On this episode of FNO: Insuretech, Lee Boyd sits down with Phil McGriskin, CEO and co-founder of Vitesse, a financial infrastructure platform transforming how insurance money moves across the global market. From claims payments to treasury operations, Vitesse is tackling one of the most complex and often overlooked areas of insurance: funds flow.

With a background that spans underwriting, brokerage, and serial entrepreneurship, Phil brings a deeply practical view of how financial operations really work inside insurance organizations, especially in markets like Lloyd’s of London and the United States.

From Australia to Lloyd’s of London

Phil’s journey into insuretech was far from linear. Originally from Australia, he began his career in insurance underwriting before moving to London, where he gained firsthand exposure to the Lloyd’s market. That experience revealed an industry built on deeply interconnected relationships, manual processes, and highly complex financial structures.

Before Vitesse, Phil successfully founded and exited a payments business acquired by Worldpay, giving him a front row seat to how modern financial infrastructure could dramatically simplify legacy systems. That experience planted the seed for applying similar thinking to insurance.

What Vitesse Actually Does

Vitesse positions itself as financial infrastructure for insurance, focused on treasury, funds control, and payments, particularly on the claims side. The platform enables carriers, TPAs, MGAs, and brokers to manage loss funds, move money faster, and maintain real time visibility into where capital sits across complex networks.

At its core, Vitesse replaces fragmented banking workflows with a centralized digital system that gives carriers tighter control while enabling delegated partners to operate efficiently.

Solving the Loss Funds Problem

A major theme of the episode centers on the challenge of loss funds, especially within the Lloyd’s ecosystem. Traditionally, carriers distribute large amounts of capital to TPAs and delegated authorities so claims can be paid quickly, often resulting in poor reconciliation, idle capital, and limited transparency.

Vitesse’s approach allows carriers to retain control of funds while still enabling real time payments. This shift not only improves operational efficiency but can return tens of millions in underutilized capital back to carriers’ balance sheets.

Claims Payments as a Competitive Advantage

Faster and more transparent claims payments are no longer a nice to have. Phil explains how digitally issued payments improve customer outcomes while dramatically reducing operational overhead for TPAs.

Rather than relying on paper checks or slow bank transfers, Vitesse enables immediate digital payments, changing the experience for both claims teams and policyholders.

Expanding from London to the United States

After establishing strong traction in the Lloyd’s market, including participation in Lloyd’s Faster Claims Payment initiative, Vitesse expanded into the United States. With backing from KKR, the company secured regulatory approvals and built out its US operations.

Today, Vitesse works with leading global carriers, TPAs, and risk exchanges, applying lessons learned from Lloyd’s to modernize payment and treasury operations across the US insurance market.

AI, Payments, and Responsible Innovation

While Vitesse was founded before the rise of large language models, AI now plays a role across internal operations, from treasury optimization to development workflows. Phil emphasizes a cautious but forward leaning approach, leveraging AI to increase productivity and insight while keeping humans firmly in the loop for decisions like payment execution.

In a highly regulated industry, trust, control, and security remain non negotiable.

Modernization Without Disruption

A recurring idea throughout the conversation is incremental modernization. Rather than forcing sweeping change, Vitesse works with carriers and their partners to modernize financial operations step by step, accounting for regulatory requirements, legacy systems, and real world workflows.

This pragmatic approach has helped the company scale while maintaining strong adoption across diverse market participants.

Lee wraps the conversation reflecting on the importance of infrastructure companies that do not disrupt for disruption’s sake, but instead respect the complexity of insurance while making it meaningfully better. Phil and Vitesse exemplify that mindset, quietly enabling transformation behind the scenes.