Broker Insights were delighted to be ranked by Oxbow Partners in its InsurTech Impact 25 2019 report, revealing the 25 technology-led businesses it believes to be well positioned to have a major impact on the European insurance industry.
The report, now in its second year, includes detailed profiles of the 25 Member companies addressing the question industry leaders are all asking: “Which InsurTechs can add value to my company?” Also covered in the report is a thorough analysis of InsurTech trends along with hypotheses about their impact on (re)insurers and brokers, as well as a review of the progress made by last year’s Members.
Impact 25 Members were selected by Oxbow Partners based on an assessment of the impact and sustainability of their strategy, execution capabilities and existing traction.
Oxbow Partners commented:, “Broker Insights will facilitate a transition from a world where brokers place accounts, to one where insurers come and get them. It will require insurers to make some changes in the way they approach the market – big prizes for those who adapt, and risks of anti-selection and portfolio contradiction for those who do not.”
Oxbow Partners chairman Stuart Davies said: “This year we have selected 25 InsurTechs that we think are worthy of senior executives’ attention. We included a broad range, including a programmatic auction platform for reinsurance placement, a gamified B2B2C life insurance platform and a German ‘full stack’ health insurer.”
The report highlights examples of collaboration with the traditional insurance market, including data and analytics for risk selection and pricing, specialist insurance systems for certain products or channels, and claims.
The 25 selected firms are more heavily weighted to distribution InsurTechs than last year. Another significant development is a shift towards commercial lines.
Chris Sandilands, a partner at Oxbow Partners and the report’s lead author, said: “InsurTech is continuing to evolve. We’re seeing some business models such as pricing analytics mature, and some really interesting propositions targeting personal lines and SME emerge. We’re happy that hype around possible disruption has calmed over the last year, and that leading insurers and brokers are now taking a considered approach to the opportunities InsurTech offers them.”
Investment in InsurTech held up in 2018 but there are signs that investors are increasingly focused on larger, later stage investments, says the report.
Davies warns: “This could favour InsurTechs in the US, where investor pockets are traditionally deeper. European insurers might find that InsurTech quickly moves from being a universe of early stage experimenters to a group of aggressive, US tech companies attacking their markets. Lemonade has already announced its plan to enter Europe in 2019. Insurers must be prepared.”
The success of last year’s 25 Members underlines the rigorous nature of the Impact 25 selection process, adds Davies. “We are delighted to see that all of last year’s Impact 25 Members had a great year – testament to our robust selection process which is also central to our InsurTech advisory work, one of the themes in our insurance strategy and operations practices. As we said last year, there are no prizes for insurers or brokers who are active in InsurTech but select the wrong partners.”
The Impact 25 members are:
Download your full copy of the report here.
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