News in numbers
Verdict InsurTech gathers the most important industry news in recent times, including some startling figures
Tripled
There are three times as many health and wellbeing services offered through life insurance in 2019 than in 2018.
According to ActiveQuote, research from Defaqto found that out of 117 life insurance products, 47 of them offer a type of health and wellbeing service.
In comparison, in July 2018, only 14 out of 103 life insurance
products offered health and wellbeing services. This is more than three times less than in July 2019.
Health and wellbeing services include counselling and health phonelines, gym membership discounts, and online GP appointments. In addition, some offer career and CV advice, as well as debt and money management help.
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$1.5bn
American investment firm Centerbridge Partners is set to finalise its acquisition of a majority stake in health insurance marketplace GoHealth. The deal will be worth approximately $1.5bn.
Undisclosed sources familiar with the development told Reuters that the deal is expected to be announced as early as Monday.
Chicago-based GoHealth manages an online marketplace for health insurance. The marketplace leverages proprietary algorithms to connect consumers and small businesses with health plans.
GoHealth has also teamed up with insurance agencies which offer suitable plans to its customers.
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57%
Brookfield Business Partners has agreed to buy nearly 57% stake in Genworth MI Canada from Genworth Financial in a C$2.4bn ($1.8bn) deal.
The acquisition of 57% controlling stake equates to 48,944,645 common shares of Genworth MI Canada.
Brookfield Business Partners will acquire the shares from Genworth Financial International Holdings (GFIH) and Genworth Mortgage Insurance Corporation (GMIC).
Both of the firms are wholly-owned indirect subsidiaries of Genworth.
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Five years
Direct Line Group has partnered with AIG and released a life insurance proposition on two of its brands; Direct Line and Churchill.
The partnership with AIG is part of a five-year deal that will see customers insured in less than 10 minutes online or over the phone.
AIG will provide life insurance with critical illness as an option under the arrangement.
Furthermore, the application process will provide families with value for money life insurance offering protection and peace of mind.
In addition, the partnership between AIG and Direct Line will offer the flexibility to build and deliver future products. These can also be tailor-made to meet customers’ needs and the technology will enable customers to get a quote and instant cover. In most cases, this is without providing further medical evidence.
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Top Stories
Admiral chooses Equifax for affordability solution
Admiral Insurance has expanded its partnership with consumer and business insight firm Equifax.
As a result, Equifax will power Admiral’s affordability assessment for instalment payments.
The Equifax solution aids insurers and brokers in making informed assessments in real-time.
Furthermore, by providing access to CATO (current account turnover) data, customers’ aggregated monthly income and outgoings can now be incorporated into the quote process. Following this, it delivers a straightforward red, amber or green affordability status to better inform decision-making.
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Trov launches white-label insurtech platform and partners with Lloyds
Trov, an insurance technology firm, is partnering with Lloyds Banking Group and launching a portfolio of end-to-end digital white-labelled insurance products.
Launched on the “Powered by Trov” insurtech platform, it will enable firms to release solutions for homeowners, renters, motorists, and SMEs. The products are designed to be quickly utilised by financial organisations and insurers.
In addition, Trov and Lloyds will release an insurance product later in 2019 designed with the lifestyle of modern UK consumers in mind.
The Powered by Trov platform is made up of four core insurtech modules. These are Policy Sales, Claims, CRM, and Business Intelligence. These are the building blocks of the white-label insurance product line.
With the launch of Powered by Trov, the San Francisco-headquartered technology firm seeks to establish itself as a preferred partner for enterprise. The white-label products are supposed to innovate with little to no integrate with legacy infrastructure.
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Prudential to announce plans to demerge UK business
American insurance major Prudential is set to start a split of its UK business from the group’s Asian and American operations to simplify its global business.
The new British entity will be known as M&GPrudential and will be worth up to £7bn ($8.46bn).
The other half will be known as Prudential plc and will include the Asian operation based in Hong Kong, a smaller business in Africa, and US retirement business Jackson National Life.
Following completion of the demerger, Prudential plc will be about five times bigger than M&GPrudential.
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ThingCo launches self-installed telematics device
Insurtech ThingCo has launched Little Theo, a solar-powered, self-installed telematics device.
Little Theo enables advanced telematics services with intelligent voice, sim card, and crash detection. Test versions of the device are currently with a number of leading motor insurers.
The device sticks to the windscreen of the vehicle and can run for 50,000km per year before needing to be recharged.
In addition, as well as data gathering, it incorporates crash detection and intelligent voice. This is to immediately support customers after a collision and during the claims process.
All data, trips, and scores are relayed to the Theo App to give instant feedback to the driver. Users can benefit from the Theo reward scheme to encourage good driving.
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UK and EU sign tentative Brexit deal on financial services
The UK has signed a tentative deal with the EU to provide domestic financial service providers continued access to European market following Brexit.
Citing government sources, a report from The Times stated that both the parties agreed on all key aspects of future partnership including information sharing.
It added that the deal will enable UK companies to operate across the European markets till the British and EU financial regulations are aligned.
As the UK is set to leave EU in March next year, all the major global banks with operations in the country had to restructure their operations.
Many financial companies have set up new hubs and moved their staff to new locations, as a part of this reorganisation.
Under the current system, EU allows foreign banks and insurers access to the European market when they are guided by similar financial regulations.
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