Portfolio profitability & pricing
Understand what's driving profitability — and what to change
Loss ratios · Rate adequacy · Portfolio mix · Underwriting actions
Complex problems.
Better decisions.
Advice from someone who has had to live with the answer.
Actuarial, insurance and commercial advice from a practitioner who has built businesses, put capital at risk and owned the outcome.
120% 65%
Motor portfolio loss ratio
18-month transformation
CREDENTIALS / EVIDENCE
Evidence, not credentials.
~8 years
Building and managing insurance businesses
Direct exposure
Owned the result — earned profits, not fees
FASSA
Actuarial expertise applied to commercial decisions, not just models
End-to-end insurance experience
ProductPricingUnderwritingCapitalReinsuranceDistributionClaimsPortfolio
Most advisers arrive with a slide deck or a model.
I arrive with both — plus the scar tissue of having owned the result.
You work with me, not a pyramid of analysts.
Izak Mentz, Fellow member of the Actuarial Society of South Africa (FASSA) — Founder
Record / The founder
The person behind Leaf
Izak Mentz, FASSA
Actuary. Insurance executive. Business builder.
I build from the economics out.
I'm an actuary and insurance executive who has spent years making decisions where pricing, risk, capital and commercial reality collide.
I've built and managed insurance businesses, developed products, negotiated reinsurance, worked through underwriting and claims problems, and turned actuarial models into operating businesses.
The result is a consulting practice built around a simple principle: good analysis is only useful if it leads to a better decision.
I've spent years making these decisions from inside the business — putting capital at risk, carrying the downside and being accountable for the commercial outcome.
Start a conversationANALYSIS / PROBLEMS WE SOLVE
The problems worth bringing us in for
Four problems, deliberately. Also: strategy & growth, transformation and operating models — where they serve one of these.
Building or fixing an insurance business
Build, restructure or repair the economics of an insurance business
Product development · Cell captives · Underwriting framework · Distribution · Claims
Product & insurtech economics
Turn complex insurance ideas into products that work commercially at scale
Business cases · Unit economics · Go-to-market · Turning models into live products
Capital, reinsurance & risk decisions
Make better decisions about capital, risk transfer and the trade-offs between growth and profitability.
Reinsurance structures · Capital allocation · Scenario analysis · Commercial risk trade-offs
Methodology / The three stages
From diagnosis to decision
- Ch. 01
Understand
Find what is actually driving the result
Portfolio data, economics, assumptions, incentives and constraints
- Ch. 02
Model
Test the decisions available to management
Pricing, underwriting, capital, reinsurance, product and distribution options
- Ch. 03
Execute
Turn the chosen option into something that works
Implementation, operating changes, governance and measurement
ANALYSIS / SELECTED WORK
Three engagements
Motor Insurance
Turning actuarial analysis into portfolio profitability.
Cell Captive
Building an insurance business around a differentiated risk proposition.
Insurtech
Turning complex insurance models into scalable digital products.
Perspectives / Recent thinking
Notes from practice
- Cell captives
The economics of a profitable cell captive
- Distribution
Why insurance distribution is changing
- Actuarial strategy
When actuarial models become strategic assets
Have a difficult decision?
Bring us the problem.
If you’re dealing with a complex strategic, commercial or financial problem, start with a conversation.