In search of market share, companies trained their new underwriters with a “cash flow” philosophy, while offering the older underwriters who were true risk analysts early retirement. I guess that company management thought that the good times were going to last forever.

Now that the market has turned hard, there are very few risk-analysis underwriters at the company level. (A lot of us are in the agency ranks, trying to convince the young company underwriters that the actual risk characteristics are what should be looked at, not the general class of business). As an industry, we cannot continue to be so short-sighted and expect to survive.

I can only hope that company managers read Ms. Reardon's column and realize that they've got to give their underwriters some training and update their direction. The thrust of her column said what really needed to be said.

J. Alan Johnson
The Johnson Agency
Madisonville, Tenn.

Reproduced from National Underwriter Property & Casualty/Risk & Benefits Management Edition, May 27 2002. Copyright 2002 by The National Underwriter Company in the serial publication. All rights reserved.Copyright in this article as an independent work may be held by the author.