The Role of Underwriting and Marketing in Pricing

Pricing in the global sense means the actuarial, marketing and underwriting process by which manual premiums are determined. Just as pricing is not restricted to the members of the actuarial department, so too are marketing and underwriting efforts not restricted to the employees in those departments. All employees of an insurance company should direct their efforts toward selling, for without a sale, there is no company but the emphasis must be towards selling at a profitable level. Likewise, underwriting cannot be divorced form the pricing process, because prices are not constructed in a vacuum, but rather with specific kinds of insureds in mind. Rather than just talking about the roles of underwriting and marketing in the personal lines pricing process, I'd like to outline the various phases that can occur while pricing personal lines in a "typical" company and to explore with you along the way, the role of the actuary in all of it. Premium Analysis