Untapped potential in Europe for insurers

The platform economy in Europe has created a new distribution channel for insurers, representing an opportunity of more than €500 million for both traditional insurance providers and insurtechs, according to a new report series from Finaccord. Of the 900 platforms researched, two-thirds did not have an existing partnership for distributing insurance at the time of writing.

Many of the top platforms do not currently have insurance partners. Finaccord has identified the region’s top platforms by opportunity value for insurers, and while some major names like Airbnb and Uber have existing partnerships, six of the top 10 did not have an insurance partner.

The report found that insurance provision rates vary by platform type, with mobility a relatively developed sector. However, in all the other main platform types (food, property, retail and work), no more than one-third of platforms have an insurance partner.

There is variation in insurance provision rate by country, but the untapped opportunity is great in all the countries featured in this research. Of those nations included in the report, the insurance provision rate was less than 50 per cent for platform economy entities in all countries, with some having significantly lower provision rates, particularly in Scandinavia.

Finally, while insurtechs have sought to rapidly develop in this space, traditional insurers have responded to this opportunity: Allianz, AXA and Zurich have established the largest number of partnerships and are particularly active in the market.

Finaccord’s report series identifies little-understood new opportunities, giving insurers insight into this growing and under-insured space, allowing them to compare and contrast key European markets.