Insurance

Europe’s largest insurer is discussing a potential reinsurance deal for a portfolio with tens of billions of dollars in assets and liabilities, according to the people. It is working with advisers on the possible transaction, the people said, asking not to be identified because the information is private.

Renaissance Insurance, Russia’s largest online policy provider, is trawling the country’s traditional insurers for acquisition targets as it prepares for a possible initial public offering.

Insurtechs have secured more access to capital in the last few years and by the end of 2020 the total market cap of listed insurtechs surpassed $22 billion, according to the World Insurtech Report 2021.

“Spot,” created by Boston Dynamics, known for its viral robot videos, and customized for Farmers, a P&C insurer, is the first collaboration of its kind.

Jerry launched a car insurance comparison service in 2019 using artificial intelligence and machine learning. The company has more than 1 million customers across the U.S. and has expansion plans.

The pandemic has served as a catalyst for putting digital transformation across insurance on the fast track, and claims is one of the focus areas that is primed for implementing digital capabilities. As more claims information is captured and managed digitally, new opportunities to leverage artificial intelligent technologies arise. This leads to a vision of full automation, high levels of straight-through processing, and (logically) a diminishing role for claims professionals.

Forrester research finds that even the most tech-savvy claimants want the reassurance of a human voice handling their claim.

In other news: Hippo launches Builders Program; handdii wins the 2021 ACORD Insurtech Innovation Challenge New York; Blockchain-backed title insurance launches in five states.

Lloyd’s of London, the world’s largest insurance exchange, is pushing the industry to do better on diversity recruitment with tougher new hiring and disclosure targets for its members.

Many insurers are focused on ransomware risk protection even though other new vulnerabilities are emerging from remote work. Recent statistics point to a troubling increase in ransomware and phishing, web application attacks and other emerging cybercrime tactics.