Across markets and mandates: Edie Quintrell reflects on a career in development finance and credit insurance

As she prepares to retire in April, Edie Quintrell reflects on more than three decades across development finance and the credit and political risk insurance (CPRI) market.

Currently Underwriting Development Director, Financial Risk Solutions, at Liberty Specialty Markets, she joined Liberty in 2016 after senior roles at the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA), the political risk arm of the World Bank Group, and earlier leadership positions at the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), now the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC).

She served as Chair of the Berne Union’s Medium- and Long-Term Committee for the 2022–2024 term and previously held leadership roles including Chair of the Investment Insurance Committee. In this interview, she discusses how the market has evolved and why public-private partnership remains central to its future.

Your career in credit and political risk insurance spans multiple institutions across both the public and private sectors. Looking back, what have been the biggest changes to the industry, and which of those have most altered how the market supports trade and investment today?

Edie: The biggest change I’ve seen has been the growth of the private credit and political risk insurance market. When I started out, there were only a few private sector players. Today there are more than 70 private underwriters in the credit and political risk insurance market. That expansion in capacity has changed how the industry supports trade and investment, including far more collaboration between public and private sector providers than was typical earlier in my career.

The other major shift is the quantitative side of underwriting. We are far more data-driven, and the modelling and risk assessment capabilities are much more sophisticated than they were 20 years ago. Judgment remains critical, but today we have more mature datasets and actuarial practices that can be applied to inform our underwriting decisions.

If you had to single out one or two trends you believe will most strongly shape the industry’s future, what would they be?

Edie: Artificial intelligence is the most obvious one, although we are still in relatively early days in our segment of the industry. AI is already being used in elements of underwriting and risk management, and one can clearly see the potential to use AI in a myriad of other business operations, such as claims handling, portfolio monitoring, and internal workflow optimisation.

The larger question is how it will change the composition and nature of our work. Ultimately, I don’t believe it will replace underwriters or other key positions. In our market, human judgement and client relationships will always be critical, particularly when assessing complex sovereign, quasi-sovereign, or structured credit exposures. At the same time, AI will almost certainly become pivotal in how we analyse financial statements, conduct credit reviews, and manage the volume of inquiries that come into the market on a daily basis. We have to proceed cautiously, particularly around data privacy, confidentiality, and cross-jurisdictional regulatory considerations.

The other big trend I see is the increasing complexity of transactions in today’s market. Twenty years ago, you needed expertise in trade credit, political risk, and maybe a few people had project finance experience. Today, we are seeing a much broader range of structures: asset-backed financing, subscription finance, funds finance, leveraged finance, and structured portfolio transactions, to name a few. Many of these are originated by our commercial bank partners, who continue to innovate, but we’re also seeing new structures from our MDB clients as well.

For insurers, this means we need deeper and more specialised knowledge. It’s no longer sufficient to understand the basic risk categories; you must understand the underlying financing mechanics, the cash-flow structures, the security packages, and how risk is allocated across counterparties. That level of structural sophistication simply was not as prevalent earlier in my career.

At Liberty, you played a central role in developing partnerships with multilateral development banks (MDBs) and other public institutions. What motivated Liberty to pursue those collaborations, and what convinced you the effort was worth it?

Edie: When I joined Liberty in 2016, we launched a Public Agency Initiative. The idea was that MDBs, export credit agencies (ECAs), and development finance institutions (DFIs) could be strong partners, both because of their underwriting standards and because they would introduce us to transactions we might not otherwise see through our commercial bank relationships.

A key milestone was our participation in the first unfunded programme under the International Finance Corporation’s (IFC) Managed Co-Lending Portfolio Program in 2017. It was the first time IFC entered that type of unfunded credit insurance structure with private insurers, and it required significant internal engagement on our side to explain the strategic value.

Since then, we’ve participated in all of IFC’s unfunded programmes, worked on similar risk sharing structures with other MDBs and most recently supported with IFC on its first securitisation transaction. These partnerships have been compelling because they support diversification of our portfolio and demonstrate how credit insurance can help public institutions expand their lending capacity through structured risk transfers.

You have written and spoken about the role insurance can play in supporting SMEs, women-led businesses, and sustainable development outcomes. How do you think insurers can contribute in a way that is meaningful and commercially viable?

Edie: I spent the first 24 years of my career in the public sector, so I’ve always had a strong personal commitment to helping countries achieve their development priorities. In many respects, I see my work as bridging public and private approaches: bringing private sector insurance solutions into public sector development models to achieve greater development impact and help countries prosper.

One reason I’ve valued being part of Liberty’s Public Agency Initiative is that it aligns development outcomes with a sound commercial rationale. These partnerships can deliver both development impact and strong commercial outcomes. In 2018, for example, Liberty entered into a risk-sharing agreement with the DFC to support private sector investment in developing markets, including initiatives focused on women-owned SMEs.

You have been deeply involved in the Berne Union over many years. How has that engagement influenced you professionally, and what makes the organisation distinctive?

Edie: It’s definitely been a highlight of my career. I’ve represented three different members of the Berne Union over the years: first OPIC (now DFC), then MIGA, and now Liberty. That continuity has given me a really broad perspective on how different institutions approach the same core mission.

The Berne Union is one of the few places where you can sit down and have open discussions about business trends, challenges, and opportunities with both your partners and your competitors. That dynamic is unusual in our industry. I always come back from meetings having learned something new. The membership is incredibly diverse, bringing together ECAs, DFIs, multilaterals, and private insurers from across the world, each with its own mandate and institutional framework. Being exposed to that range of perspectives deepens your understanding of the market.

There’s also a real spirit of partnership and collaboration. Even in a more complex and fragmented global environment, the Berne Union remains a place where members are genuinely trying to understand one another and find ways to work together to support trade and investment.

Over the course of your career, you’ve led teams across institutions, cultures, and markets. What have you found most rewarding about leadership and mentorship?

Edie: I’ve always enjoyed leading teams and working with individuals to help them grow professionally and achieve their goals. I believe deeply that institutions are only as good as their people so supporting individuals and building successful teams has been a passion for me. One of the most rewarding parts of my career, especially in the multilateral environment, was the opportunity to do this across cultures and backgrounds, which is both challenging and energising.

When you reflect on your career, what accomplishments are you most proud of, and what advice would you offer the next generation helping shape this industry?

Edie: I’m most proud of the innovative deals I’ve worked on, particularly the development of the Non-Honoring of Sovereign Guarantee product that has had a big impact on the market for sovereign lending. Product development is never easy and there is often strong internal resistance, but innovation is critical to our industry remaining relevant. I think there is still great potential to use unfunded instruments like insurance and guarantees to mobilize even more private investment into emerging economies.

I’m also proud to have been associated with an industry that remains relatively under-recognised outside specialist circles, but which offers so many meaningful opportunities to build expertise, collaborate across institutions, and make a practical difference in enabling investment.