InsurTech


Ex-Barclays CEO’s start-up gets backing from China’s Ping An

10X Future Technologies, the start-up founded by ex-Barclays CEO Antony Jenkins last year, will announce this week that it has raised more than £30 million in funding from ‎Ping An Insurance and management consulting firm Oliver Wyman, according to Sky News. The deal will speed up 10X’s expansion, and is good news for Jenkins’ ambitions. […]

Startupbootcamp InsurTech seeks storming start-ups

London-based accelerator Startupbootcamp InsurTech is on the search for the next wave of insurance-inspired start-ups to “take the industry by storm”. Startupbootcamp InsurTech says the process of searching for and purchasing something on Amazon or booking peer-reviewed accommodations in a different country at the touch of a finger, condition people to “expect this fluidity and […]

Fintech accelerator round-up: 13 September 2017

Around the world, the calls for start-ups ring loud and clear. Our fintech accelerator round-up features F10, Commerce.Innovated and Huge Thing. F10, a Swiss incubator and accelerator, is calling for applications from start-ups in fintech, regtech, and insurtech for its P2 programme. Applications close on 15 December. The P2 programme will start on 5 March […]

Fintech funding round-up: 6 September 2017

Wake me up when September sends a fintech funding round-up. Features Deutsche Börse, RegTek.Solutions, Finaeo and Now Money. Deutsche Börse and Illuminate Financial Management have co-led in a $5 million Series A funding round in RegTek.Solutions, a regulatory reporting solutions provider. As reported last month, the Regulatory Reporting Hub of Deutsche Börse launched a partnership […]

Google chases down Apple with ARCore launch

Google has responded strongly to Apple’s front-running approach to augmented reality (AR) with the launch of a new AR platform, reports Telecoms.com (Banking Technology‘s sister publication). ARCore is the Android equivalent to the Apple ARKit; in short, an AR reality platform for developers. It’s not the first time Google has had a crack at the […]

Five solutions for the challenges women face in tech today

In the most recent InsurTech Bytes podcast, Sarah Greasley, CTO, Direct Line Group, opened up about her experience as a woman in fintech, the challenges and the solutions. FinTech Futures (Banking Technology’s sister company) uncovered the solutions for five of the key hurdles in her career. 1: Entrepreneurship and empowering risk taking Challenge: From a […]

Fintech funding round-up: 18 August 2017

We’ve got your back if you want to keep track of financial backing. Our latest fintech funding round-up features Options, Instamojo, AnyPay, Aegon and Funding Circle. Options, a provider of cloud-enabled managed services to capital markets, has received nearly $100 million in investment from New York-based private equity firm Bregal Sagemount. The money will be […]

USAA links with Clinc for conversational AI banking

Banking and insurance provider USAA has opted for Clinc’s artificial intelligence (AI) platform to provide human-like conversations for its customers’ bank accounts. Available as a pilot programme at USAA Labs, its members, who consist of 12 million current and former members of the US military and their families, can use the “non-chatbot AI” to talk […]

Fintech funding round-up: 28 July 2017

The riches rounded up. Following on from the brief report on 26 July, here’s our latest fintech funding round-up. Features Brolly, Callsign and Aquiline Capital Partners. Insurtech start-up Brolly has got itself some lolly – with the closing of a £1 million seed round. The round, led by Valar Ventures, Pi Labs and Entrepreneur First, […]

Legal & General Insurance unveils fintech business

Legal & General Insurance (LGI) has created a new business to build and buy into a range of fintech companies. LGI says its fintech subsidiary Investments Discounts Online (IDOL), which was established in 1999, will form a key part of the new fintech business area. Nick Frankland, who’s been with LGI since 2010, will take […]

R3 brings the Intel to Corda DLT platform

Enterprise software firm R3 is working with Intel to beef up its data privacy and security for Corda, its distributed ledger technology (DLT) platform. R3, which used to call itself a blockchain consortium, says Corda only sends data to those who have a “need to know”. According to the company, this feature emerged from the […]

Thailand ties the fintech knot with Singapore

The Bank of Thailand (BOT) and the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) have signed a fintech co-operation agreement and updated an existing memorandum of understanding (MoU) on banking supervision. The agreement aims to help develop a “richer financial ecosystem” in Thailand and Singapore as well as in ASEAN. The pair will share information on emerging […]

UK regulator calls for feedback on consumer access to insurance

Like a bird of paradise, the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is calling again – and this time for views and evidence concerning consumers’ access to insurance. This FCA’s paper looks more broadly at access issues related to insurance but specifically (and a non-fintech point) seeks views on “how consumers with cancer or those in […]

Blockchain fuels IBM and Standard Chartered insurance policy pilot

American International Group (AIG), IBM and Standard Chartered have piloted the “first” multinational, smart contract based insurance policy using blockchain. The trio converted a controlled master policy written in the UK, and three local policies in the US, Singapore and Kenya, into a smart contract that provides a shared view of policy data and documentation […]

FinLeap in its Element with digital insurance partnership

German fintech incubator FinLeap’s digital insurance platform Element is partnering with financial services group Signal Iduna for new products and services. Element is currently in the process of applying for a life insurance licence under Germany’s Insurance Supervision Act, and plans to offer services in property, accident and liability, and cybersecurity. It will provide “Insurance-as-a-Platform” […]

Interview: Daniel Schreiber, co-founder and CEO of Lemonade

Ask most people about their experience with insurance, grudge purchase par excellence, and they’ll say it leaves a bitter taste in the mouth. Enter Lemonade, the New York-based insurtech combining the power of artificial intelligence (AI) and an approach founded on behavioural economics and customer centricity to offer homeowners and renters protection with a difference.

Podcast: the holy grail of insurance? Making a success of social media

The fintech industry is flying through the social media stratospheres at astonishing rates – we know. But how are particular sectors within it keeping up? Insurance – and its insurtech counterpart – is certainly moving ahead in leaps and bounds in some areas, but when it comes to social media, it looks like it is only just embarking on its journey now, a good five years behind banking.

Rise and shine with Wipro’s blockchain nine

Indian IT firm Wipro has developed nine blockchain-based solutions for banking financial services and insurance (BFSI), manufacturing, retail and consumer goods industries. The solutions were defined, designed and co-developed with Wipro’s clients in its blockchain innovation lab. In terms of fintech and insurtech, these concepts include trade finance and P2P insurance for the “sharing economy” […]

Podcast: five steps to reinventing insurance

In the latest InsurTech Bytes – the podcast for the future of insurance by FinTech Futures – we learn from one of the best disruption duos in insurance: Trov and Anthemis Group.

Schweizerische Mobiliar Asset Management moves to Profidata Xentis

Bern-based Schweizerische Mobiliar Asset Management has implemented Profidata’s Xentis investment management system for its insurance, pensions and fund management businesses. Profidata, which is also based in Switzerland, says it was a “challenging project” to roll out the system within a time frame of 17 months. Xentis replaces various legacy applications, “makes several interfaces redundant and […]

The future of insurance is collaboration

To the outside observer the insurance industry may look very conservative with dominant global companies and local players operating in the way they have done for years and with very little interaction with their customers. But this is changing.

Certua to launch robo life insurance service in UK

UK-based start-up Certua plans to launch a robo life insurance service in Q3 of this year – with the aim to create products and services that can auto adjust based on customer need. Using open data, it will provide real-time personalisation of financial solutions, and “ongoing recommendations” for its customers. This means one insurance policy […]

Co-bots, not robots: the next big step for AI in insurance

Many have proclaimed that 2017 will be “the year of artificial intelligence (AI)”, with a 300% increase in investment in its technologies predicted compared with 2016. Start-ups with AI at the core of their business in particular will be looking to benefit from this surge in investment capital, as they did last year when 550 raised $5 billion in funding.

R3 and Acord launch DLT-ful insurtech centre

Consortium R3 has partnered with Acord (Association for Cooperative Operations Research and Development) to launch a virtual “centre of excellence” for distributed ledger technology (DLT) in the insurance industry. R3 counts a number of insurance companies amongst its member base, including MetLife, AIA and Suncorp Group, as well as other financial services members that have […]

Banking Technology April 2017 issue out now

The latest edition of our flagship magazine – Banking Technology – is out now, packed with news, analysis and insights, case studies, research and expert commentary.

ADNIC live with Profile Software’s IMSplus for investment ops

Abu Dhabi National Insurance Company (ADNIC) has implemented Profile Software’s IMSplus Insurance Investment Management solution. ADNIC uses IMSplus to monitor sector and asset class exposures of its invested assets. Profile says the system allows investment managers to analyse the company’s invested assets (cash, fixed term deposits, equities, bonds, funds, private equity and real estate) and […]

Atidot unveils big data platform for insurtech

Israel’s insurtech provider Atidot has launched the “first” Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) based predictive analytics platform for the life insurance sector. The firm says its big data modelling and decision making tools will “accelerate the pace” at which life insurance executives can use intelligence in their decision making. Existing company data is loaded to the proprietary Atidot […]

Next Insurance launches chatbot on Facebook Messenger

California-based Next Insurance has unveiled its new insurance chatbot that will enable personal trainers to quote and buy insurance via Facebook Messenger. Next partnered with SmallTalk, a chatbot developer, to become the “first company to provide full service insurance via a social channel”. It also says it has developed a direct link with small business […]

PwC blockchain aims to win Oscar for London insurtech

PwC has created a working blockchain prototype for the London Market Target Operating Model (TOM) Innovation Exchange, as it seeks to use the tech for payments in the specialist insurance market. Completed over a six-week period, the proof of concept (PoC) focuses on “enhancing” interactions between multiple different London Market parties involved in a claims […]

Baloise to invest $50m in insurance and risk management tech start-ups

Switzerland-based insurance provider Baloise Group has forged an investment partnership with Anthemis Group, a digital financial services investment and advisory firm. Together, they will curate European and American tech start-ups developing insurance (insurtech) and risk management solutions, with a mandate is to invest CHF 50 million ($50 million).

IAG to launch insurtech hub in Singapore

Insurance Australia Group (IAG) is looking to build an insurtech hub in Singapore. The new unit, Firemark Labs, will act as an incubator for IAG and help teamwork between start-ups and research and tech partners for new products and services across Australia, New Zealand and Asia. Julie Batch, chief customer officer, IAG, says “customer lifestyles […]