Underwriters prove they can oversee an underwriting agent by deciding its referrals on live submissions for two weeks. They accept, price, load, exclude or decline every held risk, and an assessor marks each call. The bar is 95 correct decisions in every 100, with no missed red line, such as cover bound outside the underwriter's authority.
What does an underwriting practicum check?
An underwriting agent reads submissions, extracts the facts, checks them against appetite and the rating guide, and drafts a quote or a referral. It holds the cases that fall outside appetite, need a loading or exclusion, or rest on facts it could not verify. The underwriter's job is judgement on those referrals: is the risk acceptable, at what price, on what terms?
The practicum shows whether the underwriter reads the agent's work critically. Agents extract facts well, but an extracted fact is only as good as the document it came from. The chief underwriting officer or class underwriting manager owns the practicum; the assessor is a senior underwriter in the same class from another team. The guide to AI literacy and certification for people who work with agents covers how this fits a training plan, and what a practicum is in AI agent training is a short brief to send before day one.
What are the steps?
- Person (underwriting manager): choose a class with live referrals. Renewal season is ideal because volume is high and variety is real.
- Person (underwriting manager with compliance): fix the red lines. Binding cover outside the underwriter's authority; accepting a material fact the applicant declared where the guide requires evidence; pricing outside the rating guide without a recorded referral; any decision that relies on a characteristic the law or policy forbids using.
- Agent, depth 2: drafts quotes within appetite and the rating guide. Each figure carries the source of the facts behind it.
- Agent, depth 3: requests missing information from brokers. Within an approved list of standard requests.
- Agent: holds every referral. Out of appetite, unverified material facts, unusual loss history.
- Person (underwriter): decides each referral. Accept, load, exclude, decline or refer up, with a reason.
- Agent, depth 4: binding stays held. Binding commits the insurer and is hard to undo; it needs a named underwriter within authority.
- Person (assessor): marks each decision. Mid-point review on day five, sign-off or extension on day ten.
| Step | The agent does | Depth | Stays with a person |
|---|---|---|---|
| Submission intake | Extracts facts with provenance | 1 | Checking key facts against documents |
| Quote within guide | Drafts terms and price | 2 | Approval before release to the broker |
| Information requests | Sends standard requests | 3 | Non-standard questions |
| Referral | Holds with reasons | 2 | Accept, load, exclude or decline |
| Binding | Prepares and holds | 4 | Binding within authority |
| Declines | Drafts the reasons | 2 | Wording and the decision itself |
Which controls matter, and what evidence do they leave?
Declared facts are marked as declared. A proposal form is the applicant's statement. Loss history from a previous insurer or a survey report is stronger. The agent stamps each with its provenance, and the assessor marks down underwriters who accept a declared fact as if verified where the guide asks for evidence.
Authority lives in the workspace. Each underwriter's binding authority is one of the insurer's own limits; a bind above it is held for a senior and the verdict names the limit that decided.
Pricing departures are recorded. Any price outside the rating guide carries a reason. The verdict holds both the guide price and the decided price.
Some classes carry extra rules. Under the EU AI Act, risk assessment and pricing for life and health insurance are listed as high-risk, with obligations on human oversight. Underwriters in those classes should know that their review is part of how the insurer meets them. This is an explanation of the rules, not legal advice; confirm how they apply to you with counsel.
What should be measured?
- Accuracy against the 95 in 100 bar.
- Red-line misses: zero.
- Document checks: how often the underwriter opened the source document behind a key fact before deciding.
- Pricing departures: number and direction, with the assessor's view of each reason.
- Decline reasons: clear enough for a broker to explain to the client.
Record each in the practicum log template for underwriters.
Where does an underwriting practicum go wrong?
Brokers push for speed. A trainee under pressure from a broker may accept the agent's extraction without reading the survey. The assessor should check referrals decided within minutes of arrival.
Only easy referrals. If a class produces no unusual risks in the fortnight, replay past referrals in a training workspace, labelled as replayed.
The assessor marks only the referrals. Quotes the agent drafted within the guide also pass through the underwriter before release. A trainee who approves every one unread will miss the submission where the agent extracted the wrong sum insured from a broker's covering email instead of the schedule. Sample those approvals too.
Mispriced risks look fine until they claim. A practicum cannot wait for loss experience. That is why the assessor marks reasoning, not outcome: would a senior underwriter have written the same reason?
Collections and risk teams use the same method on different evidence; see the practicums for collections agents and risk managers.
Questions people ask
Can a trainee bind cover during the practicum?
Within a reduced authority, yes, with the assessor checking binds near the limit before they take effect. Binding nothing at all would leave the most consequential skill untested.
How should referral notes be written?
As if for the claims handler who reads them after a loss. State the fact that mattered, its source, and why it led to the terms given. Notes like "acceptable risk" tell nobody anything.
Does the practicum replace underwriting authority reviews?
No. Authority reviews look at an underwriter's book over time. The practicum tests one skill, reviewing an agent's work, over a short period, and the two complement each other.