In this edition of CEO Angles, AAIS CEO Ed Kelly welcomes Guy Carpenter Chairman David Priebe and Reinsurance Association of America (RAA) President Frank Nutter for a discussion on the current state of the insurance and reinsurance markets in the wake of a tumultuous 2020. In a year that has seen many crises, from the COVID-19 pandemic to civil unrest …

New York Insurance Association (NYIA) Vice President Cassandra Anderson provides insights into the challenges and opportunities facing New York insurers, including consumer needs, technology, and emerging regulatory and legislative issues. Ms. Anderson believes among the biggest issues facing companies are ever-changing and diverse consumer needs, particularly in a highly regulated environment where change can be slow. Insurtech, including innovations in …

Companies are challenged to find opportunities for growth in a competitive landscape. According to BMS Re U.S. CEO Steve Korducki, the differentiator lies in technology and customer service. Mr. Korducki sees growth for insurers in cyber coverage and insurtech, particularly when organizations utilize tech-focused risk mitigation technology. Changing consumer demographics and market shifts, combined with technology advancements, mean a change …

Connecticut Insurance Commissioner Andrew Mais discusses the challenges and opportunities facing the insurance industry. While products like Long Term Care pose issues for the market, it is technology having the biggest impact on the industry.  He admits the “industry needs to change” fast enough to keep up. Both regulators and regulated need to adopt the new technologies available to benefits consumers …

In a world moving quickly, property casualty insurers need to keep their products up-to-date in a timely way, while taking advantage of new technologies used to deliver them. According to Mark Brannon, a Principal at Merlinos & Associates, keeping up with the competition and other changes in the marketplace is a challenge. Many carriers are partnering with companies with advanced …

Chuck Chamness, CEO of the National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies (NAMIC), discusses the challenges of working with a new Congress. He notes that there several major issues to address with the House Financial Services Committee, Senate Banking and the Trump Administration such as the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) and the Terror Risk Insurance Act (TRIA). Mr. Chamness points …

Cyber risk and insurance continue to evolve, but the insurtech explosion is the real news at the moment, according to Gavin Souter, Editor of Business Insurance. Like all things related to technology, cyber insurance is evolving rapidly. Insurers and brokers are keen to sell cyber policies, but commercial buyers do not believe the insurance offered is enough to cover their …

The biggest issues facing home insurance carriers today fall into two categories, according to George Hosfield, Senior Director of Home Insurance for LexisNexis Risk Solutions. Consumer expectation is driving changes to the customer experience as well as changes to the experience for agents. Mr. Hosfield says much of that is driven by “upstart insurtech” companies raising the bar, and general …

Insurers are doing a balancing act between operational excellence and the changing insurtech landscape. Karen Furtado, a partner at Strategy Meets Action sees insurers struggling with how to adapt, how to adopt, and how to change their culture to deal with the ‘new reality’ while maintaining a high degree of service. Ms. Furtado sees endless opportunity in today’s economy. Insurers …

Attracting talent remains biggest challenge for insurers. According to Matt Masher, EVP and COO at A.M. Best, the need for talent is greatest in the information technology (IT) area. The industry has done a lot to attract underwriting and claims professionals. But attracting the industry struggles in attracting IT talent needed to deal with insurtech issues, efficiencies in distribution and …

Fragmentation is a major issue within the insurance industry today, according to Phil Reynolds, CEO & Co-Founder of BriteCore. Traditionally carriers sold products through agents, and were backed by reinsurers. Now, insurtechs are challenging traditional distribution and underwriting models, while reinsurers are going directly to the market through MGAs (Managing General Agents). There is a lot of flux. As a …

NAMIC President & CEO Chuck Chamness comments on the major disruptors affecting the insurance industry, during the 2018 Joint Industry Forum.  While he notes technology is a considerable disruptor, he suggests public policy and the political environment within Washington and the State capitals may be the biggest factor affecting insurers.  He sees the populist movement creating difficulty for an industry …

AAIS President and CEO Ed Kelly discusses the major issues industry executives are concerned about heading into 2018, including technology, the new economy and buying behavior, as well as government regulation. While technology remains an enabler in the insurance industry, Mr. Kelly notes that the new uses of technology are the “disruptors.” “We’ve seen that with automation…the use if drones, …

Phil Reynolds, CEO and Co-Founder of BriteCore, outlines the disruptive nature of insurtech companies, and what traditional companies are doing to access new and emerging technology services. Mr. Reynolds describes an online experience he had with one insurtech company that asked for his home address and was able to assemble county records, a visual flyover, the home’s square footage and …

Frank Nutter, President of the Reinsurance Association of America (RAA), says the reinsurance market has not changed much in previous years.  “Capacity exceeds demand…It’s a buyer’s market.” Reinsurance brokers report that the “rate threshold” has not been reached as of January, and probably won’t be for the foreseeable future. He believes that even a major catastrophe probably would not likely …

According to Paul Carroll, CEO and Editor-in-Chief of Insurance Thought Leadership (ITL), this is a “hugely important time in the (insurance) industry.” He describes “five stages of disruption“, which he has seen in other industries for some time. Mr. Carroll says the industry is out of the “denial phase” and now in the “Cambrian stage”, with billions of dollars being …

In part two of a two-part Tech Trends in Insurance report, Bill Pieroni, President & CEO of ACORD, discusses the latest developments in InsurTech – “a real phenomenon.” Mr. Pieroni sees two types of InsurTech firms: companies that have a fundamental understanding of the challenges faced by the insurance industry, and those with solutions looking for a problem. The insurance …

We have observed emerging InsurTech trends in a broad variety of product offerings, which could complement or change the insurance business model. In our view, InsurTech has not developed as far as the banking sector equivalent, FinTech, which is already taking some bank market share. As insurance is highly regulated and capital-intensive, with high barriers to entry, we regard InsurTech …