Five insurers sign on to NYC insurtech lab

The FinTech Innovation Lab New York, a 12-week program co-founded by Accenture and the Partnership Fund for New York City, is launching an insurtech track.

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The Barclays Capital building, from left, Bank of America Tower, and 4 Times Square building, displaying the Hennes & Mauritz AB (H&M) logo, stand in New York, U.S., on Monday, May 4, 2015. Bank of America Corp. will let shareholders vote on the rule change that enabled Chief Executive Officer Brian Moynihan to become chairman, responding to proxy advisers who bashed the process. Photographer: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg

This is a new area of focus for the lab, which launched in 2010 with mostly banking partners. The program itself begins next April. Chief technology officers and senior technology executives from participating institutions will select up to 10 of the applying companies. Specific areas of interest are new sources of data and AI for underwriting and claims; automated business processes, new distribution models and products; products for emerging and underserved risks; core infrastructure products and blockchain. Insurance companies partnering with the initiative include:

  • AIG
  • Guardian Life
  • The Hartford
  • Marsh & McLennan Companies
  • MetLife
  • XL Catlin
  • Zurich Insurance

The latter five are new additions to the program that come along with the insurtech track launch. Senior-level executives with these companies will partner with the startups that are selected following an application process that closes Dec. 1. Those same execs will mentor the startups and help refine their products. Applicants are expected to have a beta version at the time of application that they can refine in partnership with mentors..

“Whether it’s through AI, IoT, blockchain or big data, insurers recognize that they need to increase their pace of innovation, and fintech represents an opportunity to make that happen,” says John Cusano, senior managing director in Accenture’s Insurance practice. “As investment in insurtech continues to gain momentum, the New York FinTech Innovation Lab is at the forefront of providing mentoring and guidance to ventures targeting the insurance industry.”

The Lab will be held at the Bank of America Tower in Midtown.

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