.
- A catastrophe and reinsurance dashboard tied to underwriting permissions and capital.
- Measurable reduction in aged claims and repeat policyholder complaints without artificial closure.
- Independent review of the three most material distribution arrangements against customer value and conduct risk.