Hiscox London Market has established a new team focused on middle market sized commercial property risks. As part of Hiscox’s Property division, which also includes teams dedicated to property binding authorities, flood and major property, the Middle Market Property team meets a need from brokers and clients for more capacity and greater choice within the middle market.
Here, the team explains more about their risk appetite, the appeal of underwriting this class of business, and how they are differentiating their product to bring a fresh new offering to the London insurance market.
Victoria Knight – Line Underwriter, Middle Market Property
As a new specialist focus for Hiscox London Market, what do you see as middle market property risks?
We see middle market as risks with a total insured value of between US$50 million and US$1 billion. Our broad appetite means we will insure a wide range of property on a primary and excess basis for clients in the US, Canada and Australia.
The team has been up and running since March 2026, why has Hiscox chosen to segment its Property division between major property and middle market?
Historically, our Property Binding Authorities team has looked after SME commercial business, while our Major Property team has concentrated primarily on risks of over a billion dollars. So, it made sense to bring together an experienced and dedicated team that could bring more focus to the middle market property segment – offering clients and brokers a broader choice across the full property spectrum, while helping to deliver on our strategic growth agenda.
As well as our delegated portfolio, we trade open market risks. To deliver the efficiencies needed to make this segment sustainable, we have leveraged our existing AI-enhanced underwriting capabilities and improved processes, backed up by high-quality pricing, wordings and claims expertise.
Joe Packwood – Underwriter
Prior to joining the Middle Market Property team, you spent five years underwriting cyber risks for Hiscox; what was the appeal of moving to underwrite this new line of business?
I was looking for a new challenge and an opportunity to broaden my underwriting skill set. What appealed to me about middle market property was the chance to get much closer to the physical risks behind a business, understanding how buildings are constructed, how operations are run, and what drives loss potential. Property has a huge variety of occupancies and exposures, which means there is always something new to learn.
It was also an exciting time to make the move. Middle market property is a growing area of focus for Hiscox and sits at the forefront of the London Market's move into new product adjacencies, creating opportunities to build something and help shape the future direction of the portfolio. The combination of joining a growth line, working in a dynamic market, and developing expertise in a new class of business was a compelling proposition.
While cyber and property are very different classes, the core underwriting mindset is the same, and I was excited by the chance to apply the experience I'd built in cyber while becoming a more rounded underwriter over the long-term.
What excites you most about this class of business?
This is an underserved segment of business in Lloyd’s and represents a huge opportunity. Many of our target market risks are insured by single, domestic carriers; risks that are not necessarily shared or layered. We can help to show that Lloyd’s is an attractive, reliable and secure option for middle market property and bring in new premium to the market. That's an enticing proposition, as is our ability to introduce a digital approach that frees up more time for underwriters to use their own judgement and expertise to make a difference in risk selection, innovation and client service.
What would you say are the most challenging underwriting aspects for this class of business?
One of the most challenging and rewarding aspects is balancing long-term underwriting discipline with a constantly evolving market. Property is a cyclical class of business, with market conditions, capacity, catastrophe activity and client demand all changing over time. The challenge is being able to adapt to those shifts while maintaining a consistent view of risk and continuing to build a sustainable portfolio.
The breadth of risks is another key challenge. In a single day you could be looking at a hotel, a food manufacturer, a distribution warehouse or a real estate portfolio, each with completely different exposures. Understanding how construction, occupancy, protection and natural catastrophe exposure combine to influence loss potential requires both technical expertise and sound underwriting judgement.
Property is also a line where attention to detail really matters. Factors such as sprinkler protection, building age, electrical infrastructure, business interruption dependencies and catastrophe exposure can significantly influence outcomes. Developing a deep understanding of those factors and how they interact is essential to making informed underwriting decisions.
For me, that's also what makes the class so interesting. The combination of diverse risks, changing market dynamics and the need for long-term portfolio thinking means there is always something new to learn and no two risks are ever the same.
Henry O'Meara – Associate Underwriter
How else can Hiscox differentiate its middle market property offering?
Service is a massive part of it. Middle market property is a busy, fast-moving space and brokers want certainty. They want to know quickly whether we have appetite for the risk, what information we need and, ultimately, whether we can offer terms. So for us, a big differentiator is being accessible and responsive, while still giving each risk proper underwriting consideration.
I also think it’s about being easy to do business with. We have strong underwriting, pricing, claims and wordings expertise behind us, but we want to combine that with a service that feels straightforward and personal.
Ultimately, we want brokers to know the team, understand our appetite and feel comfortable coming to see us at the Box in Lloyd’s. If we can combine that relationship-led approach with quick turnaround times and consistent decision-making, that gives us a compelling solution.
How is technology changing the way you underwrite property risks?
I think the big appeal for us is that technology isn’t there to replace underwriting judgement, it’s there to give us more time to use it.
A property submission can contain a huge amount of information across statement of values, loss runs, engineering reports and other documents. Technology and AI help us to extract and organise that information, identify what might be missing and get the important data in front of the underwriter more efficiently. That’s already very much part of the work we’re doing around HARI – a Hiscox developed AI-powered agentic solution – and our middle market proposition.
For me, the end goal is simple; I want to spend more time understanding the exposure, talking to brokers and making decisions. That’s where the underwriter adds the most value.
The team have a daily presence in the Box at Lloyd’s; do you enjoy face-to-face trading? Will it still be a feature in ten years’ time?
Definitely. Face-to-face trading is one of the things I really enjoy about the London Market. There’s a huge amount of value in a broker being able to sit down with you, talk through a risk and explain the story behind it. Sometimes a five-minute conversation at the Box can give you context that is difficult to get from an email or submission alone.
I also think it’s particularly important for us as a relatively new team. We want brokers to know who we are and understand what we are looking for. That’s why having the team accessible at the Hiscox Box Monday through Thursday has been an important part of establishing our team.
I imagine it will not look exactly the same in ten years. Technology makes more of the transactional side of insurance faster and more digital. But I actually think that also makes the human interaction more valuable. As technology takes care of some of the simpler administrative work, it gives us extra time to have meaningful conversations about the more interesting or complex risks.
The way we trade will continue to evolve, but relationships and underwriting judgement remain a big part of what makes the London Market different.
Victoria Knight – Line Underwriter, Middle Market Property
How do you see the profile of the Hiscox middle market property book changing over the next 12-24 months?
Over the next 12-24 months, I expect the portfolio to become increasingly balanced between delegated authority and open market business, evolving from a predominantly delegated proposition into a recognised London lead market for middle market property risks.
Our focus will be on writing larger, more meaningful lines, leveraging our underwriting expertise, claims capabilities, proprietary wordings, and risk engineering support to offer brokers and clients a differentiated alternative in a competitive market.
At the same time, technology is fundamentally reshaping how this business is traded. Digital underwriting tools, AI-enabled triage, enhanced data analytics and stronger connectivity with distribution partners allow us to quote faster, manage portfolio exposures more effectively and spend more time on underwriting judgement and client relationships.
The emphasis will continue to be on building a disciplined portfolio, ensuring we establish a more diversified, resilient and scalable book that can perform sustainably through the market cycle.