News in numbers
Verdict InsurTech gathers the most important industry news in recent times, including some startling figures
$1.5bn
UnitedHealth Group has pledged over $1.5bn to offer additional support to its customers in the wake of Covid-19 pandemic.
As part of the new move, all employers and individual members enrolled in its UnitedHealthcare fully insured health plans will receive a 5% to 20% premium credit on their June billing statements.
The company is also waiving all cost-sharing for all specialists and primary care physician at least through the end of September.
It also aims to accelerate the funds to state partners and critical care providers to serve more people.
UnitedHealth noted that the disruption to traditional patterns of care and related downstream economic disruption has presented well-documented challenges to people, businesses and institutions across national and global health care system. Last month, UnitedHealth announced an initial investment of $50m to fight the pandemic.
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100 days
The digital insurer FWD Singapore has rolled out an insurance plan that offers financial support for Singapore residents who test positive for Covid-19.
The 100-day plan is offered at a price of S$28. It is available to anyone between the ages of 18 and 65, currently residing in Singapore with a valid NRIC or FIN number.
Under the plan, the policyholder will receive a daily cash allowance of S$100 for up to 14 days, if he/she is admitted into ICU.
They will also receive post hospitalisation cash benefit of S$800 upon discharge from hospital.
Additionally, the plan provides a death benefit of S$50,000, which automatically doubles to S$100,000, for critical frontliners involved in health and social services, food, transport and storage services.
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$9bn
French mutual insurer Covéa has scrapped its planned $9bn acquisition of the Bermuda-based reinsurer PartnerRe from Exor.
The French insurer said that it could no longer purchase PartnerRe according to agreed terms in the wake of market dislocation caused by the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.
Reportedly, risk related to Covid-19 pandemic had been excluded from the deal’s ‘material adverse change’ (MAC) clauses of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed by the companies earlier this year regarding the acquisition of PartnerRe in its entirety.
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$4.3bn
Lloyd’s has announced it will pay out between $3bn and $4.3bn to its customers across the world due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The (re)insurance market stated that once the full scale and complexity of the outbreak is fully understood, the total cost to the non-life insurance industry will be in excess of historical events such as 9/11, or the combined costs of 2017 hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria.
Lloyd’s added that losses could increase further if the lockdown continues into another quarter, as its current estimate is based on the assumption it will last until the end of 2020.
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£350m
British insurer Aviva has completed a £350m bulk purchase annuity buy-in transaction with the Trustee of the Co-operative Pension Scheme (Pace).
This marks companies second transaction with Co-operative Pension Scheme following a £1bn transaction announced in January this year. It was completed using a pre-agreed ‘umbrella contract’ to support a quick and efficient process.
Following the transaction, Aviva will insure the defined benefit pension liabilities of an additional 2,300 members. The company will also remove the investment and longevity risk of these members from the scheme.
Members will see no change in the amount of their benefits or the way in which they are paid as a result of the transaction, which forms part of the Trustee’s de-risking strategy, it said.
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5,000 hotels
Global hospitality group Accor has formed a strategic partnership with insurance company AXA to provide medical support to guests across the 5,000 Accor hotels worldwide.
Effective July this year, the partnership is expected to provide Accor’s guests to benefit from a range of expert medical solutions of AXA Partners.
AXA Partners is an entity of AXA international that specialises in assistance services, travel insurance and credit protection.
Through this partnership, AXA aims to strengthen its payer-to-partner strategy to provide innovative services to its customers, notably in health industry.
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Top Stories
Benson Oak divests entire stake in online insurance broker Klik
Benson Oak Capital and co-investors have offloaded their entire stakes in online insurance brokerage Klikpojisteni.cz (Klik).
The stake has been acquired by a company owned by TA Associates and minority owned by MCI EuroVentures.
Klik operates its online insurance brokerage under the Klik.cz and Klik.sk domain names in the Czech Republic and Slovakia.
It has offices across Prague, Usti nad Labem, and Bratislava.
The company enables people to ‘transparently compare’ prices for non-life and life insurance products, including MTPL, CASCO, home, travel and term life insurance.
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South Korea’s Hana Financial to inaugurate digital insurance unit in June
South Korea-based Hana Financial banking group has decided to launch a new digital insurance unit in June 2020, The Investor reported.
The digital insurance unit will be branded as Hana General Insurance, which was formerly an auto insurance firm.
The new unit will be introduced through its newly-acquired subsidiary named The-K NON-Life Insurance, the report added.
Hana Financial bought a 70% stake in The-K Non-Life Insurance from the Korea Teachers’ Credit Union in a KRW77bn ($62.7m) deal.
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Insurtech EIS launches in UK with new insurance products
US-based insurtech firm EIS has launched its coretech platform and entered into the UK market with new insurance products for domestic insurers.
The San Francisco-based company, which delivers core and digital platform to insurers, expanded its footprint in the UK in response to the changing regulatory requirements and consumer habits.
In its recent survey, EIS found that 28.8% of 156 participating insurers in the country identified ‘moving beyond protection to deliver more value to customers’ as the most important objective.
The coretech platform allows insurers to quickly create and deploy new insurance products and services through open APIs.
This platform allows insurance companies to deliver lifestyle solutions to consumers which go beyond protection covers.
Moreover, using the coretech platform, insurers globally can recognise and engage customers for all their insurance needs, rather than relying on specific policy numbers.
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Aetna International teams up with well-being app Wysa
Aetna International has announced a partnership with confidential and anonymous mental well-being app Wysa.
Through Wysa, all Aetna International members and their employees will have free access to 24/7 text-based support. Its AI-driven chat function also allows members to discuss mental well-being via text and can be directed to self-help content.
In addition, the app will highlight how members can seek additional support through structured one-to-one coaching sessions. The sessions are with Wysa’s qualified mental well-being coaches. Each member is entitled to one free session and special rates for further appointments.
Furthermore, the Wysa app directs members to existing Aetna services as part of their policies.
Working with Wysa is part of Aetna’s work against the “second curve” of the Covid-19 pandemic.
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Hilltop to divest National Lloyds for $150m to Align Financial
US financial holding company Hilltop has brokered a deal to sell its fully-owned subsidiary National Lloyds to Align Financial in an all-cash deal valued at nearly $150m.
National Lloyds is a specialty property insurer based in Texas. It primarily caters to owners of mobile homes and lower value homes.
The specialty property insurer operates two subsidiaries, National Lloyds Insurance and American Summit Insurance for writing premiums.
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Digit Insurance gains another $84m in funding
Insurtech Digit Insurance has gained approval from IRDAI to raise $84m of funding from growth investors.
The three growth equity investors are A91 Partners, Faering Capital and TVS Capital. This would bring Digit’s overall funding to $224m.
Employees have also invested. 72 members of Digit staff brought in $4.34m as a part of this funding round.
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