The new Willis Re eyes AI to give valuable time back to brokers

When is a start-up not really a start-up? The short answer to that in the reinsurance industry is now simple: when it is Willis Re. A business once absorbed into Gallagher, like a phoenix from the flames, the name has been reborn.

Key points:
Willis Re targets specialty lines first
AI can transform decision making
Reinsurance still a people business

“We have no legacy systems, yet we’ve got the huge infrastructure of WTW around us.”

But this Willis Re is no replica, says Jim Summers, chief executive of global specialties at Willis Re since June and the man driving the broker’s development. This is the new Willis Re.

Summers, an industry veteran with deep expertise in marine and energy, is tasked with explaining this contradiction at the heart of Willis Re – and why the new version is different. “We are a start-up, we are nimble; yet we’ve got the rich history of the Willis Re brand. We have no legacy systems, yet we’ve got the huge infrastructure of Willis Towers Watson (WTW) around us. The brand is still there; we just needed the talent and the technology.”

The new Willis Re has been busy acquiring both those things since its official launch in 2025 as a joint venture between WTW and private investment firm Bain Capital.

Deftly led by Lucy Clarke, president of risk and broking at WTW and a Willis Re board member, the venture has endured challenges – notably the high-profile court case with Guy Carpenter. The judge largely ruled in favour of Willis Re – but it was an arduous process.

Now that is behind it, Willis Re is gaining momentum. The lure and excitement of working for an agile start-up has appealed to top talent – Summers among them. It is also appealing to clients.

Summers notes that the old Willis Re (pre-Gallagher acquisition in 2021) was renowned for its expertise in speciality reinsurance lines. This is also Clarke’s background on the insurance side. So this is where it starts. “Clients always associated Willis Re with these areas; solving problems in these areas,” Summers told Monte Carlo Today.

Back to the future

Willis Re’s leadership is being deliberate when it comes to growth. Rather than attempt to launch across every business line simultaneously, it is focusing first on areas where the wider Willis business already enjoys strong relationships. These include marine, energy, aviation, technical lines, trade credit and property direct and facultative.

The broader ambition, however, is significantly larger. “The aim is that Willis Re will be a reinsurance broker that covers all the geographies and business lines Willis, the insurance broker, does,” Summers said. “We just need to go at a pace that means we do things right; we need the right people and systems first.”

But any notion that Willis Re will be a simple copy of its pre-2021 predecessor is dismissed by Summers. While it might eventually boast a similar scope of lines of business, how it does things will be very different.

The world has changed, the market has changed, he stresses. The advancement of technology and AI has changed what is possible for brokers beyond all recognition. Client needs and expectations have soared. And with no legacy systems and a clean slate to work from, he eyes an opportunity.

“Artificial intelligence is reshaping how brokers operate, clients are demanding greater choice and the business has the chance to design its technology stack around customer needs rather than internal processes,” he said. “Our ambition is that when a client has a problem, they call us. And they will do that because they will know we’ve got the team and technology in place to respond in an appropriate fashion.”

AI: time, not complexity

Technology sits at the heart of Willis Re's strategy, but Summers is careful to distinguish between technology that benefits brokers and technology that benefits clients. “We're setting the business up for our clients, not for us,” he stressed.

He believes the insurance industry has traditionally lagged behind other sectors in digital transformation, but the acceleration of AI over the past year provides an opportunity to rethink how reinsurance broking operates from the ground up – and that is only realistic starting with no legacy systems, as Willis Re is.

Rather than build new placement platforms, Willis Re is integrating pricing tools, capital models, portfolio optimisation capabilities and client management systems into a connected ecosystem, supported by AI. What is more, the reinsurance side will be able seamlessly to integrate with insurance.

“In most other companies, different systems don’t talk to each other,” Summers said. “But you can put an AI wrap around all of that, allowing all these functions to talk to each other. That makes everything so much faster.”

He is also clear on what that ultimately means. The objective is not automation for its own sake, but better decision-making. “The more time we can save, the more we can lend to judgment,” he said. “The judgment part is where we need to be – allowing brokers and clients to spend more time making decisions. Giving clients better information earlier in the renewal process will allow them to make more informed strategic decisions.”

Such an approach also offers clients a choice. The reinsurance broking landscape has become increasingly concentrated following years of mergers and acquisitions. Summers believes clients benefit from having meaningful alternatives. “Choice is very important for clients,” he said. Rather than describe Willis Re as a disruptive force, however, he prefers a different word. “I would probably use improvement more than disruption.”

This approach is also reflected in the broker’s approach to conference season – and Monte Carlo specifically. Summers says the company's priority is to understand client challenges rather than promote itself. “We want to be listening more than we’re talking; we want to be an enabler, not a blocker.”

With the ‘speed-dating’ scenes of the Rendez-Vous in mind, ultimately, he maintains that reinsurance remains a people-first business. Returning to the theme of technology and AI, Summers argues that such investments are only merited if the outcome is better for the client.

“If you make the right judgments consistently over a period of time, your business will be stronger,” he said. “The greatest competitive advantage AI can deliver is surprisingly simple: it is additional time. Reinsurance is still ultimately a people’s business. If you give people more time to be people and not wait for unnecessary processes, you create that time and allow people to be people in a people's business.”

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