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Your 2025 Year in Review

First off, thank you.

This week marks our 88th straight week of writing these Boardroom Briefings. Many of you have been with us since the beginning, when we were still finding our footing. Now there's over 2,500 CFOs, CUOs, General Counsels, and Risk Managers at Financial Institutions reading weekly.

We know you're busy.

That’s why every Friday, we distill 200+ articles into the three signals your board should know about. This week, we're breaking format. Instead of looking ahead, we're looking back on the briefings that sparked conversation. The editions worth revisiting, and the guides that belong in your holiday reading stack.

Here's your year in review…

The Editions That Sparked the Most Conversation

21 States Changed AI Rules (Your Board's Blind Spot in 2025):

Our most read edition.

Twenty-one states adopted the NAIC model bulletin on AI governance before most compliance teams started paying attention. Colorado and New York created stricter standalone guidelines. Companies became responsible for their vendors' AI compliance, not just their own. SEC guidelines expanded CFO personal liability to cybersecurity incidents. Proxy discrimination became the new regulatory front.

Our readers briefed their boards in January while everyone else scrambled in Q3.

​[Read: 21 States Changed AI Rules]​

Nuclear Verdicts and The Psychology Behind $10M+ Awards:

This two-part Wednesday series broke down why traditional exposure models are becoming dangerously outdated.

Median awards climbed from $21 million to over $51 million in five years. Thermonuclear verdicts exceeding $100 million appeared 27 times in 2023, compared to roughly three in the previous decade. Plaintiff attorneys use the "Reptile Theory" to bypass logic entirely, triggering primal survival instincts.

Regional mutuals have an overlooked advantage: community presence is the most powerful verdict prevention system ever created.

​[Read: Nuclear Verdicts & The Gaming of Juries]​

The Rating Agency That Saw What Wall Street Missed:

The Wall Street Journal blamed the thermometer for the fever.

Joe Petrelli and Todd Kozakowski identified the real threat: law firms spending $50,000/month on Google ads to impersonate insurers and hijack claims at industrial scale. St. John's Insurance lawsuit count exploded from 180 (2016) to 3,508 (2021)—a 1,849% increase from opportunists. 850 Louisiana homeowners had claims hijacked by lawyers they never hired.

Traditional rating models measure reserves, not litigation weaponization.

​[Read: The Demotech Profile]​

The Reciprocal Gold Rush:

Twenty-seven reciprocals formed between 2017-2024, with eighteen launching in the past year alone.

Premium volume jumped 83% from 2022-2024, all providing homeowners coverage in catastrophe zones where traditional carriers withdrew. But underwriters evaluate reciprocals through a completely different lens than traditional insurers. The dual-entity structure requires separate coverage evaluation.

The core conflict between subscriber interests and Attorney-in-Fact fees is "the root of 100% of the D&O lawsuits in this space."

​[Read: The Reciprocal Gold Rush]​

Five of Our Top Wednesday Intelligence Editions

This year we published 23 Wednesday Intelligence editions. These were longer-form pieces that go deeper than the Friday brief allows. If you missed them, or want to share them with a colleague over the holidays, here are five worth revisiting…

The CFO's No-BS Guide to Financial Institution Insurance:

Insurance companies face a fascinating paradox: you help others manage risk every day, yet blind spots emerge in your own coverage.

Steve, a regional insurer CFO, discovered his ECO/XPL reinsurance didn't coordinate with commercial E&O. The gap left $2 million in bad faith defense costs uncovered. He fought his own carriers for two years.

This guide walks through the coverage coordination gaps we see in almost every program we review. Plus the six strategies forward-thinking CFOs use to close them before claims hit.

​[Read: The CFO's No-BS Guide]​

The GC's Definitive Guide to Insurance:

Jessica's D&O carrier cited regulatory exclusions. Professional liability pointed to an "in fact" fraud exclusion. Neither covered mounting defense costs. The 18-month saga cost $1.8 million and threatened operations.

This guide covers D&O, E&O, cyber, and EPL from a legal risk perspective - and what GCs need to know before their next board meeting.

​[Read: The GC's Definitive Guide]​

FI Insurance in Two Emails:

Every FI program has 8-12 critical coverage gaps.

These are exposures that can become seven or eight-figure claims. The SEC v. Blaszczak case showed defendants facing $42 million in defense costs with Side A DIC as their only protection.

Part 1 covers D&O, E&O, EPLI, and Fiduciary. Part 2 covers Cyber, Crime, K&R, and P&C. Readers saved and forwarded this series more than any other.

[Read: Part 1 | Read: Part 2]

Generalist vs. Specialist Brokers:

An MGA's generalist broker missed a "third-party distribution" exclusion.

When the $4.2 million claim arose, LION's specialist team reframed it around underwriting authority instead of distribution methods. Full coverage secured. The generalist would have lost it.

The numbers: 18% average premium reduction when switching. 92% claims recovery ratio vs. 65% industry average.

​[Read: Generalist vs. Specialist]​

The LION Lloyd's Program for US Insurance Operations:

Standard policies force constant cross-referencing. The master policy says one thing. Endorsement A modifies it. Exclusion B contradicts both. Amendment C changes everything again.

We went the opposite direction. Our manuscript consolidates everything into 40 pages—D&O, E&O, EPL, and Fiduciary under one lead carrier. No endorsement flipping. No hunting through appendices. No discovering during a claim that two provisions contradict.

Twenty years of Lloyd's relationships built the trust that made this possible.

​[Read: The Lloyd's Manuscript]​

Worth Reading Over the Long Weekend

If you have a few quiet minutes between helpings of leftovers, we've curated three more pieces worth revisiting.

The Cyber Hurricane: How a Systemic Event Breaks the Insurance Model:

This piece explains why traditional cyber underwriting models are fundamentally broken, what systemic catastrophe risk actually looks like, and why your institution's cyber program may be priced for a world that no longer exists.

NotPetya caused $10 billion in global damages in 2017. Maersk and FedEx each lost $300 million, simultaneously.

We break down how a healthy A-rated carrier can be rendered technically insolvent in under 24 hours from a correlated cyber event.

​[Read: The Elephant in the (Server) Room]​

Nuclear Verdicts: The Psychology Behind $10M+ Awards:

The era of predictable verdicts is over.

While nationals need million-dollar defense strategies, regional and mutual insurers can leverage their existing community connections as verdict immunity. Your adjusters living in town and coaching Little League is better verdict prevention than anything nationals can buy.

​[Read: Nuclear Verdicts & The Gaming of Juries]​

Built for Executives: What FI Leadership Actually Needs From Their Broker:

Most brokers serve institutions. We serve the executives who lead them.

Your D&O policy protects the institution, but it also protects you personally. This edition unpacks what financial institution executives actually need from their broker: time back in your day, personal protection that holds up under pressure, and board-ready answers when your directors start asking questions.

Coverage that exists on paper differs from coverage that performs when you're the one being named.

​[Read: Built for Executives]​

LION's 2025: The Follies and the Wins

Every year at LION's Christmas dinner, our cofounder, Natasha gives a speech. It always starts the same way—with everything that went sideways. Then it ends with everything that went right.

Here's the 2025 edition.

The Follies

A few consultant relationships didn't pan out. A framework we bet on didn't stick. A couple partnerships didn't work out the way we hoped.

Not every bet lands. That's the year.

The Wins

But more went right than wrong:

• 64% organic growth Y/Y.
• 10 new clients joined the Pride.
• Carrier appointments doubled—26 to 46. More capacity, more options for you.
• Built a bespoke RWI program.
• Launched an industry-wide peer data survey with Demotech.

And behind the scenes: 88 weeks of newsletters, LinkedIn reach in the tens of thousands weekly, and 77% subscriber growth. The team got back to London to see our trading partners there.
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Closing Thoughts

Since the beginning, we've had one mission: to provide our clients and carrier partners with valuable market intelligence.

We know you're busy. We know you don't have time to read everything about the global insurance markets. For 88 straight weeks now, we've tried to make it a bit easier for you by distilling 200+ articles into signals your board can act on Monday morning.

Your engagement tells us we're pointed in the right direction.

From our team to yours: thank you for being part of the Pride. Enjoy the holiday season. We'll see you in January.

Thank you for reading today's edition!

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Stay Covered,

TASH and FLIP

Co-Founders and Managing Partners

LION Specialty

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