Reaching emission reduction and sustainability goals is becoming more important than ever. Supporting the carbon markets, including through new insurance products, can be a key way of doing this. This week Matthew Grant speaks to InsTech’s own Ali Smedley - Senior Research Analyst and author of “ Carbon offsetting: the insurance use case ” . To learn more, you can download the report here . Topics include: The difference between a carbon offset and carbon credit Examples of carbon offset project...
Jul 23, 2023•10 min•Ep. 258
While supply chains are under increasing pressure, many losses associated with cargo delays go uninsured. If shipments are late, perishable goods are lost, business is interrupted and budgets are overspent. Henry Gale speaks to Yann Barbarroux, CEO and Co-founder at Otonomi about the insurance product the company has built to cover supply chain delays for third-party logistics companies and freight forwarders. Topics include: Getting cargo underwriters at Lloyd’s comfortable with a delay product...
Jul 17, 2023•30 min•Ep. 257
Technology comes in many forms - some of it is very visible and accessible - but a lot of the important technology is working away out of sight - and usually out of mind. And many of the most successful companies are those that are building out this critical infrastructure. Richard Tyler, Founder and CEO of Phinsys and Eric Butler, Head of Americas and Bermuda join Matthew Grant to discuss why Phinsys was launched. Topics include: How to help insurers understand where they have been, where they ...
Jul 09, 2023•32 min•Ep. 256
Send offers modular commercial insurance software to insurers, reinsurers and MGAs. The core offering is an underwriting workbench that supports from initial enquiry to bind. It’s a single place for underwriters to access data, documents and decision points. New insurers can use it as a core system, or for more mature companies, it can be bolted onto existing systems, including legacy. Send was founded in 2017 by three insurance veterans. Topics covered include: How to sort through underwriting ...
Jul 02, 2023•31 min•Ep. 255
Flood events are increasing around the world, with many losses uncovered by insurance. Whilst parametric solutions can help provide new capacity to insure catastrophic risks and widen access to insurance, parametric flood insurance is not yet as widespread as parametric covers for hurricanes or earthquakes, due in part to data and modelling challenges specific to flood. Henry Gale speaks to Peter Lacovara, Head of Commercial, Floodbase about how the company is working to make parametric flood in...
Jun 28, 2023•31 min•Ep. 254
The Florida insurance market has faced numerous challenges in recent years. For insurers to underwrite profitably in Florida, having the right hurricane reinsurance is essential. David Schmid, Head of Parametric Products, Reask and Brian Espie, Chief Underwriting Officer, Kettle, join Henry Gale to discuss the new parametric reinsurance solution Kettle and Reask have created for Florida hurricane risks. Topics include: Why parametric can help insurers buy reinsurance that reflects their own view...
Jun 25, 2023•33 min•Ep. 253
Matthew Grant is back talking to another co-founder of a successful technology company. Louw Hopley is Co-founder and CEO of Root which is providing technology to support embedded insurance for companies in South Africa, UK and other countries. Topics include: The advantages of building technology for companies in South Africa What an API really is and how it works The emerging use of Generative AI for writing and testing code Finding your business partner If you like what you're hearing, please...
Jun 18, 2023•31 min•Ep. 252
One of the fundamentals of Insurance is understanding the nature of the risk. What happens when a bookshop adds in a coffee shop - is that riskier? Has this been communicated to the insurer? Does the premium change to reflect that? Matthew Grant is talking to Roger Ferrandis, COO and Co-founder, Wenalyze about how the company is helping insurers identify significant changes in their portfolio. Topics include: How a leading insurer increased annual premium income by repricing its clients' busines...
Jun 11, 2023•29 min•Ep. 251
With all the new technology emerging - and insurers thirsty for knowledge - there’s a growing need for someone to help figure out how to join it all together. Robin Merttens talks to Daren Rudd, VP Consulting - Head of Insurance Business and Technology Consulting, UK at CGI. You’ll hear about Daren’s personal experience and how he and his colleagues are helping insurers engage with new and innovative technology, data and analytics. Topics covered include: The most notable developments in how ins...
Jun 04, 2023•22 min•Ep. 250
This week we’re back talking to Synergy Cloud - it's about claims - and Matthew Grant is talking to Tom Burroughs, Chief Technology Officer, the intrapreneur within the parent company Claims Consortium Group creating a new product and a new business. We cover a range of topics relevant to anyone building or using software, not just in claims, including: What insurance can learn from the travel industry How to build technology in collaboration with the customer It plugs but does it play? Tips for...
May 28, 2023•34 min•Ep. 249
Reinsurers are often the leaders in innovation - and usually identify earlier trends before they go mainstream. In this episode, Robin Merttens talks to Brian O'Reilly, Head of Innovation and Nicole Van Allen, Associate, to discover what Greenlight Re looks for in its business partners. Topics include: What to look for in founders Why actuaries still have a critical role Where to find the best innovation What the future will look like Examples of companies Greenlight Re has worked with We’d love...
May 21, 2023•24 min•Ep. 248
We’re back talking about life and health for this week’s special edition with Tim Smith and Lisa Balboa from Hannover Re. Robin Merttens leads the discussion. Topics include: The role of a reinsurance company in providing protection for insurers and their clients An update on the use of wearables Making health insurance affordable for many How Hannover Re nurtures innovation We’d love to know what you think about this episode - click here and add your thoughts to our LinkedIn post about it. If y...
May 17, 2023•23 min•Ep. 247
Concirrus was founded in 2012 and has evolved to become one of the leaders in supporting marine underwriting through tracking ships and managing data. Today the company is expanding into a platform for multiple risk types and provides analytics into areas including aviation and liability. The goal is to make all underwriters as smart as the smartest underwriter in a company using AI tools. With his fourth appearance on the InsTech podcast and third dedicated interview, Co-founder and CEO Andy Ye...
May 14, 2023•33 min•Ep. 246
As climate extremes worsen, insurance plays a more important role in helping people recover from disasters. Yet even many of the most exposed people do not buy the coverage they need, while the global protection gap continues to widen as more homes are developed in high-risk areas. In this episode, InsTech's Ali Smedley and Henry Gale talk to Carolyn Kousky, Associate Vice President for Economics and Policy, Environmental Defense Fund and author of 'Understanding Disaster Insurance: New Tools fo...
May 10, 2023•35 min•Ep. 245
Guidewire is known for providing technology to the property, casualty and workers' compensation insurance industry. The company is expanding its analytics capabilities and also has an open ecosystem of partners which offer a variety of hardware, consulting and application services. Matthew Grant is joined by Charles Clarke - Group Vice President, Sales and Advisory and Chris Cooksey - Senior Director, Advanced Analytics. Topics covered include: Overcoming the challenges of interoperability for i...
May 07, 2023•25 min•Ep. 244
With all the sophisticated models, data and tools available to insurers, it's as important as ever to know where something is. Managing aggregation is vital for successful underwriting and we are going to be seeing a lot more about platforms that bring together different data sources. In this episode Matthew Grant talks to Jacqueline Legrand, Co-founder & CEO, Maptycs. She had a problem - so she built a company to fix it. Topics include: How a problem for insurance brokers inspired the found...
Apr 30, 2023•29 min•Ep. 243
Insurance runs on data which has to be moved between counterparties. Insurers, brokers, MGAs and many others still rely on spreadsheets (or worse) to do that, which causes friction and errors. In this episode, Robin Merttens talks to Dave Connors, Founder and CEO of distriBind, about why he set up the company and how they are working with insurers and others to provide a way to move beyond spreadsheets at the pace that suits them best. Topics include: Avoiding million-dollar mistakes through mor...
Apr 23, 2023•22 min•Ep. 242
We might be buying our personal insurance directly these days, but brokers still play a key role when it comes to all but the simplest of coverage. Costero goes one step further and finds solutions for risks that are unusual, and often hard to place but which are solving some of the world’s insurance protection gaps. Intrigued to learn more? This week Matthew Grant joins Managing Director Jamie Webb and Divisional Director James Gadbury, of Costero Brokers. UK-based - but with global clients. To...
Apr 16, 2023•36 min•Ep. 241
No technology innovation survives long without a client. Chaucer Group is well known as a successful Lloyd’s insurer and embodies the spirit of Lloyd’s by underwriting unusual and complex business. Matthew Grant is joined by Duncan Gemmel, Chief Strategy Officer, and Hayley Maynard, Head of Innovation, Chaucer Group, for a live recording. Topics covered include: How to engage underwriters in new opportunities Why it pays to go narrow and go deep What Chaucer look for in technology and data offer...
Apr 09, 2023•28 min•Ep. 240
The consequences of non-damage business interruption (NDBI), when events like pandemics don't cause physical damage to a business but do result in significant drops in revenue, have been particularly clear since 2020. Small businesses and gig workers are particularly vulnerable to losses of income during events beyond their control, but these losses tend to be uninsured. OTT Risk, an MGA founded during the Covid-19 pandemic, is developing new approaches to underwriting non-damage business interr...
Apr 02, 2023•32 min•Ep. 239
With the increasing choices that insurers have of data sources to identify property characteristics, choosing the right level of detail and certainty is essential. This week Matthew travels virtually around the world to talk to Tony Agresta, EVP and General Manager of Nearmap and Dr Michael Bewley VP of AI and Computer Vision. Topics covered include: Achieving 3-D imagery and creating virtual images of property to walk around Differences between aerial imagery from aircraft compared to satellite...
Mar 27, 2023•23 min•Ep. 238
With so much data now available from above us and around us to help understand properties, how should insurers, governments and others know which is the most reliable to use - and importantly - how to deal with the uncertainty and sometimes conflicting opinions? This week Matthew Grant is talking to Rachel Olney, Founder and CEO of Geosite. Join us to discover: The key problem Geosite is solving for insurers and others How Rachel discovered that insurance offered the biggest opportunity to launc...
Mar 19, 2023•41 min•Ep. 237
We hear a lot about insurance protection for major catastrophes, but losses from frequent, local events now cause as much damage as the larger disasters that make the news. But insurance coverage is lagging behind leaving insurers and enterprises exposed to loss with no insurance protection. The Demex Group, a spin-out from reinsurer Munich Re is offering parametric cover to fill that insurance gap. This week Matthew Grant and Henry Gale are talking to President & CEO Bill Clark and Chief Ri...
Mar 12, 2023•32 min•Ep. 236
Digital innovation is creating new opportunities to support customers and create efficiencies for claims handling. Oliver McGuinness, CEO of RightIndem, and Tim Rankin, Managing Director of AA Accident Assist, join Robin Merttens to discuss how the two organisations are working together. Talking points include: How RightIndem has evolved since being launched in 2016 with a new founder and new focus The opportunities presented by Electronic First Notification of Loss (EFNOL) Advances in claims fo...
Mar 05, 2023•28 min•Ep. 235
Oliver Werneyer launched his first business aged 16 and later went on to launch Imburse when he discovered the true cost to insurance companies of collecting premiums and paying claims. Another fascinating story about building a business, identifying opportunities and building confidence with clients. Imburse is the glue and pipeline between insurers, their clients and payment providers. Join Matthew and Oliver as they cover topics including: How to find a problem to solve - then build a busines...
Feb 26, 2023•37 min•Ep. 234
We’re covering two main themes here - building a business that survives and thrives after ten years - and assessing the growing risk from a flood. We’ve been working closely with Fathom for many years. In Matthew Grant’s discussion with the co-founders of Fathom, you’ll discover topics such as: The advantages of building a business with close links to a university How increases in the resolution of data and increased computing power have fundamentally changed flood modelling in 10 years Why and ...
Feb 19, 2023•27 min•Ep. 233
Eigen Technologies provides natural language processing (NLP) technology to clients across multiple sectors. Chris Mullan, SVP of Product; and Tim Crowe, Director of Insurance Solutions, joined Robin Merttens on this episode to discuss how they help the insurance industry get access to all the insightful data trapped in the many bespoke, complex and rapidly changing documents that the industry relies on. Talking points include: Unstructured data and the inherent issues it causes in the insurance...
Feb 12, 2023•21 min•Ep. 232
This week Matthew Grant is talking to Nigel Walsh, Managing Director of Insurance, Google Cloud. You'll find out why Google launched its recent “start-up” - Google Cloud - growing in excess of 36% quarter to quarter. Nigel is well known for his love of insurance and engagement across a whole range of innovative topics - and his annual predictions. He relocated to the US from the UK last year so we get a perspective of how attitudes, and technology, vary on both sides of the Atlantic. Topics incl...
Feb 05, 2023•38 min•Ep. 231
This week we are back talking to another leader from one of the largest insurance companies in the world. Liberty Mutual. Parul Kaul-Green is Chief Digital Strategy Officer for Liberty Specialty Markets. Parul is at the sharp end of driving innovation across many of Liberty’s businesses as the company moves to digital. Join us as Matthew Grant discovers how Parul is supporting Liberty’s underwriters and its clients including some of the following: All insurers are moving to become truly digital,...
Jan 29, 2023•33 min•Ep. 230
Cytora is well known in London and increasingly in the US too, as providing analytics for insurers - founded in 2014 and with some well-known clients including Allianz, Beazley and Markel - this is another company that’s made the transition from start-up to scale-up. Richard Hartley is the Co-founder and CEO. In this episode you will discover why the company pivoted from its original premise of sourcing data to help with commercial underwriting pricing - to its new solution, which is making unde...
Jan 22, 2023•32 min•Ep. 229
