News
Florida seeing first downward trend in property insurance rate filings for years
Florida’s insurance market regulator, the first downward trend in property insurance rate filings for years is now being seen, as companies look to provide better prices to their consumers and at least some of the benefits of recent insurance reforms appear to be flowing to policyholders.
The Florida Office of Insurance Regulation (OIR) issued an update on what it sees as the “continued strengthening of Florida’s property and casualty insurance market.”
Notably, the FLOIR updated states that “property insurance rate filings for 2024 show a downward trend for the first time in years,” which the regulator says shows “the continued stabilization of the property insurance market.”
The FLOIR says this is as a result of “the continued prioritization of meaningful reforms to Florida’s property insurance market.”
Florida’s OIR says it “continues to see overall market stabilization” after the reforms.
InsurTech/M&A/Finance💰/Collaboration
Israeli Insurtech Companies Conclude an Exceptionally Successful Quarter
Amid the challenges of the last quarter, Israeli insurtech startups have outdone themselves, showcasing their resilience and innovation. During the quarter, five exceptional startups collectively raised over $200 million in Series A and B funding rounds. This figure underscores the potential within the Israeli ecosystem in this field.
The standout companies that secured significant funding are Healthee, DigitalOwl, Antidote Health, Honeycomb Insurance, and Novidea. Each of these companies demonstrates innovation in digital health and health insurance, offering advanced technological solutions that are reshaping the insurtech landscape.
Kobi Bendelak, CEO of Insurtech Israel, stated that the tech ecosystem in Israel, particularly in the insurtech sector, continues to show substantial growth. Israel, known as the “Startup Nation,” is ranked high among the world’s leading countries in technology and innovation. Investor support, platforms that encourage entrepreneurship, and distinctive local talent form a solid foundation for the success of companies in this field.
Kobi Bendelak commented, “Despite the challenging period that began even before the war and intensified afterward, these funding rounds show incredible confidence in the Israeli insurtech ecosystem and its results, further strengthening the amazing work that has turned Tel Aviv into one of the global insurtech capitals.”
Bendelak noted that alongside the five mentioned companies, many other young startups also raised funds during the quarter. Although these fundraisings were not officially announced, they involved significant investments ranging from several hundred thousand dollars to a few million dollars. These fundings indicate ongoing awakening and development in Israel’s entrepreneurial ecosystem.
NEXT Insurance Announces Revolutionary New Offering - Generating Quotes in Seconds for LegalZoom Small Business Customers
Today, NEXT Insurance, a leading digital insurer transforming small business insurance, unveiled a breakthrough technology-enabled solution designed to modernize the insurance experience.
Building upon NEXT's AI-powered proprietary platform and underwriting expertise, this new solution instantly generates accurate and customized insurance quotes, saving customers valuable time that would otherwise be spent on a lengthy application process. Available to various industries, including accountants, event planners, food trucks, and more, this offering utilizes a customer's data from LegalZoom and other sources to provide that customer with a tailored quote in seconds, all presented natively within the LegalZoom user ecosystem. This solution leverages NEXT's deep-rooted expertise and proficiency in data-driven underwriting, saving customers valuable time during the onboarding process.
"NEXT is relentlessly pursuing innovation with our partners to develop streamlined, user-friendly digital solutions for small businesses," said Eran Liron, Chief Strategy Officer of NEXT Insurance. "Like NEXT, LegalZoom recognizes the transformative power of technologies like AI, and how they can help empower customers. Our partnership is making insurance simpler and faster, so business owners can spend less time worrying about coverage and more on what they do best — running their businesses."
North American insurance broker M&A down in Q1 2024 amid wider downturn | S&P Global Market Intelligence
M&A activity involving North American insurance brokers declined nearly 40% in the first quarter of the year compared to the last quarter of 2023, according to an S&P Global Market Intelligence analysis.
There were 103 deals with an aggregate value of $13.22 billion targeting insurance brokers during the first quarter, down from 168 deals and an aggregate value of $17.80 billion in the preceding quarter.
The decline comes amid a broader dealmaking downturn across all sectors in the region linked to high interest rates.
Truist leads the way
The largest deal announced in the quarter by some size was Truist Financial Corp.'s $12.6 billion sale of its insurance arm.
AI in Insurance
Changing the insurance game with a generative AI built for insurers
Artificial intelligence (AI) is already a familiar technology in the insurance industry, used pervasively to cognitively ingest submissions, enhance risk assessment, detect fraud, improve customer engagement and optimize product pricing. Less has been made of the latest evolution in AI – generative AI, or genAI — but that may be changing.
GenAI has sophisticated deep learning models that are capable of consuming a wide variety and volume of data rapidly, analyzing it and creating new content contextually in response to prompt input by users – similar to a human mind, but infinitely faster and with higher quality and consistency.
Public OpenAI services in consumer-facing applications like ChatGPT (which uses input text to create stories or outlines) and DALL-E2 (which uses input text to create images) have gained traction, but may not be fully compliant for enterprise business usage.
"IntellectAI's genAI architecture is purpose-built for insurance, with protected interaction to Large Language Models (LLMs) that offer industrial-grade security to safeguard your data against external access and misuse" says Sandeep Haridas, business head of Insurance at IntellectAI. "It is mind-blowing technology," says Haridas, "and businesses in wealth management, capital markets, banking and others — including insurance — are just beginning to explore how it can improve their business outcomes."
Gallagher Updates Regulation for Artificial Intelligence
Gallagher’s Cyber practice remains laser focused on emerging technology and the potential for increased risks as organizations begin to use them. Throughout 2024, we’re concentrated on evolving compliance requirements for the use of artificial intelligence (AI). Recent AI-specific regulatory proposals in the state, federal and international arenas bear watching. This summary follows our Q1 summary, The Latest Regulation for Artificial Intelligence, with important updates. Full Article
Research
The road to AI-driven insurance - Capgemini
Forging the Path into the Digital Business Era in Insurance: Exploring Generative AI’s Impact
Forward-thinking insurers are now starting to embrace generative AI, which promises far more than mere productivity gains. By resolving digital business challenges of all sorts, generative AI is poised to drive organic growth and create new revenue streams. This IDC Spotlight sponsored by Capgemini, provides the latest insights into this transformative technology.
What you’ll discover
Opportunities and challenges of generative AI adoption: Explore the benefits currently prioritized by insurers, and the concerns that make them approach this topic with caution.
How generative AI can accelerate insurance’s digital road map: See how IDC envisions the industry’s evolution post the digital transformation era: digitally adept, ecosystem-enabled, and AI-native insurance.
AI-driven insurance: Find out when – according to IDC’s forecast – AI will assume the central role of the insurance industry.
Partnering for bridging the great skills divide: Learn about the coming DevOps and data science skills gap, and how to solve it.
Price rises in motor insurance to decelerate as claims inflation eases: Swiss Re
Motor insurance rate increases are anticipated to decelerate soon, driven mainly by disinflation, improved underwriting performance, and increased competition, this in turn should lower the cost of car insurance for consumers, according to the Swiss Re Institute.
Car lot imageWith increases in personal motor premium rates are near their peak, and experts expect to see a flattening soon, over the coming months.
Longer term, the main drivers of the deceleration in rate increases over the next two years are expected to be disinflation effects, an ongoing strengthening of underwriting results, and increased competition.
Outsized price increases in personal motor in Germany, the UK and the US have had a notable effect in terms of pushing headline consumer price inflation (CPI) higher.
Germany motor insurance CPI was up 23.4% y-o-y in March 2024, and in the US it was up 22.2%. Although an overstatement of motor inflation for the US meant the March core CPI print was likewise likely overdone, according to Swiss Re.
The producer price index (PPI) puts personal auto insurance inflation at 6.5%, while Swiss Re estimates based on industry rate filings data indicate a 14% y-o-y increase in March.
Property & Casualty Insurance Market to reach $3 Tn by 2032, Says Global Market Insights Inc.
Major property & casualty insurance market participants include State Farm Group Berkshire Hathaway Inc., Progressive Corporation, Allstate Corporation, Liberty Mutual Insurance Travelers Companies Inc., and Chubb Limited, among others
The property & casualty insurance market valuation is predicted to cross USD 3 trillion by 2032, as reported in a research study by Global Market Insights Inc.
Announcements
The Insurance Board to Provide P&C Insurance Organizations with Strategic Insights and Personalized Guidance on the Insurance Industry’s Most Pressing Challenges
The Insurance Board to Provide P&C Insurance Organizations with Strategic Insights and Personalized Guidance on the Insurance Industry’s Most Pressing Challenges
Insurance organizations looking to navigate the complexities of today's market and harness the power of technology can engage with the Insurance Board for insights, guidance, and strategic advice
Today marks the launch of the Insurance Board, a leading advisory board and thought leadership platform dedicated to empowering P&C insurance organizations to elevate their technology capabilities. The Insurance Board aims to bridge the gap between current industry challenges and innovative technological solutions, fostering a community of forward-thinking insurance professionals.
The Insurance Board is a platform that offers insightful thought leadership on critical aspects of P&C insurance, from regulatory complexities and underwriting innovations to claims management and technological transformations. Differentiating the Insurance Board from other platforms is its advisory board, composed of highly-skilled insurance experts offering complimentary advice on a diverse range of topics vital for today's insurance organizations. Insurance organizations seeking to elevate their technology strategy and navigate the challenges of the market are invited to meet with the experts for strategic insights.
Claims
Small Business Survey: Beware of Birds, Skunks and Champagne
This week, Pie Insurance released its latest small business survey, which outlined some of the more unusual workplace claims businesses have faced, as well as their attitudes to workplace safety.
As many as 50% of small business owners said they have made a workplace injury claim in the past five years, according to the survey. And while most experienced common injuries like slips,falls and cuts, accidents come in all shapes and sizes.
Here are some of the most uncommon accidents small businesses experienced that the Pie survey uncovered:
A bird flew into a worker's face while they were on the roof of a house and broke their nose.
An employee broke their foot when frantically running away from a spider.
A customer opened champagne and an employee got popped in the eye by the cork.
An employee accidentally set himself on fire attempting to burn trash at a drill site when he used gasoline instead of diesel.
An employee was injured by a robotic arm that grabbed her and inflicted trauma to her chest. It was an operation error.
An employee slipped while being chased by a chicken.
An employee broke his finger when he stepped from the truck and caught his wedding ring on the truck door handle.
An employee was bit by a baby skunk at a worksite.
However, when asked what their biggest workplace safety nightmare or worst-case scenario was, many small business owners cited unforeseen hazards like natural disasters, workplace violence and mental health.
Five Sigma Supports Indemnity National Insurance Company's Claims Handling with AI-Native Claims Platform
The strategic partnership between INIC and Five Sigma supports effective claims management for high-value, complex claims.
Indemnity National Insurance Company (INIC), a leading provider of commercial excess liability insurance, has partnered with Five Sigma to overhaul its claims management system. INIC uses Five Sigma’s robust, AI-Native claims platform to streamline complex claims processes, enhance operational efficiency, and improve customer satisfaction.
INIC specializes in handling complex high-value excess insurance claims across more than 40 states. The company’s previous claims management system involved several manual processes and disconnected operations that affected its efficiency. INIC’s challenge was to find a claims management system (CMS) that could integrate seamlessly with their existing systems, support remote operations by staff across the country, and manage extensive, long-tail claim files efficiently.
Five Sigma’s cloud-based SaaS claims management platform was selected for its exceptional capability to integrate with INIC’s policy and payment systems out-of-the-box.