Insurance provides a safety net to the world but there are some risks that the industry cannot finance on its own.

Albert Benchimol, former president and chief executive at Axis Capital, made this point at the Abir@30 Lunch Forum at the Hamilton Princess & Beach Club.

Speaking during the panel “Past, Present and Future Leadership”, Mr Benchimol said one such area involved cyber-risks.

“If we want to stay true to our commitment to pay all valid claims when they come, there are some risks that we have to limit,” Mr Benchimol said “We cannot take them all on.”

He called for the development of more public-private partnerships.

“Where we can do that ultimately, we will create significant capacity and provide comfort to the capital markets to provide more support to the industry.”

Mr Benchimol said the insurance industry could provide society with its ability to identify risk, good risk management behaviours and exposure.

“If the claims from industry get too big, we need some support,” he said. “It has to be from pretty high up.”

Mr Benchimol said this was not a revolutionary concept.

“We’ve got plenty of examples of other great partnerships all over the world,” he said. “In the United States, for example, there is much government support with mortgage insurance.”

Speaking on the topic of diversity and inclusion, Pina Albo, Abir’s first female chair, said the industry had come a long way in terms of diversity and inclusion, but there was still more to do.

Ms Albo, the chief executive of Hamilton Insurance Group, said: “After talking about this issue for the last 30 years, sitting here in 2023, I would have expected to see more diversity in the upper echelons of this industry.”

She took great pride in the diversity and inclusion at her own firm.

“We have had four female CEOs at Hamilton Re, and five out of the nine on our executive team is diverse,” she said. “I didn’t choose, for example, Megan Thomas, because she is a woman; I chose her to run [the] Bermuda [office] because I thought she would be the best person for this operation.”

She said people needed role models to show them that they had a shot, too.

“I had female role models as a lawyer, but fewer in the insurance industry,” she said.

“I take comfort in the fact that we have made progress.”

Panel moderator Fiona Luck, Lloyds of London council director, said she got her start working with Bermuda market pioneer Brian O’Hara, the retired chief executive of XL Capital.

“We worked together 30-plus years ago,” Ms Luck said. “I was part of the management team. Out of 12 members, five were women.”

She joked that Mr O’Hara was ahead of his time on the issue of gender inclusion, at that time, because he grew up with six sisters.

He laughingly agreed with her theory.

More seriously he said: “I just wanted to build the best team, however I could.”

He said he was fortunate to have Catherine Duffy underwriting with him in the early years of XL. Ms Duffy is now considered one of Bermuda’s most senior industry professionals and is country leader of Bermuda at AIG.

“She is a superstar, now,” Mr O’Hara said.

Speaking about the future of the industry Paul Simons, the chief executive of Convex Bermuda, said: “What young people should want coming into the industry is a healthy, functioning marketplace.”

He said the industry was at an imbalance.

“The risk-reward dynamics have been thrown off,” he said. “It has been a tough number of years for reinsurance in the property space. That has been brought more into alignment, now.”

He said it was important for young people coming in, to understand that insurance was a long-term business.

“We’re here today talking about a period of 30 years,” he said. “You have to be solution-oriented.”