2024 Asia Underwriting Graduate Programme

Our graduate programmes are designed with you in mind. It's our priority to equip you with the knowledge, skills and behaviours needed to be successful in your role at Markel and beyond.

Who are Markel?

Welcome to Markel where we take great pride in what we do. To us, insurance isn’t just a policy - it’s a vital promise that gives people and businesses the confidence to move forward, each and every day. Here, you’ll find exceptional people, without the ego. People who’ll bring out your best, and support you at every step, because it’s who we are and the secret to our success.

We are a leading global speciality insurer with a truly people first-approach. With over 5,000 employees across the globe, finding creative solutions for complex risks is our passion. And our broad array of tools and knowledge allows us to create tailored coverage solutions for even the most complex needs.

Our international business is made up of two core divisions: Wholesale and National Markets, through these we offer innovative products and services. Our international business is located throughout UK, Europe, Canada and Asia Pacific.

We pride ourselves on having accessible leadership, an inclusive culture and a focus on empowerment. This is brought to life through our employee led networks ‘The Style In Action’, which are centred around inclusion, community, well-being, recognition and innovation.

We’re all about people | We win together | We strive for better | We enjoy the everyday | We think further

The opportunity

We support the professional growth of every graduate with on-the-job experience, technical and professional skills training, and the opportunity to receive professional qualifications. Throughout your programme, you’ll not only develop expertise in your field, but acquire valuable knowledge from across the business through rotations, projects and mentoring. Also, did we mention our graduate roles are permanent roles from day one?

The Asia Pacific offices are located in Singapore, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Dubai, Mumbai and Kuala Lumpur, Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne and currently there are 75 colleagues in this region. Working closely with underwriting teams in London, Markel Asia is empowered to underwrite risk on behalf of Markel’s Syndicate 3000 at Lloyd’s.

This programme will be run by Markel International Singapore Pte Ltd. As a graduate on the Asia Underwriting programme, you’ll be assigned to one of the following underwriting divisions:

- Energy provides coverage on a worldwide basis for all aspects of upstream, midstream and downstream oil and gas activities as well as renewable energy.
- Marine provides coverage for liability, hull, war, terrorism, specie and cargo risks worldwide.
- Professional and Financial Risks (“PFR”) underwrites for businesses worldwide and covers both the traditional and emerging risk sectors for professional indemnity, directors and officers and crime exposures. The team also writes differing types of business and industry areas for cyber coverage.
- Trade Credit and Political Risk (“TCPR”) underwrites a variety of trade and investment-related risks using expert knowledge of commercial counterparty and country risks across a wide variety of trade sectors and geographies.

What you’ll be doing

As a trainee underwriter you’ll spend your time learning everything that you need to become expert in your field. Within the programme you will:

- Perform back office operations to support the underwriters such as administrative tasks, legal and data management.
- Learn the terms and acronyms used by specialists across the insurance sector.
- Learn how to assess, rate, quote and underwrite the client’s risk.
- Attend lunches and events to build strong relationships with brokers and clients to understand their needs and ultimately deliver good customer service.
- Collaborate and problem-solve with departments, such as finance, actuarial and compliance, to successfully complete a range of challenging yet rewarding tasks which will shape you into an experienced underwriter over a period of time.
- Data entry using a number of systems, including use of Microsoft excel.
- Study towards a credible Singapore College of Insurance qualification
- Attend regular check-ins to review performance so that you have every opportunity to progress and gain more autonomy within your role.

What’s in it for you
- You’ll get support every step of the way - we know that starting out in a new role and industry can be daunting, but Markel’s ego-free environment gives you all the support that you need to go further and achieve great things.
- Build your network across the business as you spend time liaising with a number of departments such as Asia Management, Finance, marketing (UK), actuarial (UK), claims, regulatory and legal (UK).
- Your development doesn’t just stop after your programme. Markel are committed to you and your long-term career -there are countless