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CFO Horizons
Why the CFO must shape the system, not just support it
Chris Killourhy, CFO of QBE Insurance Group, outlines why the finance leader role has shifted from overseeing performance to shaping it: balancing risk, allocating capital, and managing the trade-offs behind consistent growth.
In an increasingly uncertain risk environment, consistency, stability, and discipline are a critical part of the growth agenda for insurers such as QBE.
Over the past few years, the group has simplified its business and reduced volatility to rebuild investor and rating-agency confidence. “We’ve had a turnaround period, doing what we said we would do,” explains Group CFO Chris Killourhy. “We’ve now earned the right to move from turnaround to a strategy of sustainable growth.”
But growth must be underpinned by constraint. In insurance, losses are inevitable. The aim is to ensure a balanced portfolio of risks so that no single event can destabilize the business. This knowledge has shaped how QBE approaches expansion, with leadership taking growth decisions in the context of the overall global portfolio.
“We’re not going to grow in an area simply because we can,” Killourhy says. “We’ll grow where it helps maintain balance across the portfolio.”
Growth is a portfolio issue
For QBE, the discipline to drive growth lies in portfolio management. Individual opportunities may appear attractive in isolation, but their value depends on their fitting into the broader portfolio. “A risk we underwrite may be inherently volatile when looked at individually,” Killourhy says. “But by diversifying these risks across geographies, across products, we can produce a more stable outcome.”
This perspective shapes decision-making. Growth is not simply about identifying the best risks, but about maintaining balance across the entire portfolio. That can necessitate making, on the surface, counterintuitive choices. Underwriting an otherwise attractive risk may not be the right decision if it increases exposure in a sensitive area. By the same token, the insurer may pursue a less compelling opportunity if it improves diversification.
The CFO as system architect
If value is to be created at the enterprise level, the question to ask is: “Who has the visibility, across all categories of risk, to manage that balance?” At QBE, that responsibility sits with finance. “With the support of executive colleagues, I see my role primarily as a custodian of the company’s capital. As CFO, it is my role to ensure we have sufficient capital, and at a suitable cost, to enable our underwriters and support our customers,” Killourhy says.
That role involves setting return on investment expectations and acceptable levels of earnings volatility. It also includes determining how to most efficiently link risk to capital across the business. In practice, this requires a holistic view across regions and product lines, and a willingness to intervene when local decisions may not align with the broader group strategy.
The shift reflects an evolution in finance. “Historically, finance functions were often seen as the scorekeepers,” he says. “Increasingly, this materially undervalues the role of the function. At QBE, finance is pivotal in ensuring the value of the entire company is greater than the sum of its individual parts.”
“A large part of our time can be spent looking backwards,” he notes. “This is important. We have regulatory and reporting obligations, and our teams are exceptional at delivering on these expectations.” To align with the function’s ambitions, however, there must be a greater focus on strategy, capital allocation, and influencing decisions across the organization. In this model, the CFO does not simply steward outcomes but actively shapes them.
AI and data: unlocking capacity and insight
At a business on the scale of QBE, the reporting aspect of the role is resource-intensive. “Bringing a large global insurer with multiple systems together takes significant effort across the organization,” Killourhy says.
Technology, and in particular AI, is beginning to change that. “AI will help us process, reconcile, and analyze data far more quickly,” Killourhy says. These efficiencies matter, but they are only part of the story because AI is reshaping how the organization thinks about its differentiating capabilities. AI is becoming a core capability, rather than a discrete tool.
As an incumbent insurer, QBE has a huge data asset, and the advantage lies in the information it already holds. AI makes it possible to interrogate that data at scale to execute better-informed decisions, particularly in areas such as portfolio construction and capital allocation.
The days when the CFO was automatically the most senior accountant are behind us. Now, the role involves bringing together different perspectives.
Reinventing the finance function
While AI holds the potential to reshape finance, it is subject to practical constraints. “The reality is we still have to close the books and it is complex,” Killourhy says. The result is a tension between operational demands and strategic ambition for the finance function.
For some time, technological change has raised questions about the future of individual roles. But experience suggests there will always be demand for expertise. “The best finance professionals of the future will be those who leverage AI to fully complement their core capabilities.”
The challenge, then, is equipping people in roles that fully leverage their expertise in judgment and interpretation. As routine tasks become automated, the emphasis shifts toward adaptability and curiosity, rather than purely technical skills.
For senior leaders, this marks a broader change in expectations. “The days when the CFO was automatically the most senior accountant are behind us,” Killourhy says. “Now, the role involves bringing together different perspectives and fostering effective debate.”
Designing for balance
For QBE, the move from turnaround to growth has not reduced complexity; it has changed its nature. The challenge is sustaining performance without returning to past volatility. That places a premium on balance. Growth decisions must be made in a portfolio context, weighing opportunity against exposure and short-term gains against long-term stability. In this environment, the CFO’s role extends beyond oversight into shaping the deployment of capital and planning the organizational response to uncertainty.
Ultimately, this is a design-centered task. CFOs must structure the business so that individual decisions contribute to a more consistent outcome. Finance, in this sense, is no longer just recording performance, but defining it.
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