Kleiterp noted that re/insurers currently face significant challenges in trying to quantify risks in parts of the world where they may have no previous experience, and in creating standardised policy wording to cover jurisdictions.
“In today’s complex world, companies face multiple challenges when it comes to insuring global assets,” he said. “Operating across different jurisdictions, they frequently have to deal with a confusing set of local policies with varying degrees of cover.”
The solutions, according to Swiss Re, is for re/insurers to better leverage technological advances such as cloud computing to build open and connected industry platforms.
“International programmes involve sharing a great deal of data, much of it unstructured. By structuring data consistently, all parties have a full picture of the risks they are insuring and the cover they are receiving.”
But more than just standardising policies, Kleiterp says the industry needs to collaborate on data to help understand and price risk more accurately.
“At Swiss Re, we have a vision for advancing the insurance industry through technology,” Kleiterp said. We’re already using digital technologies to deliver international programmes. As we’ve seen, time-consuming workarounds can make it cumbersome to administer programmes on an international scale and across jurisdictions.”
“We want to make this process simpler and more agile. And we need to better understand the risks we are insuring. As investment returns diminish globally, improving underwriting profitability across the industry will be ever more important.”
Swiss Re’s new solution – the International Programme Administration platform (IPA) – combines technology with risk insights in an attempt to address customer needs and reduce inefficiencies.
The reinsurer is now offering IPA to brokers and other insurance companies in an effort to tackle some of the more structural challenges of communication between market participants.
“In too many cases, the customer experience of international insurance programmes isn’t up to scratch. But with the whole industry – carriers, brokers and customers – on board, we can reboot it for today’s fast-changing and increasingly uncertain world. Let’s act now to improve efficiency and give customers the service they deserve,” Kleiterp said.
“Above all, we want to make the world more resilient. By taking a data-driven approach and addressing industry inefficiencies, we believe we can do just that.”
Source: Reinsurance News
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