Last week, I had the opportunity to attend the Loss Executives Association “LEA” Conference, where, once a year, insurance industry professionals meet in Fort Lauderdale to foster connections, provide industry updates, and further strategize on how best to navigate the current insurance market. This year's notable speakers were insightful and gave fresh perspectives on topics ranging from the best claims handling practices to AI advances to international losses in Latin America and Canada. Below are just a few of the key takeaways from my time at LEA. 

Key Takeaways:

• Claims handling is optimized when the insurer stays actively involved, and adjusters provide tailored communications and reports, pivoting as needed based on the complexity and scale of the loss.  
• Power plants can have a multitude of potential failures. Intriguingly, these failures increase when the plant is not continuously run, as often happens nowadays, since certain power plants may only be active during high-demand times.
• AI advances may lead to automation of many things, such as claims triage, document summaries, and risk assessment, but on the legal side, we should always double-check to avoid “AI hallucinations” citing authorities and cases that don't exist.
• Greater Latin America has dealt with many types of “civil commotion” over the years.  Differentiating the cause(s) of loss (which will likely be different across various countries and the political or socioeconomic circumstances) is a key part of the adjustment process.  Interestingly, I learned that businesses will often give away their products to avoid vandalism during riots.

I look forward to attending the upcoming Spring LEA Conference and continuing to keep up-to-date on changes in the insurance industry while enjoying the company of many thought leaders in the industry.