News
Top 10 U.S. Auto Insurers Had Over 76% Market Share in 2022
Progressive moves into second place on the list of top 10 private passenger auto insurers. NAIC reports auto insurance premiums earned up nearly 5% in 2022.
Total direct premiums earned on private passenger auto insurance were $270.26 billion in the U.S., up 4.86% from 57.7 billion in 2021 according to final data released March 28 by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC). In 2021, earned premiums were up 3.08%, a return to growth following the approximate $1 billion decline in 2020 due to the pandemic.
The Future of Life Insurance: Personalized, Digital-First Experiences for a New Generation - Silicon Valley Insurance Accelerator
The needs and expectations of your customers, particularly younger generations, are changing rapidly. To remain competitive, your company and others must adapt to these new realities. Here’s how.
Today’s customers expect personalized, intuitive, and seamless experiences that make their lives easier and add real value. But how can your company deliver on these expectations? Let’s take a journey with a young couple and explore the potential of digital-first experiences, and discover how you can adapt and thrive in this evolving landscape.
Mike Connor, CEO, SVIA
AI set to shake up insurance
Swiss insurance firm Zurich is reportedly experimenting with ChatGPT to find out how AI can help with tasks including modeling, claims, and data mining, according to the Financial Times.
- Zurich believes the technology can be used to extract information from long documents, including claims descriptions.
- It’s aiming to improve its underwriting by inputting claims data from the previous six years to try pinpointing the cause of loss across large numbers of claims.
- The insurer is also exploring if AI can help write code for statistical models.
AI can shake up insurance: Here are five potential benefits the tech could have on the sector.
Digital MGA formations need careful planning: Panel
Forming and funding digital managing general agents with the aid of insurtech companies can be challenging but the problems are not insurmountable, experts say.
Constructing a digital MGA may require regulatory approvals that technology companies don’t typically have to comply with, they said.
In addition, securing adequate reinsurance capacity is vital for a successful launch, they said Wednesday during a session at the New York Insurtech Conference.
“It’s not difficult to build an MGA,” because the resources are there, said Dogan Kaleli, CEO at New York based Stere LLC,** a company that seeks to connect MGAs and insurtechs with insurers, reinsurers and others.
Risk-Based Pricing: Understanding the dynamic value of the risk
Top performing auto insurance companies have improved their data-driven decision-making by leveraging better data. This better data not only helps drive continuous improvement, it’s also being used to implement more sophisticated, accurate pricing for both the insurer and the insured. “Better data” is a big, complex topic, so for today, we’re going to drill down into a key aspect: what “better data” is available for risk-based pricing, and why should all insurers be leveraging it?
To answer those questions, let’s first look at the changes that are driving the need for better data. There are two key changes that auto insurers need to take into account when it comes to the vehicles they cover.
Marty Ellingsworth, Executive Managing Director, P&C Insurance Intelligence Group, J.D. Power
The Impact of Inflation on Insurance Shopping
Inflation is driving rates, and rates are driving P&C insurance shopping
After lying mostly dormant for decades, inflation has returned with a vengeance and has had profound impacts on several industries, P&C Insurance being no exception. The rising costs of replacement vehicles, vehicle parts, medical claims, and essentially all other loss-related costs, have placed substantial pressure on insurers’ bottom lines as rate adequacy has rapidly become a challenge across the industry. Insurers have responded quickly, both by reducing the cost side of the profit equation (reducing ad expenditures, shuttering acquisition channels, etc.) and improving the revenue side of the equation (through a series of rate increases not seen in decades).
Beginning in Q4 of 2021, the industry quickly shifted from the premium relief efforts of 2020 to a hard market characterized by significant rate increases. Now, more than a year after these rate increases began in earnest, consumers have experienced at least one renewal cycle in which their insurer was taking rate, and many consumers have seen their insurance premiums increase as a result. As we noted in the J.D. Power 2022 U.S. Insurance Shopping Study, these premium increases are “adding insult to injury” as consumers were wrestling with the effects of inflation in other areas of their lives for a year or more before seeing their insurance premiums increase at renewal.
InsurTech/M&A/Finance/Collaboration
Vista Equity Partners Completes $2.6B Buy of Duck Creek Technologies
Duck Creek Technologies on March 30 announced the completion of its acquisition by Vista Equity Partners in an all-cash transaction valued at approximately $2.6 billion, or $19 per share.
“We are excited to commence our partnership with Vista Equity Partners and work together to advance the next generation of P&C insurance technology,” said Michael Jackowski, CEO of insurance software provider Duck Creek. “With Vista’s global network and deep sector expertise, we will be better positioned to support and accelerate the industry’s transition to the cloud while continuing to deliver a best-in-class customer experience.”
Texas Farm Bureau Launches New Telematics Program Using Tech from Arity
Texas Farm Bureau Launches New Telematics Program Using Tech from Arity
The Drive‘n Save program offers drivers the chance to save 10 percent off auto insurance premium, with deeper discounts available for drivers who demonstrate ongoing safe driving behavior.
Texas Farm Bureau Insurance (Waco) has announced its new insurance program, Drive‘n Save, built in partnership with Arity (Chicago), a mobility data and analytics company. The program offers drivers the chance to save 10 percent off their auto insurance premium just for participating, with deeper discounts available for drivers who demonstrate ongoing safe driving behavior.
Policyholders download Texas Farm Bureau Insurance’s mobile telematics app, which collects driving behavior data to provide them with more accurate and fairer pricing based on how and how much they drive, according to an Arity statement.
Munich Re partners with insurtech
Munich Re Life, in partnership with insurtech Paperless Solutions Group (PSG), has announced a new combined risk assessment and e-application product that will allow life insurance carriers to underwrite new policies faster and more accurately.
The product combines the risk assessment and instant decision-making capabilities of Munich Re’s alitheia solution with the application and point-of-sale process of PSG’s eValuate PLUS to achieve straight-through processing (STP) rates that more than double the industry average, the companies said.
According to Munich Re’s 2022 Accelerated Underwriting Market Report, the industry’s average STP rate is 21%. Using alitheia’s technology and analytics, life insurers can achieve STP rates of 40% to 50%, while providing their customers with a simple online insurance application using eValuate PLUS.
Embrace Pet Insurance Launches Modern Approach to Claims Processing with Proprietary AI Solution
Embrace Pet Insurance, a top-rated pet health insurance provider for dogs and cats in the United States, has launched Apollo, a first-to-market platform powered by AI to automate routine claim processes such as document handling, data extraction and claim adjudication. The platform, which was built and designed completely in-house, is over 75 percent faster than Embrace's standard claims processing method. Utilizing the trademarked "Lightning Claims" protocol to predetermine covered claims, Apollo has processed nearly 250,000 claims since its launch in June 2022, which represents more than 50 percent of all claims processed during that time period.
Since the tool's introduction, Embrace has leveraged Apollo to improve customer service and provide even more efficient reimbursements while also freeing up critical time for Embrace claims adjusters to focus on high-value activities like providing personalized client communications, strengthening customer relationships and addressing complex claims. While the platform is currently being used primarily by the Claims team, Embrace is highly invested in expanding the use of AI across all aspects of the business where there is the opportunity for processes to be improved and benefit from automation.
Insurity Partners with Attestiv to Provide AI-Powered Automation
Insurity Partners with Attestiv to Provide AI-Powered Automation
The new partnership will enable P&C carriers to accelerate automation initiatives, resulting in additional fraud protections and cost-savings in claims processing.
Insurity (Hartford), a provider of cloud-based software for insurance carriers, brokers, and MGAs, today announced a partnership with Attestiv (Boston) to accelerate automation initiatives, increase fraud protections, and reduce expenses for property/casualty carriers. Through the partnership, Insurity now offers automated document and image validation to its 500-plus customers, which the vendor says saves insurers costs by eliminating manual inspections, reducing fraud, and minimizing reputational risk.
Attestiv provides a tamper-proof media validation and automation platform for insurance, financial services, and related industries. Attestiv verifies the authenticity of digital media, including photos, videos, and documents. This empowers organizations to deploy trusted automation initiatives protecting them from fraud and losses by providing the highest standard for information exchange, according to an Insurity statement.
BrokerTech Accelerator announces 12 insurtechs for 2023
BrokerTech Ventures, a broker-led accelerator in Des Moines, Iowa, has selected 12 insurtechs to participate in its program and receive $50,000 in seed funding.
The following startups were chosen: 1Fort based in New York; Adapt API in San Francisco; Boon Health from Bingham Farms, Michigan; Comulate in San Francisco; Frame Fertility in San Francisco; GOAT Risk Solutions from Buckinghamshire, U.K.; Insight Risk Holdings from Weston, Connecticut; Irys Insurtech from Tampa; Pagedip in Boulder, ReFocus AI from San Diego, California; Sertis in Reno, Nevada; Transharpe Solutions from Charlotte, North Carolina.
"This class is really exciting for a number of reasons," said John Jackovin, executive director of the BTV Accelerator, in a press release. "The startups include some who had reapplied after not making it in years past. We also have more female founders than ever before, which is tremendous to see. And, of course, the products and technologies continue to improve. We are fortunate to be able to engage at this early stage to provide a tremendous value to the community."
People
Axis hires former Chubb exec as chief claims officer
Axis Capital Holdings Ltd. said Thursday it has hired former Chubb Ltd. executive Megan Watt as chief claims officer, effective April 17.**
She fills the role previously held by Michael Baumel, who left the company to join Chicago-based Old Republic General Insurance Group Inc. in December.
Ms. Watt, based in New York, will report to Vince Tizzio, current CEO of specialty insurance and reinsurance, who is set to become CEO of the Bermuda-based insurer and reinsurer in May.
Ms. Watt was previously head of North America complex claims at Chubb and prior to that served as chief claims officer for Everest Insurance, Everest Re Group Ltd.’s primary insurance division.