Day 1 Highlights

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The Insurance Innovators Summit kicked off today at the Queen Elizabeth II Centre in the heart of London. Day 1 of the event brought together various experts from across the industry to reflect on the past year’s challenges and to look ahead to how insurers can continue to serve their customers best.

Driving digital tools for all

Digital adoption in insurance has been growing exponentially, something cemented by the Covid-19 pandemic. In the morning’s Leaders’ Forum, Tara Foley, CEO, Retail, at AXA noted that their digital notifications for motor claims have trebled in the past two years, so the demand is there.

“Today’s macroeconomic environment and technology trends present huge opportunities for us to be there for our customers,” Foley commented.

That means being there for all customers. Peter Blanc, Group Chief Executive Officer at Aston Lark and the current President of the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII), took aim at rogue insurers who might try and use data to cherrypick their way to a profit.

“Insurers should be thinking far more holistically and being far more relevant to the whole of society,” Blanc urged.

Adam Beckett, Chief Distribution Officer at Ageas, agreed with Blanc and highlighted a number of competing drivers that insurers need to balance.

“Web3 and the metaverse challenge insurers to consider how to properly manage innovation alongside the delivery of today’s services,” Beck reflected.

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Exploring ecosystems

Delegates were given many examples of just how Web3 is starting to revolutionise insurance by Garrett Droege, the Director of Innovation + Strategy at IMA Financial.

Jonathan Larsen, the Chief Innovation Officer and Chief Executive Officer of the Global Voyager Fund at Ping An demonstrated how to build an ecosystem at scale through various examples. On the motor side, the firm has 55 million customers and has developed its Good Driver app for all manner of policy and claims management functionality.

“App users can buy insurance, make claims, and use vouchers that we offer as loyalty benefits, and there’s a range of driving capabilities there as well, including parking, gasoline, carwash tickets, and car appraisals,” Larsen explained.

Consumers don’t wake up in the morning excited about insurance coverage. With embedded insurance, they should not even have to think about it as it’s already included, wherever needed, in a transparent manner. One driver for embedded insurance is the trend towards vehicle rental rather than purchase, as Franck Pivert, Chief Revenue Officer, Wakam underlined.

“People are switching from owning a car or bike to a usage-based approach, and when you want to use a car or a scooter, you don’t want to go through buying insurance on top of that,” empathised Pivert. “It should naturally be embedded and there is a lot of need in that direction.”

As Day 1 of the Summit draws to a close with a rather fabulous After Party, Day 2 tomorrow promises further expert insight and discussion from across the insurance sector.