Verisk Refocuses Exclusively on Insurance with New Emphasis on Life Insurance  May 8th 2023

Verisk Refocuses Exclusively on Insurance with New Emphasis on Life Insurance

Verisk’s Neil Spector talks about the company’s refocus, its strategy to provide innovative solutions organically and through acquisitions, its geographic expansion, and how it’s building life insurance industry offerings, building from its acquisition of FAST.

Verisk (Jersey City, N.J.) is a unique vendor in the insurance technology space, having grown out of rating services bureau ISO (Insurance Services Office) and emerging as holding company Verisk with a 2009 IPO.

During the last two decades, the company has acquired over 40 business, expanding its reach of solutions in predictive analytics and decision support consultations in areas including fraud prevention, actuarial science, insurance coverage, fire protection, catastrophe and weather risk, and data management. More recently Verisk explored the opportunity to become a data and analytics provider not just to insurance but to the financial services industry more broadly, and to the energy industry.

The company returned to its historical focus in 2022, divesting itself of its financial services and supply chain assets, and completing the process earlier this year with the divestment of energy industry assets. IIR recently connected with Neil Spector, president of the company’s Underwriting Solutions division to talk about how the company is refocusing on the insurance industry exclusively and seeking to provide innovative solutions that fit the current economic and technological environment.

Progressive Falling Short of CR Target; 10 More Points of Rate This Year

With loss reserve actions moving Progressive’s first-quarter calendar year combined ratio up to 99, the company is tightening underwriting, cutting advertising spend and taking more rate actions, the chief executive announced yesterday.

Speaking on a first-quarter earnings conference call, CEO Tricia Griffith said that Progressive expects to hike personal auto rates another 10 points this year on a countrywide basis—on top of 4 points taken already in the first quarter and 13 percent jumps in personal auto rates for all of last year.

Exploring Our Aging Population Through the Lens of Casualty Claims

In the insurance industry, change is constant. The need for change can be driven by advancing technology, shifting needs of the consumer, and broader macro trends all at once. Today, the intention is to focus on a specific macro trend which has a growing impact on U.S. auto casualty claims now and in the future: our aging population.

We’re currently in a notable period of transition within our population. According to U.S. Census data, as of 2010 only 13% of the population was aged 65 or older. As the entirety of the Baby Boomer generation transitions into retirement age and beyond, that percentage is growing rapidly.

With this age-related increase in depth and complexity of injury claims expected to continue over the next decade and beyond, it becomes increasingly critical to utilize tools such as predictive analytics, sophisticated medical bill review rules engines, and manual review from a trained medical professional to objectively evaluate each claim from a causation and medical necessity perspective. In that way, insurers can best identify and indemnify loss-related versus unrelated treatment and injury claims.

Erik Bahnsen, Industry Analyst, CCC Intelligent Solutions

NOAA upgrades model to improve storm surge forecasting

Today, NOAA upgraded its Probabilistic Storm Surge (P-Surge) model — the primary model for predicting storm surge associated with high-impact weather like hurricanes and tropical storms — to version 3.0. This upgrade advances storm surge modeling and forecasting for the contiguous U.S. (CONUS), Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, and comes just in time for the 2023 hurricane season beginning on June 1 and running through November 30.

The upgrade includes a number of new capabilities that will help forecasters better understand the risk of storm surge, such as:

• New forecasts for surge, tide and waves for Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
• The ability to run the model simultaneously for two storms. This capability can help during two landfalling storms impacting the CONUS, or one storm impacting the CONUS and one impacting - - Puerto Rico and/or the U.S. Virgin Islands.
• Improved model calculations of friction over different types of land surfaces, which helps more accurately compute the extent of water inundation along the coast.

“We are seeing a sharp increase in catastrophic storm surge impacts in our coastal communities,” said Ken Graham, director of NOAA's National Weather Service. “Our new capabilities to effectively and accurately model and forecast storm surge is critical to upholding the NWS mission of protection of life and property.”

OnStar Insurance drops American Family

OnStar Insurance has stopped referring shoppers to American Family.

The site of the General Motors subsidiary now displays a message to shoppers interested in a quote, stating that insurance is not available in their state. Last May, OnStar Insurance announced that it completed its nationwide rollout.

In addition, the site now displays a message at the bottom that policies are underwritten and issued by OnStar National Insurance Company. Previously, policies were underwritten and issued by member companies and affiliates of Homesite Group. In California, insurance policies were underwritten and issued by American Family Connect Property and Casualty Insurance Company and American Family Connect Insurance Company.

We reported on several occasions that GM is building an insurance company. Earlier this year, the carmaker filed to trademark GM Financial Insurance Company and last year OnStar Property and Casualty Insurance Company was established. General Motors has also been on a hiring spree, and one recent opening captured by Coverager was for an insurance customer service supervisor.

“As an integral part of the beginning stages of our insurance company, the Insurance Sales and Service Supervisor is a critical component to a successful launch and as a result must display and exhibit an entrepreneurial mindset,” the job posting reads.

According to traffic data, the OnStar Insurance website saw an average of ~63k monthly visits between April and December of 2022.

Renewal rates up for all major commercial lines in April: Ivans

All major commercial lines of business saw month-over-month premium renewal rate increases in April, Ivans Insurance Services, a division of Tampa, Florida-based Applied Systems Inc., reported Thursday.

Commercial property renewal rates rose 10.09%, up from a 9.14% increase in March 2023.

Business owners policy renewal rates rose 7.6%, up from a 7.31% increase in March.

Commercial auto renewal rates increased 6.16% in April, up from an increase of 6.07% the prior month.

General liability renewal rates rose 5.5%, up from a 4.98% increase in March, while umbrella renewal rates also increased 5.09%, up from a 4.67% increase the prior month.

Workers compensation renewal rates declined 1.22%, an increase from a 1.33% decline in March.

Panel discussion on parametric insurance at InsurTech Hartford - Digital Insurance

At Insurtech Hartford last week, Forrester's Ellen Carney moderated a panel discussion on parametric insurance between optimist Patrick Kelahan, of the Insurance Elephant; and skeptic David Reale of Travelers. 

Reale's case was that if an insurance company isn't willing to underwrite a certain risk in the traditional indemnification model, he couldn't see why they would be willing to do so under the parametric model. Kelahan said that parametric use cases are still developing, and there are plenty of opportunities to make sales of products that can be profitable in the same way that travel insurance – an example of both parametric and embedded insurance – has thrived.

Nathan Golia, Editor-in-Chief, Digital Insurance, Arizent

New Majesco and Deloitte Report Uncovers Opportunity to Exceed Customer Expectations with Digital Billing and Payments

Majesco, a global leader of cloud insurance software solutions for insurance business transformation, announced the availability of a new joint report with strategic partner Deloitte, Rethinking Billing and Payments in the Digital Age.

“ONE OF THE CRITICAL HURDLES FOR DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION IS LEGACY DEBT – BOTH THE OPERATING MODEL AND TECHNOLOGY – CRIPPLING AN INSURER’S ABILITY TO MEET CUSTOMER DIGITAL EXPECTATIONS, EXPAND BILLING AND PAYMENT OPTIONS AND DRIVE DOWN OPERATIONAL COSTS”

The joint report, based on independent research and insights from a roundtable hosted by Majesco and Deloitte with industry leaders, provides a far-reaching view on the opportunity to exceed customer expectations with digital billing and payments. Expectations are continuously being raised through digital capabilities available outside of insurance, putting pressure on the industry to accelerate digital transformation.

“Digital transformation continues to accelerate within the insurance industry and billing and payments is at the forefront of the change,” stated Denise Garth, Chief Strategy Officer at Majesco. “From new risk products, value-added services, upgraded customer experiences, and embedded insurance – all powered by digital and data – are just a few items at the tip of the iceberg of change driven by customers. Every part of the insurance operating model, including billing and payments, are ripe for digital modernization and are foundational to growth, customer retention, and innovation.”