Research
P/C market showing signs of stabilization
At a glance, the U.S. property/casualty insurance market is showing signs of stabilization. Insurers are seeing meaningful improvements in net income, the average price increase across all lines of coverage and account sizes is down from 7.7% to 5.2%, and the current rate levels are attracting new capital into the market and creating competition.
According to Alera Group’s 2024 Property and Casualty Market Outlook, the U.S. P/C industry in 2023 recorded its best first-quarter underwriting result in more than 15 years, thanks to a rising stock market, higher interest rates, supply chain improvements, and regulatory relief in states such as Florida and California. These improved results are causing rate increases to moderate, encouraging insurers to offer more capacity.
For commercial property, buyers are getting moderate price increases, increased capacity and better placement terms in many parts of the country. There has also been steady growth in parametric coverage – a type of insurance that covers the likelihood of a loss-causing event. An upfront agreement to make a payment upon the occurrence of a covered event meeting or exceeding a predefined intensity threshold is used instead of the traditional method of compensating the insured for the loss. In fact, submissions for parametric insurance are up 500% over last year.
Personal lines are also seeing stabilization after several years of volatility. Insurers are feeling grounded in their current rates, thanks to a sounder reinsurance market and slowing inflation. Insurers are also prioritizing profit over growth, which means they will likely be stricter in adhering to underwriting guidelines and pickier about what they choose to write.
Top 7 most dangerous industries in the U.S.
More than a third of U.S. workers get hurt during the first year of employment, according to a report by Travelers.
Thirty-five percent of workplace injuries happen during the initial 12 months, the data showed, resulting in over six million missed workdays. At the same time, first-year injuries make up 32% of all workers compensation claim costs.
Curators' Corner: Alan Demers and Stephen Applebaum
Unprofitable Insurance - Tail Effect Hits Auto Lines
Embedded insurance promises to disrupt insurance distribution as well as product. Moreover, it will help close the “protection gap” which is roughly 50% of all economic losses not covered by insurance
by Stephen Applebaum & Alan Demers
Embedded Insurance: Major Disruptor Can Bridge the Huge Coverage Gap
Embedded insurance isn’t a new innovation. Options for purchasing life insurance before flying out of an airport, or auto insurance bundled with a new car, have been around for some time.
But today, embedded insurance promises to disrupt insurance distribution as well as product. And it will help close the “protection gap,” which is roughly 50% of all economic losses not covered by insurance.Embedded insurance promises to disrupt insurance distribution as well as product. Moreover, it will help close the “protection gap” – which is roughly 50% of all economic losses not covered by insurance.
Accenture defines embedded insurance as “any insurance that can be purchased within the commercial transaction of another product or service.” That covers an enormous playing field.
Embedded insurance isn’t a new innovation. Purchasing life insurance at the airport before flight departure was “version 1.0” of embedded – a model that turned into an incredibly profitable business. Another evolving embedded model is auto insurance added at point-of-sale together with a new car purchase or lease. Again, not a new concept but a continuous area of interest with more recent insurer/car brand alliances. Such household purchases are one of those major life change moments with an opportunity to switch insurers, hence the constant attention.
Embedded Insurance Market: Big and Getting Bigger
by Stephen Applebaum & Alan Demers
Transformation is pending for insurance digitalization
The P&C Insurance Industry has yet to materially make the shift from analog to digital.
Digitalization of the insurance industry is still in its early stages; transformation is still pending. To secure positive return on investment insurers will need to re-engineer workflow processes and invest in data engineering capabilities to maximize the enterprise-wide potential of digital data and algorithms, and adapt to regulatory requirements with respect to data privacy and analytics.
Whereas this transformation effort was until now considered strategically important by most carriers, it is becoming an existential priority. Especially in reducing losses and controlling expenses.
While the insurance industry is more immune to change than most industries for a range of reasons, ultimately it will only take a few successful competitors to begin taking meaningful market share by changing the associated economics of insurance. Insurers who fail to act with urgency will be replaced by more nimble and visionary competitors from both within and outside of the industry.
by Alan Demers and Stephen Applebaum
Can ClimateTech Save Insurance?
The future of the insurance industry is dependent on how it responds to climate change
Extreme weather is disrupting Property & Casualty insurance profitability while destroying coverage affordability and restricting availability.
FORECAST: More Climate Change, Greater Focus and Action on Sustainability and Resilience
It is early innings for Climate Change and Climate Tech, especially in the Property & Casualty Insurance industry, but the threats and the opportunities are already becoming clear to many.
by Stephen Applebaum and Alan Demers
Announcements
Guidewire Outlines Vision for How Modern Core Platforms will Unlock a New Era of Efficiency and Effectiveness in P&C Insurance
Guidewire outlines its vision for how modern core platforms will unlock a new era of efficiency and effectiveness in P&C insurance at Connections.
Guidewire (NYSE: GWRE) will showcase its commitment to improving risk selection and pricing, indemnity management, and claims efficiency in property and casualty insurance at its annual customer conference, Connections.
The event will unveil future underwriting and claims application capabilities enhanced by AI, introduce Claims Intel*, a Guidewire Industry Intel product, and announce Las Leñas, Guidewire’s latest release. Connections keynote sessions will be livestreamed and available on-demand. To view the livestream, visit the Connections website.
“At Guidewire, we’re committed to helping our customers stay ahead of the curve by providing cutting-edge technology solutions that enable them to thrive in an evolving market.”
Guidewire’s vision for AI-driven insurance applications will mark a new era of insurance productivity by making unstructured data more actionable, assisting underwriters and claims adjusters in decision making and automating routine tasks, and enabling teams to work in more creative, non-linear ways. By intelligently prioritizing tasks, these applications will help guide insurance professionals to focus their attention on doing work where it’s needed most.
The keynote will feature roadmap highlights including:
- AI application service: A cloud service powering AI across all applications, facilitating the best LLM models and ensuring data privacy, security, and compliance with P&C standards.
- Underwriting with GenAI: An assistant that streamlines commercial submissions, reducing quote turnaround, improving risk selection, and enhancing pricing accuracy.
- Claims servicing with GenAI: An AI-driven adjuster experience that automates document ingestion and summarizes claim notes, improving efficiency, customer satisfaction, and claims cycle times.
Developer productivity with GenAI: Native AI integration that boosts development efficiency, assisting with code translation, integration design, and more.
“Guidewire’s AI-powered applications will help insurers improve risk selection and pricing, optimize indemnity management, and enhance claims efficiency by automating tasks, providing deeper data insights, and streamlining workflows across the insurance lifecycle,” said Mike Rosenbaum, Chief Executive Officer, Guidewire.
Nearmap Reveals Inaugural Report, The Next-Gen Risk Readiness Index: P&C Insurance
Nearmap, a global leader in location intelligence solutions, today announced the release of an inaugural report, The Next-Gen Risk Readiness Index: P&C Insurance.
The report reveals the emerging risks property and casualty (P&C) insurers face, and how technology is helping them evolve risk management amid challenges like climate change, fraud, and inaccurate property assessments.
To develop this report, Nearmap surveyed senior decision-makers at U.S. P&C insurance companies.Nearmap, a global leader in location intelligence solutions, today announced the release of an inaugural report, The Next-Gen Risk Readiness Index: P&C Insurance.
The report reveals the emerging risks property and casualty (P&C) insurers face, and how technology is helping them evolve risk management amid challenges like climate change, fraud, and inaccurate property assessments. To develop this report, Nearmap surveyed senior decision-makers at U.S. P&C insurance companies.
A majority of P&C insurers recognize the transformative potential of AI-derived insights from aerial imagery, particularly in the face of escalating climate change risks. AI-derived insights from aerial imagery are defined as capturing frequent high-resolution aerial images and using AI detections to provide detailed property assessments – with attributes such as roof condition or hail risk – ultimately enhancing the property risk information available to insurers.
Enterprise Mobility, A.D. Banker Announce Refreshed Continuing Education Course for Insurance Professionals on Rental Reimbursement Coverage
Course, Provided Courtesy of Enterprise, Helps Licensed Professionals Stay Informed About Rental Reimbursement Coverage
Enterprise and A.D. Banker today announced they’re relaunching a continuing education course about rental reimbursement coverage for insurance professionals. The refreshed course includes new data and is now available in an on-demand, online format. With costs covered by Enterprise, the course offers a free opportunity for insurance professionals to complete credits toward retaining their license when using the Enterprise enrollment page, keeping agents informed on the latest insights and best practices, while equipping them with the knowledge necessary to sell rental reimbursement coverage.
"Enterprise strives to cultivate meaningful partnerships that help strengthen our industry and improve the experience for customers who need help after they’ve been in a car accident," said Yvette Burke, vice president of global sales, replacement and leisure division at Enterprise Mobility. "We are happy to collaborate with A.D. Banker to provide this continuing education course for insurance professionals to enhance skills, provide value to policyholders and stay ahead in their industry."
Webinars/Podcasts/Interviews
Tractable CEO’s Business Insights & Mantra for AI Success | SoftBank Vision Fund
[Ed. Note: Excellent insights into AI in insurance and transparency on Tractable's progress. Tractable processes some $7 B in claims annually through its platform, partnering with insurance giants like Aviva, Geico, Admiral and others.
Tractable CEO Venkat Sathyamurthy shares lessons on how AI delivers value by focusing on real outcomes, not buzzwords. Why “outcome, outcome, outcome” became an obsession for Tractable’s CEO.
When Tractable first showcased its computer vision–based technology to potential customers, they were wowed. It was nearly a decade ago, and anything with artificial intelligence in it was considered magic, says CEO Venkat Sathyamurthy. Tractable’s tech could look at images of a damaged vehicle, identify which parts needed repair or replacement, and come up with an accurate estimate of the cost for body shops and insurers.
Today, AI is everywhere, and the reaction to Tractable’s demos is not what it used to be. “AI is not as unusual anymore, and demos don’t work as great as a selling point,” Sathyamurthy says. “Everyone says, ‘So what? I’ve seen this. What else is there? What can it do for me?’” And that, Sathyamurthy says, is a good thing.
“Too many companies are focused on fancy features and buzzwords, and that’s killing them right now,” he says. “We can’t afford to do that. That’s why we focus heavily on outcome, outcome, outcome.”
In a broad-ranging conversation, Sathyamurthy discusses Tractable’s success in bringing its AI-powered technology to market and shares powerful lessons on how to deliver real value to customers.
Canada
Aviva Integrates Verisk Xactware to Boost Claims Efficiency in Canada | Insurance Innovation Reporter
The integration of Xactimate, XactAnalysis, and XactXpert directly into Aviva’s environment aims to optimizing the insurer’s internal processes
Aviva Canada (Markham, Ontario), a wholly owned subsidiary of the UK-based Aviva plc (London) providing home, personal, automobile, recreational vehicle, group and business insurancea, has selected Verisk’s (Jersey City, N.J.) property estimation technology and insights for its claims handling solutions with the goal of enhancing accuracy and efficiency in processing for its partners and customers.
The integration of Verisk’s industry-leading Xactware suite of products— including Xactimate, XactAnalysis, and XactXpert—directly into Aviva’s environment aims to optimizing the insurer’s internal processes. These tools are designed to do do the following, as described by the vendor