Mosaic’s Wheeler calls for focus on rate adequacy as inflation bites

Mosaic’s co-CEO and co-founder Mark Wheeler has called on the industry to continue to push for rate adequacy amid client demand that is “higher than it's ever been before”.

“The value and purpose of insurance is very pronounced at the moment – it's the most relevant our products have been during the course of my career,” he told The Insurer TV.

With rates having increased steadily during 2022 and 2023, Wheeler said it was critical the industry continued to focus on rate adequacy given the potential impact of inflation on exposure changes.

“Inflation is a big consideration for us – in many ways, it's the great imponderable, and it plays back into whether we are at the right rating level,” he said.

With Mosaic having just passed its second birthday, Wheeler said the carrier’s original business plan “very much contemplated this environment we're in today”.

Wheeler cited the syndicated capacity offered through the London market as a key selling point.

“The London market represents by far the largest writer of surplus lines business. If one subscribes to the view that the products are similar, the distribution lines are similar, then the unaccountable difference is syndication.”

Wheeler said this was an important factor in creating Mosaic’s business model.

“We believe clients really place value on syndication, and in some ways that's taken for granted in London. So what we would really like to do is make that product and the benefits of syndication available where clients are, which is why we've been in a rush to open these market access points in seven countries around the world in our first two years.

“And we want to be able to provide the syndicated product to clients and provide market access to any one of our 20 partners who support us in the syndicated structure.

He said the group’s claims function was “very much part of the product offering from the outset”.

Mosaic’s “challenger brand” mentality

The global specialty insurer was founded in February 2021 by Wheeler and fellow industry leader Mitch Blaser.

Since its inception, Mosaic has grown into seven lines of business across seven countries and works with more than 20 trade partners to make its syndicated offering available to clients.

As it passed its “second birthday”, Wheeler underlined that one critical aspect to growth was its “challenger brand” mentality.

“We're positioned, as I like to call ourselves, as an underwriter's underwriter. When all is said and done, the thing that differentiates us is our people,” Wheeler continued.

“The products that we sell are not identical, but very similar to all of our competitor products, the distribution lines are all the same, the client concerns are all the same. So, it's how our people respond to that, that I think ultimately sets us apart,” he concluded.

The Insurer TV talks to Mosaic’s founder and co-CEO Mark Wheeler

Watch the 12-minute interview to hear Wheeler on: