Art vs Science: Data, Decision-making and the Future of PVT Underwriting

Art vs Science: Data, Decision-making and the Future of PVT Underwriting

From The Political Risk Podcast by David Benyon

December 18, 2025 · 40 min

About this episode

The episode discusses the future of political violence and terrorism underwriting with insights from industry experts.

Join two special guests for a conversation about the future of political violence and terrorism underwriting. Billy Ayres is head of crisis management at The Fidelis Partnership, and Simon Fagg is global head of pre-sales solutions at AdvantageGo. We discuss how PVT underwriters blend expertise with analytics, what underwriters really want from their data and tech providers, insurer fears about strikes, riots and civil commotion (SRCC) becoming a frequency peril, and the evolution of terrorism risk towards active-assailant coverage. Two recent white papers published by AdvantageGo in collaboration with this podcast explore the same themes. These are: “ Political Violence: Underwriting in an Age of Insecurity ” ; and “ More Art Than Science: PVT’s Use of Data-Analysis and Modelling Techniques ”.

People in this episode

Host: David Benyon

Guests: Billy Ayres, Simon Fagg

Topics covered

  • political violence
  • terrorism underwriting
  • data analytics
  • decision-making
  • insurance risks
  • active-assailant coverage

Keywords

  • PVT underwriting
  • crisis management
  • data providers
  • insurer fears
  • SRCC
  • terrorism risk
  • analytics

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: The Fidelis Partnership, AdvantageGo

Books & works: Political Violence: Underwriting in an Age of Insecurity, More Art Than Science: PVT’s Use of Data-Analysis and Modelling Techniques

More episodes of The Political Risk Podcast

Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the The Political Risk Podcast podcast page.