The Future of Insurance

I shared some thoughts triggered by a recent conversation with an executive at an InsurTech solution provider who was voicing frustration with his perception that there seems to be a lot of talk that we are perfect or don't need to look to improve at many carriers. He was curious if this was my observation, as well, and what I thought we could do about it. One thing I know I can do is to talk about it, and help inspire all of you to push your organizations to be humble and honest so we can get back to truly achieving what's possible. Highlights from the Show The biggest danger to our industry is hubris - the sense that are are good enough where we are, or that we're so great, we don't need to open our ears, eyes and minds to feedback and insights from customers, employees, partners and peers I'm seeing more of this than I think we have a right to show, and it's holding the industry back I liken it to a bank robber who robbed 10 banks last year, and 5 this year, holding up their great achievement as if that was an acceptable end state Remember that we can and should respect our progress and improvement, but should never confuse that with being good enough to seizing on the true opportunity in front of us Get $200 of new registrations for ITC Vegas 2024 using code 200ITC1291 at vegas.insuretechconnect.com/register This episode is brought to you by The Future of Insurance thought leadership series, available globally from Amazon in print, Kindle and Audible audiobook. Follow the podcast at future-of-insurance.com/podcast for more details and other episodes. Music courtesy of Hyperbeat Music, available to stream or download on Spotify, Apple Music, and Amazon Music and more.

Adam Denninger leads Capgemini's global strategy for the insurance industry and manages its relationships with the insurance technology ecosystem. Adam has 20+ years' experience creating and delivering solutions at the intersection of business and technology. He joins the show to share some of the perspective in their World Property and Casualty Insurance Report for 2024. Highlights from the Show A focus Adam shared is the idea of being effective in underwriting This is a combination of accuracy and speed That's about getting better data and being able to act on it faster than we have in the past To achieve speed, it requires changing the entire process for evaluating underwriting performance, changing risk factors and inputs, and changing products rapidly Making this change is like doing open heart surgery on a patient who is actively living their life rather than being anesthetized on an OR table A major theme of Capgemini's research is the confluence of rapidly changing macro factors impacting losses While each factor may have moved like this before, we haven't had so many factors moving at the same time to such an extent and at such speed Adam believes the industry needs to come together to create accurate, easily-accessed data sources for common things we all need, like natural perils Download Capgemini's World Property and Casualty Insurance Report 2024 This episode is brought to you by The Future of Insurance thought leadership series, available globally from Amazon in print, Kindle and Audible audiobook. Follow the podcast at future-of-insurance.com/podcast for more details and other episodes. Music courtesy of Hyperbeat Music, available to stream or download on Spotify, Apple Music, and Amazon Music and more.

Edouard is the CEO of Stellantis Insurance, having spent his career building new ways to solving insurance-related needs globally. He is responsibile for creating insurance solutions to support Stellantis' growth objectives in their automotive business, where insurance can enable or hinder those aspirations. He formerly worked at Volvo and Stellantis' predecessor, PSA. He joins the show as he winds down his time leading Stellantis' efforts in Insurance, and on the back of a major announcement with Bolt on embedding auto insurance in the US market. We met over a year ago when we were part of research Capgemini was doing on the future of Mobility and its impact on insurance as part of their World Insurance Report in 2023, which Lars Boeing joined the show to discuss. I shared my work on the Future of Auto Insurance with Edouard, and was excited to bring him on the show to discuss his take on the question given his rich background in the space and being a key driver in where things are heading. Highlights from the Show Edouard began his insurance career while still in school, doing his master's dissertation on new entrants into insurance That lead to a roll at Volvo Group to setup an insurance business, which then lead to a roll with PSA (now Stellantis) to build their insurance business Why would car companies (OEMs) get into insurance? Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) - if insurance for a given car model is too expensive, people won't buy your car, so OEMs want to work to control insurance cost as part of TCO Diversification of Revenues - important in any business, and if you run it right, there's attractive margin in insurance Opportunity - insurance is a way to demonstrate to consumers that you care, and the perception of most insurers is that they're against you rather than trying to pay your claims, so OEMs are well positioned to be the solution to that issue But can OEMs succeed? They're very well positioned with existing assets – brand name with high loyalty and affinity, logistics and supply chains, key purchasing moments, repair and distribution networks, deep understanding of the physical product being insured, etc. They have the assets and resources, but the remaining challenge is execution There's also a question of whether the OEM has to be the insurer, or simply partner with insurance providers and capacity This depends on risk appetite, which is trickier in insurance since you don't know the cost of product until after it is sold Stellantis has looked at multiple models, from building their own insurer to partnering with insurers to working with platforms like Bolttech in each of their global markets to meet local needs Partnership matters because, even if you have your own insurer, you cannot and do not want to take every risk that comes in Car dealers still need to make the sale, so they need solutions beyond an OEM's insurer to be sure they don't get forced to say "No" to a customer who needs coverage We discussed whether OEM's push into subscription services means insurance mustbe part of the equation, but there are local regulations that need to be navigated that may not allow this, so Stellantis must have options for customers that could include an embedded insurance offering but has to include other paths The technology we have to enable new pathways for OEMs to sell insurance are completely different than ever before It's important for insurers to create far more technical capabilities to partner with OEMs as most insurers currently are not flexible enough for most OEM needs You can get the report at future-of-insurance.com/capgemini2023 Download The Future of Auto Insurance: Connected, Embedded, Subscribed for free today This episode is brought to you by The Future of Auto Insurance: Connected, Embedded, Subscribed, which you can download for free today, thanks to support from Guidewire. This report is part of The Future of Insurance book series, available globally from Amazon in print, Kindle and Audible audiobook. Follow the podcast at future-of-insurance.com/podcast for more details and other episodes. Music courtesy of Hyperbeat Music, available to stream or download on Spotify, Apple Music, and Amazon Music and more.

Ian is the co-founder and CEO of Koffie Financial, a finsurtech platform purpose-built for the trucking and transportation industry. With insurance at its core, Koffie's instant and transparent financial services empower truckers with the modern tools and technology necessary to drive efficiency and safety. He is an entrepreneurial leader at the intersection of data, enterprise markets and geospatial analysis. Previously Ian served as founder/CEO of Urban Mapping, a web-based mapping platform he sold to Pitney Bowes in 2015. Customers included Tableau Software, Google, Microsoft, Apple, Facebook, Kayak, IAC, CoStar Group. He has also served in a senior role at a startup that acted as outsourced research for the financial services industry, focusing on alternative data to generate alpha for hedge funds. Highlights from the Show Ian has been a serial entrepreneur, including working in the mapping space and how powerful the meta data about locations, and how critical it is to have accuracy in the data He went on to work on catastrophe exposures, with a specific focus on how geology impacts earthquake losses, which gave him more exposure to managing risk and the impact of loss He was drawn to insurance after a stint offering data to hedge funds because it wasn't as 'I win, you lose' as hedge funds where insurers doing worse means they're helping others Koffie was founded initially to look at the difference in trucking equipment, and how that impacts losses They found that midsize and large risks were self-insuring and forming captives because insurers weren't meeting their needs, but small trucking firms (under 100 tractors) can't afford to do that, so Koffie focused on the smaller-end of the market After a year and half, they got capacity in place, required telematics for insureds (first dedicated equipment, and later with an iPhone app) While this was all positive, the business ultimately didn't survive, and was sold to Acrisure in early 2024 Ian learned first hand something he calls the "InsurTech Paradox" Ian thinks, while we'll see a return of funding, it won't return to the situation where there are huge checks being written He also wonders about whether insurance should be incenting better behavior, even if it means the business that's insured doesn't work that day This episode is brought to you by The Future of Insurance book series (future-of-insurance.com) from Bryan Falchuk. Follow the podcast at future-of-insurance.com/podcast for more details and other episodes. Music courtesy of Hyperbeat Music, available to stream or download on Spotify, Apple Music, and Amazon Music and more.

Joshua Morey is the Chairperson of Ori-gen and President of The J Morey Company Inc. Ori-gen amplifies the voice of diverse communities throughout America by providing resources, services, and perpetuation planning for indepedent agents and brokers from diverse backgrounds. With offices in Hawaii, Los Angeles, Orange County, Torrance, and San Jose, California, Ori-gen represents a wide variety of personal, business, and specialty insurance from 40+ national and international carriers. He is a founding Board Member of the Asian American Insurance Network and Asian's in Insurance Podcast, and advisory council member of the Equity in Infrastructure Project. In addition Mr. Morey serves on the Board of Director’s for the US Japan Council (Executive Committee), Japanese American National Museum, Little Tokyo Community Council, and was featured on the cover of Rough Notes, and IIABA’s national magazine. He is co-founder of KODO Insurance Services (Insurtech) and Chairman of the Board of Arrowood Insurance Services. He has a B.A. in Business Economics, from Wheaton College and a M.A. in Intercultural Studies from Fuller Theological Seminary. In his free time he loves playing baseball and spending time with his wife and three kids. Highlights from the Show Josh is a fourth generation Japanese American, with his great grandfather having immigrated in the late 1800s, and setting up an import-export business in Little Tokyo in Los Angeles The family lost everything when Japanese Americans were sent to incarceration camps during WWII Finding insurance the Japanese American community was next to impossible, so they started their own, and Josh's family started an agency, The J Morey Company, to serve the community, which he runs today Josh's story in taking over is similar to a lot of multi-generational insurance agencies, where the next generation may not be interested in taking over, can't afford to buy the business, or the business is no longer viable, which threatens the legacy of so many family businesses Rather than selling to another agency, Josh worked with a consultant to find a path to keep the business in the family despite not having the financing in place to buy the business That's what sparked the founding of Ori-gen, as a platform to continue the legacy of these companies It's not just about keeping the agencies going, but to support the communities that rely on these agencies in the way his ancestors and their communities needed each other after WWII Josh has also tried to drive more minority involvement in the insurance industry overall, which stems from his sense that this is the best industry and best country in the world That includes engaging the Asian and Pacific Islander community through AAIN (Asian American Insurance Network, where he's a board member), as well as partnering with other groups, like joining NAAIA and Ngozi Nnajiand her Black Friday efforts Josh advocates for DEI efforts because, without them, the industry will miss out on great talent and different approaches that only come from diversity within that talent This episode is brought to you by The Future of Insurance book series (future-of-insurance.com) from Bryan Falchuk. Follow the podcast at future-of-insurance.com/podcast for more details and other episodes. Music courtesy of Hyperbeat Music, available to stream or download on Spotify, Apple Music, and Amazon Music and more.

Bill Pappas is Head of Global Technology and Operations, and is a Corporate Officer and a member of the company's Executive Leadership Team. In this role, he directs a team of more than 43,000 people responsible for technology development, infrastructure, information and cyber security, data strategy and analytics, customer service, operations, crisis management, business continuity and procurement for all lines of business, serving more than 90-million customers across 40+ countries around the world. Pappas joined MetLife in 2019 from Bank of America, where he was the head of operations for the consumer, small business, wealth management and private banking businesses. In this role, Pappas directed a team comprised of more than 50,000 employees and contractors delivering integrated service and operations solutions to approximately 63-million consumers and clients. In addition, Pappas led the global business services team that provided integrated technology solutions across Bank of America. Pappas holds a B.A. cum laude in government and an MBA in international business from Bentley University where he serves on its Board of Trustees. He also is a contributing thought leader as a member of the Gartner Research Board and the Forbes Technology Council.  Highlights from the Show Bill and his team are responsible for everything tied to customers and their experience, and includes roughly half of MetLife's staff with about 60k people Bill has never seen the level of complexity, ambiguity and uncertainty that we have today at any other time in this 30 year Financial Services career, and there's a convergence of these things today that's quite different Many of these issues – supply chain, inflation, political uncertainty, cyber – is the first time we're facing them, so there's no existing playbook for any of these items Customer expectations spiked in COVID, but haven't let up since then MetLife has worked on the process to understand the customer needs, wants and demands Then they look at product and process match up with those customer requirements, and then move to development where there's a gap This takes also look at staff, and how they're supported in supporting customers, so MetLife looks at how it creates and maintains a contemporary workforce, which is something that must be dynamic over time How do skillsets evolve, and how do you ensure your workface has the right skills at any given time Workforces are hybrid, have moving priorities and expectations, and decision making isn't as command-and-control as it might have been years ago They are deliberate in not having technology for technology's sake but only in support of the company's strategic objectives, which helps protect against siloed thinking for any one function Innovation is something they've moved to make it part of every staff member's work as part of the culture's DNA rather than existing in a specific team or group They run hackathons, setup investment mechanisms for new ideas and more to ensure innovation is everyone's responsibility and they're empowered to deliver on it DE&I is important to MetLife and is part of everything they do, but they couldn't operate with such a customer focus without it and the diverse thinking and skills that come with it For example, you cannot develop new, powerful tools like AI without different approaches and mindsets involved or you end up with something out of sync with your customer base They see a shortage of women in STEM, and have been working with universities to drive more involvement by women in STEM career paths, and then looking at how to support them better through their careers; this is something they've also worked with other companies and non-profit organizations in the communities MetLife operates in to help make meaningful progress You cannot move the industry or the market on your own, so MetLife has chosen to convene the industry to help learn together and foster the progress the company is trying to make on macro-level things like talent, AI and more This episode is brought to you by The Future of Insurance book series (future-of-insurance.com) from Bryan Falchuk. Follow the podcast at future-of-insurance.com/podcast for more details and other episodes. Music courtesy of Hyperbeat Music, available to stream or download on Spotify, Apple Music, and Amazon Music and more.

Richard McCathron is CEO and President of Hippo Insurance and has served as a member of the Board of Directors since February 2017. Prior to Hippo, Rick held senior executive positions at various insurance companies including First Connect Insurance, Superior Access Insurance and Mercury Insurance Group. Rick is both a Chartered Property & Casualty Underwriter (CPCU) and a Certified Insurance Counselor (CIC) and sits on the board of directors of Spinnaker Insurance Company and First Connect Insurance. He is an advisor for several other InsurTech companies and holds a BS in Finance from Oregon State University.  Highlights from the Show Rick's insurance career spans a lot of areas, including different carrier functions, distribution and more, and has been at Hippo for 8 years, including his current role as President & CEO 2023 reminded Rick of the Northridge Earthquake and the impact that had on the industry Hail was a major driver of loss in 2023, which coincided with a trend to buy net quota share insurance (QS with a cap for CAT losses) and Excess of Loss (XOL) coverage above that There weren't big events that would trigger XOL coverage, but the small losses exhausted the QS coverage, so many carriers found their balance sheets impacted There's a fundamental shift in insurance around our financials but also consumer behaviors The pricing pendulum swings wildly because cost drivers move fast, but rate filings and approvals move slowly Tech solutions at carriers are helping to narrow the time gap to help with this, especially tech-driven carriers like Hippo Hippo also mixes its approach to the market between their own product, their fronting business that brings in revenue from other players and lines of business, and their distribution arm, First Connect, that brings commission revenue from selling other carrier's products Growth in this context is imperative to be about profitable growth, and Hippo has focused on this now, whereas there was an initial push to grow, generally That means having more specific offerings to specific buyers, like those who would adopt IoT to protect their property Embedding insurance into new home construction, but using its agency to ensure they don't end up with aggregation issues when working with a builder to insure a new development Rick watches reinsurance profitability as a sign of where primary insurers will end up since there's a disconnect in when reinsurers move prices and when primary insurers are able to price that into their filings The fundamentals of insurance aren't changing, but the rate of speed that you have to adjust how you write and the customer demands and expectations continue to change constantly Rick shared his view on AI, where it is real today, but the AI being used now won't be anything like what we will use in 2 years given how fast it's evolving The traditional coverages the industry is selling are increasingly disconnected from what the exposures they insure are and what consumers actually need for protection (and the affordability of the coverage they can get) People want genuine customization in all aspects of their lives, and to know that what they're getting is genuinely built for their needs Embedded insurance – we have to meet customers where they are, like embedding pet insurance in the adoption process or the purchase process for homes or cars Remembering the fundamentals, but that there's a customer at the other end of this, and we have to serve them if we want to ultimately succeed We talked about being proactive on claims Using Parametric coverage is one way to do that since coverage can be delivered instantaneously (or very quickly) Reaching out to customers when we think there's likely to be a claim (like when there's 2" hail in their area), which historically people think leads to buying claims, but Hippo has seen that the claims would come in anyway, but they'll come later and with some form of representation (attorney, public adjuster), so you end up paying more for the claim in the end than if you had handled it correctly from the moment the loss occurred. This episode is brought to you by The Future of Insurance book series (future-of-insurance.com) from Bryan Falchuk. Follow the podcast at future-of-insurance.com/podcast for more details and other episodes. Music courtesy of Hyperbeat Music, available to stream or download on Spotify, Apple Music, and Amazon Music and more.

Charlie Sidoti is the Executive Director of InnSure, an industry-funded not-for-profit with a mission to foster innovation in insurance. InnSure’s integrated programs are designed to help insurance professionals and organizations survive and thrive by improving their ability to respond to the disruptive forces that are reshaping the industry. InnSure provides a roadmap for corporate sponsors, experienced industry talent, and outside contributors to connect, innovate and move the insurance industry forward, together. To learn more, visit InnSure.org. Highlights from the Show Charlie Sidoti spent 20 years with large, P&C carriers on the commercial side, and then 10 years in the analytics space around insurance before founding InnSure, which is a non-profit focused on innovation in the insurance industry around climate change They looked at where investment around climate impact was going for the insurance industry, and it tended to be things to help us exit lines or markets faster (avoiding risk, raising rate), and that didn't seem to solve the real issue or be what insurance is meant to do InnSure engages in its mission in a number of ways, including: Climate Risk and Insurance Sandbox Community Embedded Insurance Initiative - to help communities shape their insurability InnSure Corps - multifunctional group from across and around the industry to take newer talent and help them see how to have an impact and grow their abilities as leaders of the future Interacting with government and administering grants and prizes, such as the one from NYSERDA we talked about later in the episode As a non-profit, InnSure can take a position and engage differently than for-profit, commercial enterprises can, including taking a long term view of things and investing with that horizon The Innovation Prize, which is a $5m program from the NY State Energy Research Development Agency that InnSure is administering by giving grants of $500k to $1m The program is helping to foster ideas past the initial risk in commercialization that many great ideas face early in their journey Insurance in particular can help protect NYSERDA's investments in clean tech, clean transportation and clean buildings, with 5-10 ideas to be supported The idea must be relevant to NY, though it can apply to other geographies in the US, too The application process is open through July 22nd, 2024 at https://innsure.org/prize-page Looking forward, the climate issues are very real now and not just talk, and we are starting to talk about things other than raising rates and exiting. You're seeing discussion about Predict & Prevent Parametrics Community embedded insurance, with communities buying coverage for a hard-to-cover area This episode is brought to you by The Future of Insurance book series (future-of-insurance.com) from Bryan Falchuk. Follow the podcast at future-of-insurance.com/podcast for more details and other episodes. Music courtesy of Hyperbeat Music, available to stream or download on Spotify, Apple Music, and Amazon Music and more.

Amir leads Fintech and Insurtech investing at AV8 and has been one of the earliest investors in the Insurtech space. Amir has been an entrepreneur, operator and investor with over 15 years of experience, working with early and mid-stage companies on financing, partnerships and strategic growth initiatives. Prior to AV8, Amir was an investment director and founding team member at Munich Re Ventures where he lead and managed investment efforts for two of the funds and made early bets in Insurtech, Mobility and Digital Health in companies like Next Insurance, Inshur, HDVI, Spruce, Ridecell, Babylon Health etc.. Earlier Amir worked for several venture funds, including Route 66 Ventures, focusing on Fintech and Insurtech, and investing in companies such as Simplesurance and DriveWealth. He began his career in Germany as a network engineer and subsequently at Legodo AG (acquired by Open Text, OTEX (NASDAQ)), an enterprise software startup, where he held several roles in sales, business development and product management until acquisition. In 2019, Amir was ranked 11 out of 100 on Global Corporate Venture’s Rising Stars list and was named a “VC Champions Select” by All Raise. Amir lives in San Francisco and holds an MBA from Georgetown McDonough School of Business, a BS in Business Informatics from RFH Cologne in Germany and is currently finishing an MS in Law from Northwestern Pritzker School of Law. Highlights from the Show Amir started investing in InsurTech in the mid-2010s, and spent most of his investing career at Munich Re in their Ventures team, as the third member of the team They started investing in industrial IoT and similar topics since their funding was from Hartford Steam Boiler (HSB) In 2016, there was more of a pivot into InsurTech as it emerged At AV8, Amir focuses on early stage, focused on very early stage to some revenue traction but still pre-series-A generally Their majority LP is Allianz, and the fund is heavily FinTech-focused They like risk taking businesses like MGAs and full-stack carriers because of the long-term returns, plus the difficulty in selling to insurance companies and surviving the long sales cycles Amir has focused on niche markets or areas where incumbents lack digital solutions, and leading with building a new insurance approach and adding tech after it's established Investing in long-term ideas may take longer, but then there's strong moats that can stop competitors from eating your lunch, which is harder to do with short-term ideas or SaaS areas Investment has gotten tough, but there are investors out there still; they just may be looking more critically at profit potential than might have happened in the past InsurTechs that went public and haven't done well were not alone – the market more broadly was pushing a lot of startups to go public so investors could get returns, but for many it proved too soon to go public because fundamentals weren't there yet This episode is brought to you by The Future of Insurance book series (future-of-insurance.com) from Bryan Falchuk. Follow the podcast at future-of-insurance.com/podcast for more details and other episodes. Music courtesy of Hyperbeat Music, available to stream or download on Spotify, Apple Music, and Amazon Music and more.

Guest Bio Yaron Ben-Zvi is an executive with a track record of building innovative businesses in complex spaces, such as insurtech and financial services. Yaron is currently COO at Oka, The Carbon Insurance Company. Oka is de-risking the voluntary carbon market (VCM) for buyers and sellers of carbon credits with first-of-its-kind carbon credit insurance, which provides buyers with financial compensation in the event of credit reversal or invalidation. Previously, Yaron was  CEO of Haven Technologies and Haven Life. At Haven Technologies, Yaron led the build of a modern, cloud-based, and end-to-end technology platform for life insurance that became a key part of MassMutual’s transformation strategy. As Founder and CEO of Haven Life, Yaron grew the company into one of the leaders in online term life insurance distribution with its transparent and user-friendly product design. Along the way, Haven Life was recognized by U.S. News & World Report and Investopedia as one of the best term life insurance providers in the U.S.  Previously, Yaron founded Goalmine, an early robo-advisor that was acquired in 2012.  As a leader, Yaron is passionate about creating unique and collaborative company cultures that help teams realize their potential. At Haven, Yaron had the honor to build and lead a team of more than 350 technology and insurance professionals to make life insurance simple and expand access to this critical financial product. Yaron obtained his BA in history and political philosophy from Wesleyan University and his MBA from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. Highlights from the Show Yaron joined the show with the Life Insurance startup he founded, Haven After leaving Haven, he was looking for an opportunity in something that connected to his interest in dealing with the climate crisis, which lead him to Oka, which insures carbon offset and credit transactions Companies that use credits and offsets as part of their decarbonization strategy, the founding team at Oka realized there were a number of risks that make this difficult, with Oka focused on post-issuance risks, like Reversal Risks - you buy carbon credit from a forest in Canada, but a wildfire burns that forest down. Or, illegal logging shrinks the forest. These are risks that could release the captured-carbon back into the air. Invalidation Risks - the methodology behind the carbon credit was flawed, like fraud being committed in the actions that lead to the carbon sequestration Oka was only started in 2023, and today has their own syndicate at Lloyd's, capacity from partners, and the technology to support it – with a team of seven people The CEO, Chris Slater, comes from the industry, as do the board of directors, so there's a lot of experience building insurance businesses The carbon market is split into two sub-markets Voluntary Market – companies that are choosing to decarbonize Involuntary Market – government or regulators force compliance with certain standards and timelines Both markets are growing rapidly out of necessity, and there are buyers and sellers that need protection Some buyers want protection if they're newer to the market, or are doing something unproven Some sellers who want to enhance the attractiveness of their carbon credits and to protect themselves from something going wrong that makes it hard for them to deliver or fulfill the credits they've sold This episode is brought to you by The Future of Insurance book series (future-of-insurance.com) from Bryan Falchuk. Follow the podcast at future-of-insurance.com/podcast for more details and other episodes. Music courtesy of Hyperbeat Music, available to stream or download on Spotify, Apple Music, and Amazon Music and more.