Insurance

Companies create a more customer-friendly, digitally-focused roadside assistance experience.

The Dutch company will use some of its surplus cash to add scale organically to the global auto business, Chief Executive Officer Bob Van Dijk said in an interview.

In this segment of the series, the authors examine the role M&A will play in the industry’s adoption of insurtech—and more generally, the need for established carriers to adapt to the increasingly innovative and service-based product and service offerings new entrants bring to bear.

The transformation of consumer-focused technologies is forcing providers to adopt new tools to keep up. However, many of these tools are not built with user-friendly experiences that meet customer expectations, and therefore, they suffer from low engagement and adoption.

Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co. is sticking with a hybrid work model as the best way to attract staff in the post-pandemic era, having just opened a major office overlooking Boston Harbor.

In other news: Liberty Mutual launches insurance agency; Neptune Flood releases carbon-neutral plan; New York Life announces CEO-elect.

Apple Inc. venturing into cars might shake up the electric vehicles market in the same way the iPhone revolutionized the mobile communications industry in 2007. So says Morgan Stanley.

Willis Towers Watson Plc is adding four new members to its board after activist investors pushed for changes at the insurance brokerage following the collapse of a $30 billion planned sale to Aon Plc.

A total of 63.6 million shares were sold for C$22 apiece, the Waterloo, Ontario-based company said in a release late Wednesday, the top end of the range it had targeted. The company is also selling another C$700 million in shares in a private placement to the Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan and Swiss Re.

American International Group Inc. and other insurers avoided steep losses from a spate of extreme weather this year thanks in part to the reinsurance industry. But increased reliance on those policies probably means price hikes are coming.

A list with the names of about 100 global investors has been shared with the 10 banks working on the deal and the institutions will approach different sets of investors, according to people with knowledge of the matter who asked not to be named as discussions are private.

The acquisition is a win for Lemonade’s recently launched car insurance product. Metromile has a decade of driving data based on its usage-based model and it operates licenses in 49 states, all of which will be merged into a single company, if the deal goes through.

The stay-at-home mandates, school and business closings, and increased remote work arrangements emanating from COVID-19 resulted in a significant decrease in motor vehicle accident frequency in 2020, with that trend continuing into 2021. There are many other, less obvious forces that actuaries and company management should consider as 2021 year-end reserves are analyzed.

Amazon says it isn’t legally culpable because the driver worked for Harper Logistics LLC, one of thousands of small businesses launched in recent years specifically to deliver Amazon packages. By focusing on the key role played by the algorithms, Rana’s attorney, Scott Harrison, is looking to prove that the company controls the operation, managing everything from how many packages drivers must deliver to whether they should be kept on or fired.

Addition Capital, Coatue Management and serial entrepreneur Elad Gil led the funding round in the Mountain View, California-based company, now worth $3.6 billion -- nearly triple the valuation from another round last year.

The shares will be priced in a range of C$19 to C$22 apiece and will be listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol “DFY,” Waterloo, Ontario-based Definity said in a statement Monday.

Arity, a mobility data and analytics company founded by Allstate in 2016, has made its nearly 100 million driving risk scores exclusively available on Transparent.ly, a platform for auto insurance marketers to leverage leads and target shoppers.

The funding round was led by AIA Insurance Inc. as Tiki looks to expand into life insurance and plans a U.S. initial public offering.

The move suggests Apple is plowing ahead with attempts to develop self-driving technology, a high-stakes race with automakers such as Tesla. Moore is joining a division known for its secrecy -- Apple has never publicly laid out its car plans -- and frequent turnover. The head of Apple’s car project, codenamed Titan, departed the company earlier this year to lead technology efforts at Ford Motor Co.

In other news: AgentSync acquires Finvera; Cart.com teams up with Extend; SkyWatch launches usage-based insurance with Global Aerospace.