Is this the key factor in an insurance deal?

First there was the cultural cringe, then the culture wars. In recent years, the word culture has found another popular mutation – this time, referring to the attitudes and agreed ways of working shared by the employees of a company.

Many insurance industry leaders interviewed by Insurance Business see work culture as an essential part of every facet of their businesses, from winning contracts to retaining staff and making investments in other companies.

In late February, Amwins, a firm that describes itself as the largest independent wholesale distributor of specialty insurance products in the US, announced a minority investment in an Australian underwriting agency start-up firm called Rhodian.

“Employ good people, the business will come”

Mark Cody (pictured above), managing director of Amwins Global Risks, was involved in his firm’s decision to invest. London-based Cody runs the international division of Amwins. He referred to Rhodian’s pitch around being “nimble,” taking on all the services that can “bog down” underwriters and empowering them “to just underwrite.”

“That chimes very much with Amwins,” said Cody.  “Also, more than anything, the culture and his [Rhodian CEO Simon Lightbody (pictured immediately below)] vision of that: the idea that if you employ good people the business will come.”