ITIC UK 2026 | Constructing global policies

The ITIJ team are reporting from ITIC UK in Brighton this week (29–30 April 2026), sharing the discussions that take place at the conference. Read all reports.

Phil Denman, CEO, Capacity Insights

Opening the session, Denman explored the growing tension between hyper-personalisation and the traditional foundations of insurance built around pooled risk. His presentation questioned whether current travel insurance products were keeping pace with changing consumer behaviour, travel complexity, and advances in data-driven underwriting.

Denman argued that, despite increasing discussion around personalisation, much of the travel insurance market still relies on relatively standardised product structures. Most policies continue to be sold within a traditional insurance framework, despite the highly variable nature of modern travel, where itineraries may involve multiple destinations, airlines, activities, and changing risk exposures.

He suggested that the industry had focused heavily on pricing sophistication while product wording itself had evolved far more slowly. “Standardisation is nothing to do with numbers; it is all about the words,” he explained, noting that many policy wordings were never designed to accommodate today’s levels of disruption, medical complexity, or customer expectation.

Medical screening was highlighted as one of the few areas where genuine personalisation already exists. However, Denman warned that post-pandemic healthcare pressures, including increased waiting lists and more complex medical disclosures, were placing strain on systems that were not built to process such detailed and evolving information.

Looking ahead, he proposed a shift towards more modular and responsive policy design. Rather than repeatedly asking customers to re-enter information for every trip, insurers could build layered customer profiles over time, incorporating lifestyle, travel behaviour, and medical information more intelligently.

Denman stressed that personalisation should not simply mean price differentiation. Instead, he argued that insurers should focus on tailoring the product itself to individual travel patterns and risk exposures.

Audience discussion focused on whether customers would tolerate longer quote journeys in exchange for more accurate cover. Denman suggested that artificial intelligence (AI) and behavioural science data could help simplify this process by identifying the most relevant questions, while avoiding unnecessary complexity. He concluded that travel insurance products may need to become simultaneously simpler in structure but more sophisticated in relevance and underwriting accuracy.

Michelle Cooper, Director of Product and Commercial – Health and Travel, Saga Services

Cooper focused on the changing dynamics of the over-50s market and the growing challenge of balancing personalisation, accessibility, and vulnerability management within travel insurance products.

She noted that demographic change was reshaping both travel patterns and underwriting considerations.

At the same time, health-related risk remains central to underwriting. Cooper explained that many older travellers were living with at least one chronic condition, creating additional complexity around medical screening, disclosures, and policy suitability.

A major theme throughout the presentation was customer engagement. Cooper explained that a direct-to-consumer approach allows for deeper interaction with policyholders compared with more transactional comparison-site journeys. While many customers begin online, she said a significant proportion of Saga’s customers still move offline during the purchase process because they want reassurance and human interaction before buying cover.

Cooper said: “Our customers, over 50s, they will give us as much info as we like, and probably more. It gives us a powerful position to address some of the issues we’ve discussed.” She added that while this would not solve every challenge, it would create opportunities to better understand customer needs and improve the overall insurance journey.

The discussion also explored the industry’s growing interest in using broader lifestyle and behavioural data to support underwriting decisions. Cooper referenced potential future developments involving more dynamic health indicators, though she stressed that fairness, transparency, and trust would remain critical considerations.

Vulnerability was another major focus. Cooper noted that vulnerability exists across all age groups, although older customers are often more readily identified within regulatory frameworks. Only around 6–7% of Saga customers actively disclose vulnerabilities, she said, creating important considerations for both policy design and customer servicing.

Audience discussion later turned to the challenge of unintentional under-declaration of medical conditions. Cooper suggested that many customers simply did not fully understand medical terminology or what must be disclosed, rather than deliberately withholding information.

David Allison, Head of Intermediary Consultancy South, Insurance Compliance Services (ICS)

During the final presentation, Allison examined how regulatory expectations within insurance were continuing to evolve, particularly under the Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) increasing focus on consumer outcomes, accountability, and continuous improvement.

He outlined how supervision was moving away from purely prescriptive compliance models towards a more data-led and outcomes-focused approach. Regulators, he explained, are placing greater emphasis on whether firms can demonstrate that customers genuinely understand the products they are purchasing and receive fair outcomes throughout the policy life cycle.

Travel insurance was repeatedly described as a uniquely complex product. Allison noted that policies often combine complex elements of medical, cancellation, property and liability cover, yet are commonly purchased cheaply and through short digital journeys where customers may spend little time reviewing the wording itself.

Using comparisons with other purchasing decisions, Allison questioned whether consumers placed sufficient value on travel insurance relative to the potential financial exposure involved. He argued that ultra-low pricing had contributed to products being viewed as “throwaway” purchases, reducing engagement and limiting customer understanding at the point of sale.

The discussion also addressed the growing role of technology and AI within insurance oversight and operations. Allison noted that the FCA described itself as “technology agnostic” but is encouraging innovation where it can improve monitoring, claims handling, and customer outcomes. Developments such as automated claims journeys, parametric products, and enhanced medical screening models are already beginning to reshape the market.

Policy documentation was referenced with regard to how information is disseminated to consumers; Allison criticised the current reliance on standardised Insurance Product Information Documents (IPIDs), arguing that many customers neither read nor fully understand them. Instead, he suggested the industry should move towards clearer and more targeted policy summaries that highlight the most important areas of cover and exclusion, particularly around medical conditions.

The panellists concluded that, regardless of whether products were sold through advisers, travel agents, or digital channels, the central regulatory question increasingly remained the same: does the customer truly understand the policy they are buying?