Equine insurance under starter’s orders

In the latest Insurance Post Podcast, Oliver Atkin, senior bloodstock underwriter at Markel International, considered how the sector ensured the return of racing sooner than other sports.

Atkin said: “If that period [of cancelled meetings] had continued the activity of horses would have been lessened and we could have had clients cancelling their insurances. Our greatest competitor in equine insurance is self-insurance.

“The industry as a whole, the bloodstock insurance industry and equine sports, the response the authorities carried out [in bringing back horse racing meetings] at that time enabled us and helped [ensure] the health of the market.”

Fours years on from the start of the pandemic lockdowns, Lawrence Gill, executive director of KBIS, reflected on how the market today is significantly different from how it was five years ago.

He said the fact the value of horses has “skyrocketed and they haven’t come back down to where they were pre-lockdown”, plus significant inflation of vet fees, has pushed up equine insurance premiums.

However, the pair provided a positive outlook for the market, stating equine insurance has evolved, thanks to the availability of data about the animal’s health, resulting in an opportunity for providers and brokers hopefully being able to reduce the amount of self-insurance.

Lawrence GillThe access to data compared to when I started 12 years ago is phenomenal. It can help us be innovative and work with underwriters to develop these products together.

Lawrence Gill, executive director of KBIS

Gill said: “The access to data compared to when I started 12 years ago is phenomenal. It can help us be innovative and work with underwriters to develop these products together.

“We know our clients well and the market. [The next step] is working with them on what is really driving them. Everything is going up so what we need do is create products that clients find affordable.

“Historically, equine was siloed. We sat and did our own thing but to look at where the other [insurance] markets and products available might suit our clients and give them more value for money will help us to encourage them back in.”

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