Article
As middle-market risks grow more complex, Sompo is doubling down on specialization needs.
When Matt Burns, Sompo’s EVP, head of retail casualty & middle market, North America joined the company in 2017, his mandate was straightforward: build a meaningful middle-market presence. Now, a decade later, that vision has evolved into a sophisticated, industry-aligned model that mirrors the shifting expectations of brokers and clients.
Expert insight
Whether we’re looking at middle market or just casualty in general, what [we’re] seeing, on both the company side and the broker side, is more of an aim towards specialization in certain industries. Our brokers are certainly starting to organize in that fashion, and that’s ultimately what clients are looking for as well.
Matthew Burns
EVP, Head of Retail Casualty & Middle Market, North America
The market is undergoing a rapid transformation, one shaped by geopolitical uncertainty and the accelerating influence of AI. In this environment, clients seek out insurance partners that understand their holistic business needs, not just an insurance view.
“When we meet with customers and brokers, their expectation isn’t that they’re speaking with a generalist, rather, that they’re partnering with somebody who can understand their business, explained Burns. “Insurance is becoming a bigger part of the conversations at the board level – how they think about the future, how they [ensure] they’re staying ahead of risks that they themselves may not see, and how are insurance costs going to impact their business. They don’t necessarily live in the insurance world every day like we do. [As such], they’re relying on us to be more of an advisor and partner, and we need folks that live and breathe the industries that our clients operate within.”
Sompo has specialization across underwriting, claims, and risk control, creating a continuous feedback loop that keeps the team aligned on emerging risks and market shifts. This model ensures that conversations with clients reflect a holistic view of their risk landscape – not siloed department perspectives.
Burns emphasized that true specialization extends beyond underwriting.
Expert insight
Take the life sciences space, for example. If your claims, risk control, and underwriting functions aren’t connected, you’re not going to stay current with what’s going on in the market, and you’re not going to be that solution provider for your end customer [either].
Matthew Burns
EVP, Head of Retail Casualty & Middle Market, North America
This 360-degree approach enables Sompo to identify risks earlier, respond faster, and deliver more relevant solutions – particularly in industries where exposures evolve quickly.
A key ingredient to Sompo’s approach is communication. All of this client-centric strategy didn’t just happen overnight. As Burns told IB, it was very intentional.
“You could say that claims, risk control, and underwriting are all aligned, but if that’s not being communicated both internally and externally in a cohesive way, it’s not going to provide the value that it should,” Burns said.
“When we meet with our customers, it’s not a claims discussion or a risk-control discussion or an underwriting discussion – it’s a discussion around how all of those areas are impacting each other and why. We bring our brokers’ and our clients’ awareness of the risks we’re seeing and how they can help to mitigate them moving forward to create a more sustainable program.”
The role of technology: what may have taken days now takes seconds
Sompo’s technology strategy is pragmatic and focused on enabling better, faster decisions – enhancing human judgment. As Burns explained, technology is helping the organization move with greater speed and precision.
“What may have taken hours or sometimes days, we can do in seconds,” he noted, describing how modern tools are transforming information gathering and submission intake.
While some companies are experimenting with AI-driven underwriting, Sompo is taking a different approach. The focus is on leveraging technology to enhance accuracy, streamline workflows, and free underwriters to spend more time in the market. Burns highlighted two areas where AI is beginning to make a meaningful impact:
Expert insight
If you look at the cycle time for insurance companies, certainly in the admitted line space, a very large portion of time is spent in the front-end of the process. That’s where you can find significant time savings. AI allows us to reduce hours spent in that information gathering and rating phase – enabling the underwriters to quote more business, be out in the market more, and spend less time at their desk.
Matthew Burns
EVP, Head of Retail Casualty & Middle Market, North America
Burns emphasized that technology is essential to maintaining a seamless feedback loop between underwriting, claims, and risk control, but it will likely not replace the human expertise that defines Sompo’s model and brand. “We’re in the midst of our own AI journey,” he said. “It’s about discovering where the tech can be leveraged and where the human touch is still very much needed.”
Beyond technology, the middle-market and casualty lines are being reshaped by other disruptions, notably grappling with the ongoing market volatility. Burns believes portfolio diversification is essential for resilience – both for the clients and carriers.
“When you’re managing a whole portfolio of risk, you need to think about diversification – whether that’s by product, geography, or the size of the account.”
He points to the property market as an example: the market’s reaction to national accounts or CAT-exposed risks differs from its reaction to middle-market clients or even small business clients. Liability markets vary just as widely.
“It helps to manage through market cycles when your entire portfolio is not all reacting in the same way, so it’s not all correlated,” Burns said. “[At Sompo], we spend a lot of time thinking about short-tail versus long-tail and how industry or geography factor into the right portfolio mix. [It’s about] making sure we have enough product in the market so that we’re not all reliant on one product line, geography, or size of account. [Because], as the market changes for one, so do the fortunes or misfortunes of our company if you’re too overweight in one area.”
Sompo’s proactive approach is what sets it apart in the middle market. Instead of waiting for external changes to dictate its direction, the company is focused on long-term strategic positioning. Burns told IB that refining this forward-looking strategy will be a major focus over the next few years. And, looking to the next few years, Burns said that they’re wholly focused on honing their strategy here too.
Expert insight
We will continue to expand our footprint and launch different products here in the US. This is where our people come into play. We’re hiring people that know their geography, products, and distribution partners extremely well. Most importantly, they know how to succeed in their local market. [Because] that’s the key – establishing which markets provide the greatest opportunity and making sure you have the best people in those markets that feel empowered to make decisions.
Matthew Burns
EVP, Head of Retail Casualty & Middle Market, North America
Sompo is also strengthening its multinational capabilities. According to Burns, this is already a very large part of their strategy; however, as Sompo continues to expand its own network, especially throughout the UK and Continental Europe, this support will only grow to help the needs of customers all over the world.
“At Sompo, Brian Grabek, EVP and head of multinational, is responsible for building out our global capabilities, and he’s done a phenomenal job,” Burns said. With clients increasingly operating internationally, it’s very important that we can support them wherever they do business.
“Separately, our recent acquisition of Aspen marks another important step in strengthening the broader organization,” Burns said. “Now that the deal is complete, we’re focused on integrating our new colleagues and capabilities, and on expanding the products we can offer clients. We’re really excited about that.”
With specialized talent, cross-functional alignment, and pragmatic use of technology, Sompo is building a middle-market platform designed not just to meet today’s needs but also to scale alongside clients as their risks evolve. The company’s long-term strategy is rooted in anticipating change rather than reacting to it – ensuring that as industries shift, global operations expand, and new exposures emerge, Sompo is positioned to guide clients with clarity and confidence.
By investing in people who understand their markets deeply, strengthening multinational capabilities, and integrating new expertise through acquisitions like Aspen, Sompo is creating an ecosystem built for resilience and growth.
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