Markel International, a division of Markel Insurance, the insurance business unit of Markel Group Inc., has partnered with hyperexponential (hx) to modernize the ratings, underwriting workflows and integration architecture of its Canadian operations.
By integrating hx’s platform, Markel is investing heavily in a sophisticated AI-native underwriting environment.
At the same time, it secures hx’s growing footprint in North America as the leading pricing and underwriting decision-making platform for commercial property and casualty insurance carriers.
As part of its partnership with hyperexponential, Markel Canada has launched a purpose-built environmental rating feature on the hx platform for a more streamlined digital experience. This investment signals a shift from fragmented transaction pricing to a more connected underwriting experience.
By integrating data, pricing and context into a single workflow, underwriters now have the information they need to make decisions without friction or unnecessary handoffs, the companies explained.
Establishing the HX Platform as a centralized ratings layer creates a scalable foundation that can support more complex products, package policies and changing portfolio needs over time.
This provides greater clarity on today’s pricing while providing a platform designed to grow with the business, allowing for faster, more informed decisions as underwriting complexity increases.
“Our underwriters need tools that support good judgment, not slow it down. By bringing data directly into the ratings workflow, we can reduce friction in day-to-day decision-making, allowing our teams to focus on what matters most – building trusting relationships with our broker partners, understanding risk and delivering consistent results to clients,” said Cliff Laidlaw, Senior Vice President, Underwriting, Markel Canada.
The architecture is future-focused and designed to support emerging agents and the maturation of AI capabilities, allowing Markel Canada to continue its journey toward truly AI-native underwriting workflows.
Maureen Tomlinson, senior vice president of operations at Markel Canada and head of artificial intelligence at Markel International, added: “For Markel Canada, this is about more than replacing spreadsheets. It demonstrates our commitment to investing in a more complex underwriting environment. The hx platform provides a better experience for our underwriters while laying the foundation for faster delivery, more powerful data capture and future AI-native workflows across the enterprise.”
Richard Gunn, president of hyperexponential, commented: “Canada is an important market for commercial underwriting, and Markel is ambitious here: they are not just tinkering with existing systems, but building for the future. hyperexponential built the leading AI-native underwriting workbench that keeps pricing, data and decision-making in one place from receipt to quote. We are proud to support a team that is moving at this speed and are committed to delivering the decision infrastructure for the next era of underwriting.” “