Allianz UK has rolled out a generative AI tool called BRIAN, designed to cut down the grind of searching through thick underwriting manuals. The system is built to respond directly to underwriters’ questions, pulling precise answers from guidance documents and linking back to the source.
The tool moved into live use across Allianz Commercial after a pilot phase and has already logged over 13,000 queries since January.
The company estimates that’s freed up around 65,000 minutes—135 working days—that would otherwise be lost to information hunting.
BRIAN’s name pays tribute to Benjamin Blackie, a figure involved in Allianz’s early development. Blackie now oversees transformation projects at Allianz UK and calls out the tool’s “dual functionality”—a short, clear answer paired with a direct link to the relevant text.
Underwriters who once spent two hours a week digging through internal files now get what they need in seconds.
The company positions BRIAN less as automation, more as augmentation. Decision-making stays human, but the AI handles retrieval so staff can shift focus to evaluating risks, managing client relationships, adjusting pricing strategies, and keeping up with regulatory changes.
That’s especially useful for junior underwriters, who face steep learning curves with dense documentation.
The software has rolled out to all property and liability underwriters across Allianz UK’s commercial offices, with plans to extend to the wider underwriting workforce by year-end.
What sets BRIAN apart is its dual functionality. It provides a concise answer and includes a direct link to the specific section of the guidance document used to generate the response, allowing underwriters to delve deeper if needed.
Benjamin Blackie, Transformation Business Owner at Allianz UK
“Typically, our underwriters spend around two hours a week looking for information on internal documents. With BRIAN it takes just seconds. This is not about replacing decision-making, but equipping people with better tools to access information they need at the moment they need it. With the extra time saved, underwriters can focus on deeper risk analysis, enhancing customer relationships, refining pricing strategies, and staying updated on emerging market trends and regulatory changes,” Benjamin Blackie said.
Allianz is betting on BRIAN to act like the experienced colleague who always knows where the answer is—except now available to everyone, all the time.
BRIAN is continuously adapting to meet the evolving needs of our underwriters through a collaboration between Allianz UK business, transformation and Central AI team within Ops IT Data function.
In a remote world with lots of hybrid working, not every underwriter gets to sit next to a senior underwriter every day who just so happens to know where things are – so it’s called BRIAN so every underwriter can have what I had when I first started.
By reducing inefficiencies and improving decision-making, BRIAN empowers underwriters to make better-informed decisions faster, transforming traditionally cumbersome processes and enhancing agility, accuracy, and confidence in underwriting practices.
In doing so, BRIAN aligns with the Allianz UK vision of refining its operations to be more intelligent, robust, and streamlined, ultimately enhancing its ease of collaboration and elevating its capabilities.
