Industries

The glass tower in Paris where Axa SA, one of the world’s largest insurers, has its temporary headquarters looks as if a giant feral cat has ripped chunks out of it. In recent months that jagged feeling extends inside, too, as senior executives prepared to claw off an extraordinarily profitable part of the company’s $20 billion business: the oil and gas clients whose ties to the insurer go back decades.

Nationwide recently announced a new partnership and the expansion of another as the company continues to grow its Internet of Things capabilities.

The company announced the launch of its first offering in February, a telematics-based platform that is designed to modernize commercial fleet insurance by using vast amounts of driving data gathered from sensors on trucks.

Digital Insurance received responses via email from Dr. Caro Gabor, CEO of Movinx, a global insurtech platform and a joint venture between Swiss Re and Daimler Insurance Services. Dr. Gabor discusses Movinx, auto industry trends and embedded insurance.

Partnerships between automakers and insurance carriers have existed for decades, but more recent deals offer customers insurance options at the point of sale using telematics data capabilities built into connected-car platforms.

The U.S. Department of Transportation proposed on Thursday that lane-keeping support, automatic emergency braking, blind spot detection and blind spot intervention be incorporated into its Five-Star Safety Ratings program for new cars.

The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has opened defect investigations in the past two weeks of cars made by Honda Motor Corp. and Tesla Inc. and equipped with automatic emergency braking systems.

Prakash Ranjan, the vice president of marketing technology, will focus on the company’s goals to improve digital transformation and increase tech talent.

Automatic emergency braking systems can detect and prevent pedestrian crashes, but lighting plays a role in the odds no matter the crash avoidance systems in place, according to a study from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.

As 2022 gets under way, insurers have opportunities to boost their visibility beyond simply increasing their marketing spending.

Expenses in the fourth quarter surged 43% from a year earlier to more than $11.6 billion, the Northbrook, Illinois-based insurer said Wednesday in a statement. Costs tied to property and casualty claims made up the majority of the increase.

Mike Kreidler has adopted a temporary rule banning insurers from using credit information to set auto, homeowner and renters insurance rates. Kreidler initially issued an emergency rule in March 2021 but it was struck down by a court last year. The new rule goes into effect March 4.

The total losses and physical damages were estimated to cost $343 billion, well below the peak loss year in 2011 of $615 billion, however the 2021 losses, compared to 2011-2020 were about 4% higher than the average of $271 billion, according to the 2021 Weather, Climate and Catastrophe Insight report.

Some consumers don’t seem to be crying out for usage-based insurance and evidence shows some of the models in use are only mildly predictive at best. Why is that? Why is it that auto insurance companies have not found a way to significantly improve on the traditional metrics of age, zip code and the like despite all the technological advances of the last few decades?

McKeel Hagerty’s parents were into wooden boats and saw an unmet need to underwrite them. Hagerty, however, has been a car nut from day one. When the family’s marine insurance business finally began to offer auto policies in 1991, he saw a chance to join the fold and, along with his sisters, Tammy and Kim, stomp on the pedal.

As we look ahead, evolving technologies are presenting home and auto owners with new potential risks. Hacking and ransomware, once confined to computer networks, may become an endemic cyber vulnerability for our increasingly connected vehicles and “smart home” devices. Yet many of these same technologies could create new data sources and risk mitigation options for personal lines insurers.

The unique partnership comes amid an increase in vehicle crash-related deaths and a desire to help customers understand how their choices could potentially support their overall health.

Millennials are the most eager to go electric, followed by Generation Z, who also expect to see autonomous vehicles in the next five years. However, 40% of respondents said they expect to never use an autonomous vehicle in their lives. The reason for the EV interest is mostly motivated by money.

A group of the world's biggest insurers and reinsurers jointly pledging to eliminate greenhouse gas emissions from their underwriting activities have run into an unexpected opponent of their planet-friendly mission: competition law.

In other news: Overhaul and Movingdots collaborate; Zurich Resilience Solutions adds DEI service; Vertafore names chief technology officer.