The Future of Insurance – Dawn Walker, Associate Director, DUAE, AM Best

Dawn Walker is an associate director, Industry Relations (DUAE) in AM Best’s Strategy and Communications department. Dawn has more than 15 years of insurance industry and risk management experience, and joined AM Best in 2022, initially serving as a senior financial analyst, conducting performance assessments for Delegated Underwriting Authority Enterprises.

 Previously, Dawn as a senior risk management analyst at MacAndrews & Forbes Inc., a global mergers and acquisitions firm in New York City. She also previously served as a senior account executive for Alliant Insurance Services, serving its ultra-high net worth book of business.

 Dawn received her MBA degree with a concentration in Enterprise Risk Management at St. John’s University. She graduated Cum Laude earning a Bachelor of Law degree from the University of Arizona. She holds a Property & Casualty and Life & Health Broker’s license, has earned an Associate in Risk management (ARM) designation and is actively pursuing a Charter Property Casualty Underwriter’s designation.

Highlights from the Show

• AM Best is known for many things, but mainly for the assessments and ratings they perform on players across the insurance industry.

• For the Delegated Underwriting Authority Enterprise (DUAE) space in particular, they are bringing transparency to help drive continued growth not only of the DUAE segment, but the product innovation that goes on within it.

• The level of growth in the delegated underwriting authority space has been huge, getting to $77B in the US alone, and making up 10% of the P&C market globally.

• The key areas they look at when assessing DUAEs includes Operations, UW Capabilities, Governance and Controls, Financials and Corporate Structure.

• This analysis helps bring transparency to the sector to help facilitate partnerships while also giving DUAEs a blueprint for how to optimize their operations for growth, stability and, ultimately, success

• Why do insurers work with Delegated Underwriting Authority Enterprises (DUAEs), like MGAs and MGUs? Can’t they just compete in the market directly?

• DUAEs bring expertise in niches and market segments that incumbent carriers may not be able to build efficiently given their scale, and the relative size of these niches being too small to support the operational cost of a carrier. DUAEs often come with expertise and distribution in the segment, allowing carriers working with them to access new spaces efficiently, quickly and profitably.

• What can support or stand in the way of the success of a Delegated Underwriting Authority Enterprises (DUAEs), like MGAs and MGUs? AM Best performs assessments of these entities to bring transparency to key success factors insurers would look at when deciding whether to work with a DUAE or not.

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