Record insurtech transactions in Q2
According to a new report from Willis Towers Watson, a total of 71 insurtech transactions were completed during the second quarter of 2018, a record high. However, the total investment – US$579 million – is down from the first quarter of the year by a factor of 20 per cent.
The global advisory, broking and solutions company’s new Quarterly InsurTech Briefing, a collaborative publication with CB Insights, focuses on the life and health insurance industry, a subsector that is seeing a much greater and more complex series of changes within its value chain than comparable segments. The potential impact, according to Willis Towers Watson, is ‘substantially more profound’.
One of the primary drivers of innovation within this subsector is insurtech firms’ harnessing of our ever-advancing understanding of the human body, and the wealth of data that is being made available to enhance and tailor related products. Additionally, new technology is tearing down the barriers between provider and customer, enabling the development of smoother, more accessible interfaces and a greater degree of customisation, something that is essential in order to stand out from the competition in the modern marketplace.
Additionally, Willis Towers Watson points to the adoption of artificial intelligence, machine learning and chatbots as key drivers in efforts to strengthen risk mitigation and prevention; for example, underwriters are finding it ever easier to predict life expectancy and the probability of a customer becoming ill, while also enabling insurers to enter into closer dialogue with their customers to improve engagement and stimulate healthier behaviours.
“The application of insurtech in the life and health sector ranges from the explicit use of new technologies to distribute and underwrite insurance policies, to more indirect usage such as wellness, where technology is deployed simply to make policyholders healthier and happier,” said Greg Solomon, Head of Life and Health Reinsurance at Willis Re International. “But everything overlaps. Innovations are either driven by (re)insurers or used by them, or engaged by prospects and policyholders, which affects (re)insurers’ experiences. The change will be profound, but many incumbent carriers have some way to travel yet.”