Aon reveals new forms of volatility
Aon’s latest global M&A Risk in Review report finds reasons for optimism in 2022, but the broker cautions dealmakers that headwinds persist in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Aon’s latest global M&A Risk in Review report finds reasons for optimism in 2022, but the broker cautions dealmakers that headwinds persist in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Insurtechs determined to disrupt the insurance industry have not succeeded so far, but a future wave of insurtechs could emerge to achieve a similar goal, carrier executives said recently.
The paradigm shift from traditional to digital means of carrying out operations is leading the industries through a pathway of growth and development. In the new era of technological advancements, the insurance sector is in the midst of a radical, digitally infused shake-up.
One of the key drivers of digital transformation at the origin of the success of the new economy is the customer experience. It is now becoming one of the spearheads of the digitization of the insurance industry. The journey? The product? The touch points? Which factors really improve the loyalty of these 2.0 consumers?
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The personal lines segment is known for leading the charge with innovations and technologies – a reputation that only strengthened during the pandemic.
Cambridge Mobile Telematics (CMT) now offers a new way for auto insurers, automakers, rideshare, fleet, wireless, and safety companies to automatically engage with their customers through its DriveWell platform and, in the event of a crash, would automatically gather sensor information for collision repairers and insurers to reference.
Ellen Robles shares how Employee Resources Groups foster an inclusive environment and help build careers at AIG.
Insurance has always been a data-driven business, from ancient waybills recorded on papyrus under the Code of Hammurabi, to the charters of the first property insurers after the Great Fire of London.
The insurance industry has reached a point where many executives are also technologists, even if their title has a different designation. What’s driving this, in part, is multiple disciplines working together to further technological progress.
New Capco global insurance survey identifies clear opportunities to enhance consumer education, digital experiences and transparency.
Allstate protection plans accounted for more than 140 million (or nearly three in four) of Allstate’s global in-force policies last year, and growth is set to continue, Allstate Protection Plan president and CEO Karl Wiley told Insurance Business.
Speaking at the recent S&P insurance conference, Chubb Ltd. CEO Evan Greenberg says insurance companies that have declared net zero targets are overpromising and leave themselves vulnerable to litigation.
Tesla has begun rolling out its insurance plans in a handful of U.S. states over the past few years, as one more piece of the company’s growing ecosystem. While it’s still in its infancy, Tesla Insurance could be crucial to keeping rates low and driver safety high, as detailed by a few of the automaker’s executives in recent months.
The macroeconomic challenges of recent years have shined a spotlight on the need for insurance companies to adapt to an increasingly digitized marketplace.
Crypto assets and quantum computing have been flagged by analysts at Swiss Re as two of the most significant emerging risks for insurers and reinsurers, with the potential to create new risks within the global financial system.
Israel’s insurtech ecosystem continues to grow and develop. Because insurance affects all facets of our lives, it is a multi-faceted industry that includes many nuts and bolts. Here is a complete map of the Israeli insurance / insurtech ecosystem:
Though insurtechs are recognized as a disruptive force in a long-established industry, less is known about the actual technologies these companies are using to differentiate themselves from traditional competitors.
Tokio Marine HCC – Cyber & Professional Lines Group (CPLG) offers hands-on assistance and a thoughtful, tech-driven approach to underwriting. Its success has landed it on IBA’s 2022 list of 5-Star Cyber Insurers.
Tokio Marine HCC – Cyber & Professional Lines Group (CPLG) offers hands-on assistance and a thoughtful, tech-driven approach to underwriting. Its success has landed it on IBA’s 2022 list of 5-Star Cyber Insurers.
The now familiar industry story is that big insurance companies with their juggernaut size and legacy technology find it very difficult to undergo a digital transformation to unlock all their data and improve customer service.
The demand for embedded financial services has been seen across the industry, with the insurance sector being no exception. Embedded insurance has the potential to remove the hassle from a purchase, create tailored products, allow the insurer total control of what they want to sell, and help close the ‘protection gap’.
Since I started my career three decades ago, there’s always been this paradoxical rhetoric about the insurance industry’s risk averseness, mainly stemming from the absence of a flurry of innovative products, services and processes.
A new report from Swiss Re states that reinsurers and insurers can play a key role in the development of the hydrogen economy through risk management knowledge and transfer.
Customer satisfaction in digital offerings from insurers declined this year, according to the J.D. Power 2022 U.S. Insurance Digital Experience Study.
Differentiated products and services are key to growth among life and annuity carriers.
Tech-driven innovation is fundamentally reshaping the insurance industry. Emerging capabilities including telematics, artificial intelligence and machine learning have transformed nearly every aspect of the insurance value chain and continue to create new omnichannel experiences for customers.
Elon Musk took a moment this week to talk about something other than Twitter: his carmaker’s effort to cut out the middlemen and lower premiums.
Jamie Hale is the CEO and co-founder of Ladder. He has also served as a partner at Aldenwood Capital and Jasper Ridge/Oak Hill Investment Management.
Allianz SE says car-shipping incidents are now a major cause of loss for the insurance industry after a cargo ship with about 4,000 Volkswagen AG vehicles caught fire and sank in the Atlantic two months ago.
As the InsurTech industry approaches the next wave of innovation, experts say this could mean navigating rough waters.
Some of the most important questions insurance company CEOs ask their reserving actuaries are: “How much adverse development are we experiencing?” “What is driving these results?” and “Are any parts of the business heading into trouble?”
Some of the most important questions insurance company CEOs ask their reserving actuaries are: “How much adverse development are we experiencing?” “What is driving these results?” and “Are any parts of the business heading into trouble?”
Hanson encourages professionals to “never give up learning. There will always be someone out there who can do it better, more efficiently, or in a newer way. Your openness to new talent, new perspectives and new ideas will make you a better professional, teammate, and friend.”
Insurance executives are recognizing the power of innovation to accelerate the pace of company change. Yet for innovation to deliver long-term value, it must become embedded in a carrier’s DNA.
Millennials will constitute a significant chunk of the insurance market for the next few decades, and how they engage and make decisions differs from previous generations.
There wasn’t much discussion about car insurance at Berkshire Hathaway’s annual meeting this year, but when the subject came up, Warren Buffett acknowledged the continued dominance of a competitor, a mutual assurance.
AXA shareholders approved all resolutions submitted to them by the board of directors at the company’s annual shareholders’ meeting Thursday.
Elon Musk trumpeted Tesla’s early inroads into automotive insurance last week. Warren Buffett, whose Berkshire Hathaway conglomerate owns Geico, has cast serious doubt on whether Tesla and other automakers can break into the industry and turn a profit.
Zurich Insurance Group (Zurich) has selected 12 startups to collaborate on novel ways to serve customers, create more frequent meaningful touchpoints with them, and challenge the boundaries of insurance.
It’s not hard to understand and forecast why usage based insurance (UBI) — otherwise known as behaviour-based insurance or pay-as-you-drive (PAYD) — is becoming popular among North American drivers and rest of the world.
Nowhere is the insurance gap more pressing than in the case of flood insurance.
Tesla is “trying to turn a nightmare into a dream with Tesla Insurance,” chief executive Elon Musk said Wednesday.
Harsh market conditions, innovative entrants, and demanding clients are a few forces driving transformation in the insurance industry, but every challenge presents an opportunity.
What makes a true digital payment experience in insurance? Although the past few years have been characterized by rapid digital payment options, the real game-changer has been the focus of market leaders to embrace the transformation of the actual payment experience – both for premium and claim payments.
Insurers have made significant investments in improving their data assets over time. Large-scale IT projects are replacing legacy systems, data lakes and warehouses are being built and new policy and claims administration systems have been installed. All with the promise of improved data quality and greater data availability.
The COVID-19 pandemic has likely led to more distracted driving. April marks Distracted Driving Awareness Month and insurers have released data and studies that reveal what behaviors are leading to unsafe roadways.
For any life insurer, future success means resonating with demographically diverse generations of new consumers where they live—and that’s increasingly in a digital world.
In this blog series, we’ve looked at the latest entry in the only longitudinal survey of underwriters in North America. The study, which is run in partnership with Accenture and The Institutes, provides vital context for tracking the trajectory of underwriting, which is the heart of any insurance carrier’s business.
Since the onset of the pandemic, many businesses across all industries stayed afloat by fundamentally understanding the way people shop and purchase and transforming their processes to meet that need.
Challenger firms are helping to change the industry, but incumbents will take the rewards, says John Chambers.
Covington & Burling LLP attorneys suggest how the insurance industry might respond to the unique risks that are sure to arise from commerce in the metaverse.
It’s been just over two years since the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a global pandemic. As a result, we’ve seen major shifts in how people expect to work, play, shop and take on risks. It’s become clear that many of these new expectations are here to stay with varying degrees of impact on all industries.
The frantic pace of insurance industry M&A activity that emerged in 2021 shows no signs of slowing down, as firms look to expand their operations and take advantage of new growth opportunities in a variety of areas.
Insurtech has become a major part of the insurance market, with record-breaking amounts spent on technology-based innovations that can revolutionise the sector. It’s an area ripe for investment – with more than $1bn (£760m) spent every month on investment into insurtech startups in 2021, according to reinsurance broker Wills Re.
As the world constantly evolves and changes, so too does the life insurance industry, which is preparing for a multitude of challenges, particularly in three areas: interest rates, regulatory mandates and technology (software, underwriting tools and distribution platforms).
Survey indicates pandemic may have accelerated shifts in buyer preferences for a wider array of coverage, service, and distribution options.
Lloyd’s, the world’s leading marketplace for commercial, corporate and speciality risk solutions, has today announced the next eleven InsurTech start-ups that will join the eighth cohort of the Lloyd’s Lab in its ten-week programme, which brings together InsurTechs, insurers, and brokers to test out new, innovative solutions. The teams will be working to create insurance products to address the issues and challenges facing the Lloyd’s market.
Is adequate risk transfer in the face of rapid technological change even possible?
The vehicle salvage process has long been the inefficient, paper-based and nearly-forgotten tail-end of an auto insurer’s coverage obligation. But it doesn’t have to be this way.
According to this report the industry is expected to grow by 31.9% on annual basis to reach US$56,979.8 million in 2022. According to this report the industry is expected to grow by 31.9% on annual basis to reach US$56,979.8 million in 2022.
In 2020, while both metros and non-metros reported nearly the same number of covid-19 claims, the trend changed in 2021 as non-metros reported 17% more claims than metros.
Lloyd’s of London has said it is working with the UK government to implement sanctions imposed over the war in Ukraine as fast as possible, including cancelling Russian firms’ insurance cover.
As PWC notes in its report, Top Insurance Industry Issues 2021: “More change has occurred in the industry in the past year than in the previous several years combined and its pace is only accelerating.” These changes are necessary for insurance agencies to scale, add new risk products, and provide a modern, digital-first customer experience.
Insurers and reinsurers holding large books of East European business are being urged to stress test their portfolios against the threat of Russian and Ukrainian cyber attacks.
It’s 3 am, you are thinking about your client meeting – is your data in order? If it is in your inbox, various word templates or on paper documents, it’s not a surprise that you are awake at this hour.
As property and casualty insurance carriers look to reduce growing loss ratios in 2022, many have shifted their focus away from growing their customer bases and toward increasing their profits. But for carrier marketers, the path to efficient customer acquisition isn’t as simple as merely cutting budgets.
Over the past few years, the economy has reeled from inflation, labor shortages, global conflict, and, yes, the Covid-19 pandemic. Even before the uncertainty of today’s climate, women were grappling with unique setbacks: earning lower wages, shouldering the bulk of unpaid labor, and facing more student loan debt than men.
Now is an excellent time for people in the insurance industry to start studying what trends may become prominent during 2022.
The insurer has redeployed finance employees to work on acquisitions or product development, CFO says
For consumers who have found that costlier insurance is just one of the expenses that make electric cars trickier to love, this is the year when relief may be coming.
CoreLogic, a leading global property information, analytics and data-enabled solutions provider, today released its 2021 CoreLogic Climate Change. Catastrophe Report, revealing over 14.5 million single- and multifamily homes were impacted by the largest natural catastrophe events of 2021, with an estimated $56.92 billion in property damage.
When Arthur Patterson and Jim Swartz co-founded Accel, a core principle of their approach to investing was a thesis-based method called a “Prepared Mind”. Referencing the Louis Pasteur quote “chance only favours the prepared mind”, this method remains integral to how we approach, learn about and invest in new opportunities today.
As consumers, we want a personalized experience whenever we shop online, stream videos, or even get a cup of coffee. And we want the companies we do business with to anticipate our needs, and, increasingly, to reflect the values we hold dear.
2021 was a historic year for investment in insurtechs. Funding reached a record-breaking $15 billion in Q3, according to Forrester – more funding than in 2019 and 2020 combined. As this booming market evolves, the value of innovation by insurtech startups is becoming clear.
Last month Fitch Ratings held its 2022 Insurance Insight Series, and the first event on deck was a webinar about how the insurance sector will evolve over the next year.
The insurance industry struggles to create economic profit. But amid COVID-19’s enduring changes, opportunities await.
The insurance industry struggles to create economic profit. But amid COVID-19’s enduring changes, opportunities await.
Insurance carriers focused on building alliances with insurtechs last year as they explored emerging technologies and capabilities, rather than making outright acquisitions.
The InsurTech ecosystem in Asia is relatively smaller as compared to that in Europe and North America. However, the InsurTech industry in Asia has witnessed a significant boom in 2020. According to Venture Scanner, Asia’s largest InsurTech hub is Singapore, followed by Indian cities Mumbai and Gurgaon.
Charles Taylor, has entered into a partnership with Fraud Keeper (FK), acquiring a majority share of the company. FK’s automated fraud detection software triages, validates and fast-tracks genuine claims. We present a cutting-edge SaaS platform based on automation and artificial
Wouldn’t it be nice, if, instead of relying on adjusters and restoration companies to surmise how much damage was actually caused by a water leak, an insurer could stop the leak almost before it starts.
What makes an insurance carrier an insurance carrier and not a generic financial services organization? This is more than a philosophical thought experiment.
Insurers that are able to make the best use of data are already winning market share, improving key ratios and generating superior risk intelligence, according to a report from the Capgemini Research Institute. These organizations are considered data masters.
These days customers are looking for a customized insurance experience, agents are looking for better strategies to engage with customers, and carriers are looking for the most current data to make choices about their products.
Bolttech, an insurance technology unicorn backed by Hong Kong billionaire Richard Li, is considering raising $200 million to $300 million in fresh funds this year, according to people familiar with the matter.
Joanne Butler, Head of Product Marketing and Pre Sales, Charles Taylor InsureTech featured in Insurance Day, discussing how important data quality is when producing sustainable underwriting.
Insurers must be smarter about how they use data, make bold digital moves to meet consumer expectations, and take a strategic approach to process automation.
Dawn Miller is to join Lloyd’s as its new commercial director in a role set to begin in Q2 2022.
The disruptions created by the pandemic, natural disasters and a shifting workforce in the past year have challenged insurers to respond to market uncertainties with speed – at scale.
It’s been a hit and miss for Usage-Based Insurance (UBI) in Canada since it was first introduced about a decade ago, but brokers believe it will survive well past the pandemic-induced uptake of the past two years.
Fitch Ratings expects a rise in the number of partnerships between traditional insurance companies and InsurTechs.
The telematics industry has grown significantly in the past years. And this is due to the increased demand for advanced telemetry solutions that provide improved safety, increased efficiency and reduced expenses.
Key trends that will drive digital transformation in the insurance market in 2022 include, trackable hybrid working, increased customer demand for digital services and more M&A activity.
Blockchain-based insurance is expected to transform claims administration, according to a new report by Juniper Research. Specifically, researchers expect blockchain-based insurance claims to exceed $10 billion in cost savings globally by 2024, up from $1.1 billion in 2021.
Insurtech is no stranger to hype but with 2020 and 2021 bringing far more change than anyone bargained for, the industry has seen a fresh round of predictions and speculation.
2021 has been another groundbreaking year in the advancement of technology across many industries. According to the Willis Re Q3 Quarterly Insurtech report, more than US$10.5 billion was poured into insurtechs globally in the first 9 months of 2021 alone, with expectations that this investment trend will continue to increase in the coming years.
Digital and talent transformation accelerating as insurers adapt for postpandemic growth.
Change and disruption are constants in today’s world, but they continue to gain intensity and breadth across the industry.
High-tech companies like Israel-based Lemonade stormed Wall Street promising to reinvent the staid insurance industry, but their plummeting share prices tell a tale of disappointment.
The digital insurance platform conveniently connects mortgage and real estate companies’ customers with homeowners’ and term life policies suited to their specific needs.
Accelerant, the insurtech empowering underwriters with superior risk exchange and data analytics coupled with long-term capacity commitments, today announced it has raised in excess of $190 million at a $2 billion pre-money valuation led by Eldridge, with participation from Deer Park, Marshall Wace, MS&AD Ventures, and others.
As customer demands change, placing greater emphasis on digital channels, insurers must consider how best to adapt their businesses and processes.
With third-party litigation funding reaching $17 billion in 2021, companies and their insurers are likely to see an uptick in social inflation in the years to come.
Sustainability is an issue of global importance, with unique implications for insurers.
Germany suffered its costliest natural disaster on record last year, as flash floods led to damages that vastly exceeded the amount covered by insurers.
Consolidation in the insurance brokerage space is expected to continue at a rapid pace through 2022, following a trend from the last 12 months where brokerage transactions drove the majority of announced insurance merger and acquisition (M&A) activity worldwide.
For decades now the insurance industry has been capitalizing on analytics to understand and predict risk when writing policies. But what if one of those disputed claims becomes a legal matter? Wouldn’t it be prudent for insurers to apply those same kinds of analytics to understand and predict legal exposure?
Disrupting a highly regulated and conservative industry was never going to be easy. Insurtech companies have attracted much less investment than peers targeting other parts of the financial sector.
The Asia-Pacific region’s insurtech industry predominantly consists of “less disruptive and more collaborative” start-ups complementing existing carriers rather than unconventional players seeking to unseat incumbents.
The Millennial and Gen Z populations desire a holistic customer experience—where digital offerings bring together other products and services to help the customer manage their lives.
Rosaline Chow Koo breaks down how CXA Group is working to make group insurance more profitable while simultaneously improving employees’ health and financial well-being.
The cyber risk landscape is likely to increase during 2022, according to an expert from Beazley.
The past two years have been tumultuous, to say the least. Two things we can all agree on is that life is not as predictable as we might hope and that change can happen faster than we think. The Covid-19 pandemic posed challenges for all industries across the world and the insurance space is no different.
The Asia-Pacific region’s insurtech industry predominantly consists of “less disruptive and more collaborative” start-ups complementing existing carriers rather than unconventional players seeking to unseat incumbents. This is what S&P Global Market Intelligence’s analysis of the biggest insurtech companies in the region has found.
The life insurance and annuity industry proved resilient in 2021, even in the face of COVID-19 and the delta variant.
For years, technology has been transforming the insurance industry, and that trend will only accelerate in 2022.
Insurers should expect big players in mainstream tech to influence the property/casualty industry during 2022.
For many of us, ringing in the new year means setting resolutions for better health and well-being. Whether in business or our personal lives, we must consider the scenarios that may threaten or enable our success. The insurance industry is no different.
For years, digital transformation has been the talk of the insurance industry. In the wake of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, many insurers made bold advances in automating core processes, adopting new technology and expanding their digital selling and collaboration capabilities.
Before cyber insurance can truly become a mainstay of the digital economy – as a widely available, widely affordable, consistently priced product – these problems need addressing.
It was great to see how so many companies showed incredible adaptability during COVID-19. While initially, we thought a lot of the insurance market would be at a loss as to what to do next, instead they were able to show resilience relatively quickly and technology was the enabler of that.
From the rise of embedded insurance products to record-breaking InsurTech financing, 2021 was a remarkable year for the global insurance industry.
Increased deal activity and the use of M&A insurance has led to a record rise in the number of notifications, according to a new report by Howden M&A, an international M&A insurance broker. However, the COVID-19 outbreak did not result in a surge in the volume of claims or the number of coronavirus-related break events that had initially been anticipated.
The industry is on the verge of a seismic, tech-driven shift. A focus on four areas can position carriers to embrace this change.
2021 has been a record year for insurtech funding. As of Q3 2021, more than US$10.5 billion had been raised by companies in the space year-to-date (YTD), surpassing 2020’s total of US$7.1 billion by nearly 48%, data from insurance advisory firm Willis Towers Watson show.
2021 ended up being a bumper year for M&A deals and also for M&A insurers.
The gap between the best-performing cyber insurers and the worst-performing will widen in 2022, according to the CEO of cyber risk analytics specialist, CyberCube.
There are some negative phenomena that are foreseen for the following year, which are part of the ravages that this pandemic has left.
It is difficult to imagine where digital business operations would be today if it wasn’t for the catalyst that is the pandemic. For nearly two years, businesses across industries, and especially within insurance, accelerated digital transformation plans to adapt to remote access for customers and employees.
Building a culture of innovation doesn’t happen passively—it requires commitment and careful nurturing.
ISG Pulse of the Insurance Industry survey finds 42% report security vulnerabilities increasing along with digitalization
“Our overarching goal is to facilitate the Lloyd’s market to be the preeminent corporate and specialty insurance and reinsurance market in the world.” That’s how Patrick Tiernan, Lloyd’s chief of markets, introduced the Lloyd’s 2022 capital plans.
No one knows what 2022 will bring for travelers. But if anyone has an idea, it’s Sasha Gainullin, the CEO of the travel insurance company battleface. I asked Gainullin about what lies ahead next year. Here are his predictions.
The pandemic turned everything upside down in 2020, and the dust hasn’t settled yet. Will 2022 mark a return to normal life? Don’t bet on it! Expect the changes we’ve seen to continue accelerating innovation and technology in all aspects of insurance. Here are 10 key trends and predictions to watch in 2022.
A robust supply of capital combined with growing ranks of new investors is driving record investment into the insurtech sector.
Life insurers paid out more than $90 billion in death benefits at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic last year, the highest single-year rise since the 1918 influenza epidemic, data from the American Council of Life Insurers (ACLI) has revealed.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk may be able to maneuver around the business world pretty well, but when it comes to challenges that are auto insurance-specific, there may be some hiccups along the way.
What should you do if a forest-based carbon offset project you have invested in burns down? This is not simply a dystopian hypothetical question. It has already happened in the U.S. and it is expected to become a more common occurrence as climate-induced wildfire risks increase in the coming decades. But could a potential answer to this problem be to simply “make an insurance claim”?
This week, we spoke with Pierangelo Campopiano, CEO of Smile Direct, about the possibilities offered up by fundamentally reimagining insurance distribution. We discuss digital ecosystems, gameification of insurance and the potential for ‘freemium’ insurance products.
Investment in technology will ramp up in the coming year, impacting every aspect of insurance companies’ operations, from internal processes to the products and solutions they deliver to customers.
Every day, it seems a hot, new insurtech is funded and ready to partner with insurance carriers. Insurers shouldn’t allow their risk-averse nature or concerns about a potentially difficult integration road ahead to lead them to ignore upstart insurtechs.
Several insurtech companies including Hippo and Metromile, amongst others, have merged with a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) as a path to being traded publicly on stock markets. This approach became more popular in the past two years, as the COVID-19 pandemic led to companies seeking quick, efficient paths to growth.
Wherever you go, whatever you do, cyber risk is always following you. From phishing attacks sent via email and opened on your phone to someone gaining access to your network using a smart appliance in your home, cyber risk is a growing and ever present risk.
Insurance CEOs have a big strategic challenge: successful companies of the future will look very different than they do today.
In this series, we’ve been looking at the value digital twin data can bring to the insurance business. Specifically, I see there being four main areas where insurers could take advantage of digital twins to make material improvements.
Digital Insurance spoke with Thomas Kang, the North American head of cyber technology and media for Allianz Global Corporate & Speciality about cyber insurance trends and challenges ahead for the industry.
Underwriter specializing in liability Medical & Commercial International (MCI) has announced the launch of revolutionary Communicable Disease Liability (CDL) coverage.
Digital twin data can bring immense value to the insurance business. Specifically, there are four main areas where insurers could take advantage of digital twins to make material improvements.
The words “insurance” and “innovation” are not typically used together. Today’s leaders are working to change that.
According to Zurich’s Chief Claims Officer Ian Thompson, the company is seeing evidence that consumers are choosing to file in-person claims rather than use the digital options available to them.
Despite seeming reluctant to make sweeping changes, the insurance industry continues to be at the forefront of adopting digital solutions.
When we say “core systems” in our industry, we are typically referring to the critical software applications that are core to an insurer’s business operations, mainly the policy, claims and billing management functions.
The cyber insurance industry experienced 33.5% growth in 2020 alone as companies have sought to mitigate the cyber risk presented by the new reality of the constantly growing cost of a data breach.
2021 saw widespread vaccine deployment and easing of pandemic-related restrictions—important catalysts that helped rebuild confidence among people and businesses alike, while fueling economic recovery.
As insurers hold onto some of the digital solutions that were adopted because of the pandemic, it’s critical to understand the balance between digital strategies and boots on the ground tactics for underwriting.
The convergence of insurance and digital technology — “insurtech” — has transformed the industry. Although insurance companies initially feared insurtechs would whittle away at their market share, partnering with these disruptive tech firms is now widely seen as the catalyst necessary to spur growth and accelerate the development of new insurance products. But challenges remain.
The global insurance industry will reach a new record in premiums by mid-2022, exceeding $7 trillion, according to a new forecast by Swiss Re Institute.
If insurers completely understand the implications of customer trends, competitive pressures, and technology leap-frogging, they will be justifiably anxious about their future—unless they prepare.
The auto insurance industry is at a turning point. After navigating the unwelcome effects of a global pandemic, carriers and collision repairers are eagerly awaiting a return to “normal.”
The $500M agreement gives Lemonade the ability to market in 49 states and to complement its recent auto insurance business launch, but the deal may foreshadow an even more promising combination.
Insurtech funding reached $5.3 billion in the third quarter of 2021 and has surpassed $15 billion for the year, according to a report from Forrester Research Inc.
Insurers have been slower to adopt digital twins than their counterparts in other industries.
Carriers don’t have to be the only beneficiaries of InsurTech advancements. A similar relationship can also be applied to the smaller independent agents and brokers.
People don’t trust insurers. We’ve probably all had to contact an insurer about a problem only to find it’s not covered in the small print. Rates are usually fixed, and sometimes unfair. There may also be hurdles in approving payment once a claim is made.
As the impacts of climate change rise and interest in renewable energies peaks, sustainability is becoming a central priority for businesses across all sectors – but insurers have the edge in terms of providing long term solutions.
The huge sums being invested in insurtech have yet to disrupt the insurance sector in the same way that fintechs have changed banking, says Germany’s BaFin markets watchdog.
The insurance industry is said to lag in the era of digitalisation. Insurers were told to ramp up digital efforts in order to meet rising demand during the pandemic – and it turns out this was the push they needed to break free from traditional broker-based insurance.
Looking toward 2022, health insurers are going to be wrestling with all the ways COVID has transformed the health insurance industry and what it means for coverage, pricing and patient care for the years to come.
Small business customers are demanding more service from their agents, but with the right technologies and carrier partnerships, agencies can elevate their customer service game without adding to their workloads.
Rumours of Amazon’s intention to disrupt the insurance industry have, it turns out, not been greatly exaggerated at all, and the technology giant’s plan to enter the small and medium-sized UK business customer segment have put players on edge across the insurance industry.
Insurance—an industry known for veteran brands and a cautious approach to risk—might seem a strange fit for the move-fast-and-break-things ethos of the startup world, but that hasn’t dissuaded venture capitalists from scaling up.
InsurTech is an enormous industry whose global market size is projected to reach US$ 11940 million by 2027. Ever since the first insurtech startups tested the waters in 2010, it has been hotting up and on a constant path of massive development.
Global investment in insurance technology (insurtech) start-ups totalled $10.5 billion in the first nine months of 2021, a record high level for the period, reinsurance broker Willis Re said on Wednesday.
The two publicly traded full-stack personal auto insurance companies recently disclosed plans to further expand their distribution networks into the independent agent channel.
Most plan members want to see more personalized product recommendations and more personalized assistance to understand their coverage and maximize their benefits plan.
Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) in the global insurance industry dropped by 3% in the first half of 2021, with 197 deals completed worldwide, down from 206 in the second half of 2020, and 201 at the same point last year, according to Clyde & Co’s Insurance Growth Report mid-year update.
As the insurance industry adapts to shifting market conditions, some roles will likely need to be transformed as well. Learn how insurers could multiply value creation by modernising the underwriting function now.
The news of the death of the agent has been greatly exaggerated. Agents control about 80% of the homeowner market and 65% of the personal auto market today because most customers still prefer to do business with agents.
We need to examine the insurer relationship to distributors in light of the customer mindset: What is changing with the customer and how they take in information? How do insurers and distributors adapt?
Pikl, founded in 2016, has developed a suite of flexible insurance products designed for the sharing economy. For our Future50 Europe, we caught up CEO Louise Birritteri (pictured centre).
Insurance in Kenya and Africa at large remains a marginal product, with levels of penetration across the continent half the world average as a percentage of GDP, and premiums per capita 11-fold lower than the world average, according to a recent report by McKinsey and Co.
Technology will help usher insurance into the future, but it will not fundamentally change the industry, according to Evan Greenberg, chairman and CEO of Chubb Ltd.
Over the next decade, the fully tech-enabled insurer will bear little resemblance to today’s organisation. Five trends, individually and in combination, will have a seismic impact.
YuLife was recently featured as part of our Future50 Europe. We caught up with co-founder & CEO Sammy Rubin to talk about how he is modernising the life insurance industry and helping customers live healthier lives.
Companies making M&A deals outperformed the World Index by an average of 2.3 percentage points during the first nine months of 2021, driven largely by strong performance in the first two quarters of the year, Willis Towers Watson said.
This brief remark should scare the bejezus out of every insurance-industry executive: “Who knows more about your vehicle than the people who manufactured it?” said Andrew Rose, president of GM’s newly formed OnStar Insurance Services.
Small businesses that have experienced property loss or damage rely on their insurance companies to give them the funds they need to get back on their feet and stay in operation.
Climate change has returned to the top of the list of biggest concerns for insurers as the rollout of the vaccine and the gradual lifting of health restrictions reduce fears of a pandemic in many countries.
Traction is building for parametric insurance products and the innovative solution they represent to the substantial economic losses and adverse social impacts that natural catastrophes have on affected communities.
Despite rising coverage demand brought about by the global pandemic, customers are being left rather unsatisfied with the convenience, advice and reach offered by their existing insurance providers, creating opportunities for new players and insurtech firms, according to Capgemini and Efma’s World Insurtech Report 2021.
Digital bank execs have been scratching their heads for years about how to lure users into premium subscriptions. They’ve tried shiny cards, exclusive features, and even cashback.
A new insurance industry research study reveals that insurance carriers saw an increase in consumer digital activity across both underwriting (77%) and claims (76%) during the coronavirus pandemic and indicated this recent increase in digital activity has in turn spurred more identity fraud activity, according to 67% of survey respondents
Over the past two decades, the global re/insurance sector has experienced an increasing number of major natural catastrophes.
Few lines have been talked up in recent years quite like cyber. Indeed, Accenture has predicted $25bn of growth in annual cyber premiums globally by 2025 – or a 500% increase on today’s ~$5bn GWP.
It’s not every day the insurance sector is presented with an opportunity that is both an untapped source of income and the chance to offer ethically-centred solutions to communities in need.
A growing number of Gen Z professionals are open to sharing the data from their smart home devices with insurers, in return for a better customer experience or discounts, according to a new survey by Capco.
Younger drivers are spurring interest in telematics.
Those insurance industry disruptors known as insurtechs are more than happy to coexist with brokers.
Insurtechs that specialize in cyber risk can take numerous paths — with their future dependent at least in part on their investors’ patience — but not all will survive, experts say.
Identifying future trends and engaging in risk partnerships on new technologies are at the heart of Munich Re’s strategy
Willis Towers Watson has around $5 billion of capital which could used for acquisitions, its president and incoming chief executive said on Thursday, as the insurance broker prepares for a future as a standalone company.
Property and casualty reinsurers have displayed underwriting discipline during this year’s renewals, continuing with rate corrections that began several years ago, despite the pressures of abundant capacity. Prices continued to harden during the first half of 2021 – albeit with slightly less momentum than last year – in a trend that will likely continue into the January 2022 renewal season.
Swiss Re expects insurance market premium growth to continue, driven by increased exposures, risk awareness and evolving client needs.
The malicious nature of cyber criminals has prompted cyber insurance carriers to implement new guidelines for clients.
The COVID-19 pandemic continues to cause upheaval in our business and personal lives in North America and around the world.
Major U.S. insurers are joining new digital exchanges to sell not only their own policies but those of their competitors as well, a new twist in an industry known for its fierce competition.
There can be little doubt that COVID-19 has accelerated the move to a digital-first society, forcing many more traditional organisations to fast-track their data and digitisation journeys.
Cybersecurity start-up ActZero has announced a strategic partnership with cyber insurance provider Zeguro to create a cyber risk management program for small and mid-sized businesses.
Climate change will help propel a threefold surge in property insurance premiums over the coming two decades, according to a study published on Monday by Swiss Re.
This Spring, UK regulator, the FCA announced a ban on the unfair practice of ‘price walking’ in the insurance industry.
China’s banking and insurance watchdog issued a draft guideline on Friday aiming to improve its regulation over insurance group companies to prevent financial risks as the world’s no.2 economy strives to recover from the impact of COVID-19.
Technology, machine learning, robotic process automation, data aggregation and analytics – in recent years, the insurance industry (like many other sectors) has been motivated to make use of those tools to improve their operations and enhance their underwriting, pricing, and loss control capabilities.
The COVID-19 pandemic and ensuing lockdowns have changed how we work for good. Offices, once the bustling centre of company life, have for much of the year been home only to empty desks, unground coffee beans and unanswered questions.
Insurtech could rightly be considered the greatest of the Wild West insurance opportunities, but in terms of opening up new markets, Group and Voluntary Benefits are making their own case for a land of new opportunities.
Having cyberinsurance should be a requirement for any organization’s security plan, especially for SMBs.
Emerging risks and changing customer behavior are shifting the revenue landscape for insurers. These trends call for change in the products and services insurance companies bring to market.
The pandemic has not stopped the growth in the M&A insurance market. Brokers in North America have seen an uptick in M&A transactions, M&A insurance, and claims over the last year.
When the Town of Peterborough, New Hampshire, announced earlier this week that it lost $2.3 million to a business email compromise scam, officials also said it was unlikely the 7,000-person community would ever recover that money.
So, what exactly is driving this insurtech surge, and how can companies and entrepreneurs in the space be successful?
Three insurance companies – Travelers, Coalition and Resilience – were among the attendees at the White House cybersecurity summit, along with giant tech companies and officials in the Biden administration.
Technologies are emerging that enable omnipresent, real-time connectivity between the people and businesses being insured and their insurers, and that is fundamentally changing the business of insurance.
Alongside significant investments in its own digital capabilities, Manulife wants to work with ‘hundreds’ of outside innovators, says CEO Roy Gori.
A recent report produced by McKinsey & Company, explored the plethora of ways in which the insurance industry is partnering up with IT- particularly in relation to Artificial Intelligence (AI), and to what extent this is likely to affect the industry in the next decade or so.
Willis Re’s global head of insurtech tells Insurance Times why he expects funding in this sector to increase and why the term ‘insurtech’ could lose its value in the long term
Ernst & Young LLP (EY US) today announced that Assaf Wand, co-founder & CEO of Hippo, the home insurance group that created a new standard of care and protection for homeowners, was named an Entrepreneur Of The Year 2021 Northern California Award winner.
The insurance industry needs to think about sustainability through both an underwriting and an investment lens, says ESG analyst Xuan Sheng Ou Yong.
The COVID-19 pandemic has forced a wave of “remote” services in areas that allegedly required physical presence. It made us reimagine age-old practices and bring innovation to how businesses are operated, including insurance.
Rebounds don’t come much better than this.
A recent report by the International Federation of Red Cross (IFRC) found that since the 1990s, there has been a 35% increase in climate and weather-related disasters. Since March 2020, when the World Health Organisation declared a global pandemic, there have been 100 such disasters affecting 50 million people worldwide.
COVID-19 has given direction to insurtech trends to lean towards digital solutions. If the pandemic has taught us anything, it is that we cannot really make accurate predictions about the future. However, it has also been a major catalyst of change as several industries underwent rapid and rampant transformations. These changes have now translated into the ‘new normal.’
Afilio, a Berlin based Insurtech, has secured USD13 million in highly competitive Series A funding to support the expansion of their ‘Peace of Mind-as-a-Service’ platform offering users digital estate management services.
When a human being or even an animal faces risk, there can be one of two reactions – fight or flight. Risk is inarguably ubiquitous and something that most of us deal with on a daily basis. However, rather than fight or flight, sometimes the best way to deal with risk is to buy protection. And, this is where the insurance industry plays an integral role.
India is the second-largest insurtech market in Asia-Pacific, accounting for 35 percent of the US$ 3.66 billion insurtech-focused venture investments made in the country, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence data.
Lloyd’s has today announced the next eleven InsurTech start-ups joining the seventh cohort of the Lloyd’s Lab innovation accelerator programme. The new cohort will focus on creating simpler products for customers, including building solutions related to cryptocurrencies.
American International Group Inc is tightening terms of its cyber insurance, noting that its own premium prices are up nearly 40% globally, with the largest increase in North America, the U.S. insurer’s chief executive said on Friday.
Some people may think insurance is boring, but not Maria Goy. She is passionate about it. As an executive at New York Life, she came to view insurance as a product that differentiates the haves and have nots.
Imagine your banking app, based on your purchase history within it, offering pertinent insurance products. This could very well be the norm moving forward, if the results of a Cover Genius poll are anything to go by.
Aon’s revenues are up 12% and the half year stage with net income up 10%, helped by strong organic growth of 11% in Q2, but the numbers don’t include the $1bn termination fee the broker will pay Willis Towers Watson (WTW) for their collapsed deal.
Insurtechs have stepped up to turn the $5 trillion insurance industry on its head. This radical upheaval hasn’t happened yet. But the insurance industry’s tech monopoly has already begun.
As more and more people are in search of integrated digital experiences it has become imperative for insurance service providers to embrace the digital disruption.
Chubb chairman and CEO Evan Greenberg has been a voice for the (re)insurance industry throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. As leader of the world’s largest publicly traded property and casualty (P&C) insurer, Greenberg has used his platform to speak out about the “impossible” task laid at the feet of the insurance industry – to cover the cost of the global pandemic alone. c
Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (AJG) is no longer buying certain Willis Towers Watson (WTW) brokerage operations following the collapse of the latter’s highly anticipated merger with Aon Plc.
German insurance industry association GDV has forecast around €5.5bn worth of claims due to extreme flooding earlier this month.
China’s banking and insurance regulator said on Thursday that it will guide insurers to increase investment in natural disaster insurance and enrich product offerings.
In the last year or so we’ve seen a number of insurtech startups go public, including Root (auto insurance), Metromile (car insurance), and Lemonade (rental insurance). But should we be worried?
Global investment in the InsurTech sector reached a record during H1 2021, as half-year funding of $7.4 billion exceeded full-year investment in 2020, and in every other year, according to a new report by insurance and reinsurance broker, Willis Towers Watson (WTW).
Chubb released positive second quarter results, driven by gains in its commercial property/casualty business and related rate hikes in the sector.
Insurance does not exist in isolation. More and more, it is intrinsic to the business models of partner organisations, enabling new kinds of activities and new ways of working – a reality recognised by the Connected Insurance & Ecosystems category at Accenture’s Efma-Accenture Innovation in Insurance Awards
Insurtech Gateway Australia says global investment activity in the first half has seen records broken as funders see attractive insurance opportunities, and has called for more local activity.
What a first half of the year in the European insurtech scene: over €1.7B was invested across 52 deals. That’s basically more than 2019 and 2020 combined!
Industrial motor insurer Zego, with help from Swiss Re, has teamed up with bp, an built-in vitality firm, to supply skilled insurance coverage for bp’s electrical car trial in London, referred to as “bp EV Professional.”
The further we move into the 21st century, the bigger the role technology plays in the insurance industry.
Slow and steady growth has been the mantra of Zywave in the UK since its inception, and the UK-based arm of the business has steadily grown a robust customer base of around 150 clients over the last decade.
Short-term insurers say they went above and beyond for their customers in the past year and aren’t greedily gobbling up savings from lower claims.
This week we spoke with Ron Rock, Senior Director at JobsOhio, about insurance disruption and the future of work – and the State of Ohio.
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