The Leadership in Insurance Podcast - Insurtech & Innovation

Hello and welcome to the latest episode of the Leadership in Insurance Podcast where this week we are lucky enough to be joined by David Fontain, CEO and Founder of Foresight, the insurtech start up on a mission to improve safety and lower rates by providing smarter workers compensation insurance. We had a great conversation this week where we discussed a wide range of topics such as: Creating a better incentive for businesses to improve their workplace safety What specific USP does Foresight’s technology give to the workers comp market? Why is the middle market underserved? Why opt for the traditional broker distribution channel? The greater the complexity of risk the more value the brokers can add Why did the first-wave insurtechs move away from that avenue? Delivering value to policy holders Enabling long term business sustainability Without insurance there is no business How having a background in brokerage allows insight into the main pain points that the consumer faces Launching just before the pandemic and how this impacted the fully remote working model Hybrid working model and satellite offices What’s your take on the investment market right now? Diversification of what insurtech looks like How do you make a remote culture work for you? Bringing people onboard from incumbent carriers and encouraging the tech ethos What is the next leap forward for insurtech?Thank you David for your time, it was great to speak to you!This Podcast was brought to you by FinPro, an executive recruitment business that works in the Insurance and Insurtech space.Our host in FinPro Director, Alex Bond Please like and subscribe if you enjoyed this podcast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

 Hello and welcome to the latest episode of the Leadership in Insurance Podcast where this week we are lucky enough to be joined by a special guest and our first returning podcast guest Paul Prendergast, CEO of Kayna. Paul first joined us on the podcast in January 2021 where we discussed his previous business Blink Parametrics, one year on and it's great to have him back to introduce his latest venture Kayna, the embedded platform that leverages unique data to provide more accurate and dynamic insurance for small businesses.We had a great conversation this week where we discussed a wide range of topics such as: Tackling the issues around small businesses insurance Thinking how can we do better? Taking an innovative approach to embedded insurance Innovation through distribution, product and claims Great customer experience starts with underwriting Small businesses aren’t simple and their insurance needs to reflect that 40% of small businesses in the US don’t have insurance Why has it taken so long for these issues to be addressed? Is there a systemic risk attached to vertical stacks? Removing costs from the delivery of insurance Working with Founders Factory Whats interesting in insurtech right now?Thank you Paul for your time, it was great to speak to you!This Podcast was brought to you by FinPro, an executive recruitment business that works in the Insurance and Insurtech space.Our host in FinPro Director, Alex Bond Please like and subscribe if you enjoyed this podcast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

 Hello and welcome to the latest episode of the Leadership in Insurance Podcast where this week we are lucky enough to be joined by Geoff Keast, CEO of Montoux. Montoux is the Actuarial Automation and Decision Science platform for life and health insurers who enable carriers to improve profitability, grow sales and better understand and serve customers. They do this is by combining actuarial and data science expertise with automation and machine learning techniques - all in one game-changing platform.We had a great conversation this week where we discussed a wide range of topics such as: The lack of technology adoption in the life and health domain The lag in digitisation of actuarial science Where does data science sit within an insurance carrier? Decision science - data science and actuarial teams working together Problem first thinking Can you be too successful to innovate? The lack of opportunity to create better decisions How do you penetrate a market that has a long term mindset? Pricing optimisationThank you Geoff for your time, it was great to speak to you!This Podcast was brought to you by FinPro, an executive recruitment business that works in the Insurance and Insurtech space.Our host in FinPro Director, Alex Bond Please like and subscribe if you enjoyed this podcast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

 Hello and welcome to the latest episode of the Leadership in Insurance Podcast where this week we are lucky enough to be joined by Matthias Naumann, CEO of Companjon, the Dublin-based tech venture specialising in bespoke embedded insurance solutions. We had a great conversation this week where we discussed a wide range of topics such as:  What is unique about Companjon’s approach to embedded insurance?  Going full stack? Is being a full stack insurance provider essential for trust?  Redesigning the whole insurance process, end-to-end.  Offering flexible coverage to suit customer’s changing lifestyles  How do you deal with customer perceptions of insurance?  Why is this embedded and hyper personalised insurance model so successful in Asia?  How do you go about penetrating the European market?  The challenges of operating within a mature market  Partnerships and innovation Is imagination (or lack of) the limitation of innovation?  How embedded insurance improves customer experience  The timeline for producing an embedded product  The impact of the pandemic for Companjon  Was the pandemic needed for large scale adopting of digital solutions?  What has 2022 got in store for Companjon? Thank you Matthias for your time, it was great to speak to you! This Podcast was brought to you by FinPro, an executive recruitment business that works in the Insurance and Insurtech space. Our host in FinPro Director, Alex Bond  Please like and subscribe if you enjoyed this podcast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hello and welcome the latest episode of the Leadership In Insurance Podcast, we are sharing a special episode this week, the live recording of our first FLITe series panel event.The FLITe series is FinPro's new events series that brings together aspiring future female leaders in InsurTech through round tables, panel events, and discussions. Our aim is to help close the InsurTech gender gap and inspire the future leaders of the InsurTech world. We believe that a balanced and representative workforce drives innovation. We want to encourage organisations to retain women and strive to promote gender equality.We hosted our first webinar last week, a discussion on 'The Career Opportunities in InsurTech' and were joined by an amazing panel of inspiring speakers: Caroline Langridge, Head of ACT Underwriting Management, AON Ines Cheaib, COO, Gaia  Caroline Garrow, CIO, Flock Along with Alex Bond, MD, FinPro and The Leadership In Insurance Podcast hostOur debut event was a great success, thank you to everyone who joined us online for the live event and for those who were unable to make it, we hope you enjoyed listening back. We covered a wide variety of topics such as: Why should people be interested in insurtech as sector What are the biggest misconceptions about working in insurtech? How do you demonstrate broad skill sets? What is it like working in insurance with a non-insurance background?  Where have you historically found it hardest to recruit people? How do you identify who and what you're looking for when hiring for a start up?  How important are networks and relationships to success in these environments? Is insurtech a useful term? We often discuss the need to be adaptable but is that narrative inaccessible? Does that impact women more ?Please join us at our next FLITe series discussion 'People, Innovation and Culture' on March 17th 2022 at The Folly, London where we will be hearing from more inspiring female leaders about their journeys through overcoming imposter syndrome, discussing cognitive diversity and looking at the ways we utilise our networks. We are already looking forward to the next event - reserve your place here to join us (face-to-face this time!) This Podcast was brought to you by FinPro, an executive recruitment business that works in the Insurance and Insurtech space.Our host in FinPro Director, Alex Bond Please like and subscribe if you enjoyed this podcast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hello and welcome to the latest episode of the Leadership in Insurance Podcast where this week we are lucky enough to be joined by Chris Finan, COO of cyber security start up ActZero.AI.  The California based start up ActZero uses Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning to increase the likelihood of identifying and preventing attacks while reducing the duration and impact of incidents should they occur, as well as helping to remediate vulnerabilities and mitigate risks so their customers can focus on their core competencies and driving business growth. We had a great conversation this week where we discussed a wide range of topics such as: Are smaller companies aware of the risks that they are exposed to? Targeting the smaller to midsize companies - is this the key differentiator? How contextualising risk is key The challenge of education at scale Where do cyber security and insurance meet? Defining the outcomes of risk mitigation What roles do partnerships play for ActZero? How important is transparency? The challenge of protecting against an ever-evolving threat How do you engage with your end consumer in a meaningful manner? How covid and remote working shifts a small business’ cyber protection needs What is and isn’t a cyber threat nowadays? Will the insurance industry be able to keep up to speed to continue to protect against cyber threats? How has the pandemic impacts ActZero? Empowering teams Encouraging a creative approach to problem solving What’s next for ActZero in 2022?Thank you Chris for your time, it was great to speak to you!This Podcast was brought to you by FinPro, an executive recruitment business that works in the Insurance and Insurtech space.Our host in FinPro Director, Alex Bond Please like and subscribe if you enjoyed this podcast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hello and welcome to the latest episode of the Leadership in Insurance Podcast where this week we are lucky enough to be joined by Sam White, CEO of Stella Insurance, the car insurance provider for women by women. We had a great conversation this week where we discussed a wide range of topics such as: Setting up her own company 24 Male dominance in insurance What would an insurance product look like from a female perspective? The importance of meaningful action The Australian regulatory landscape Using gender as a pricing metric Is insurance fundamentally discriminatory? Which aspects change when marketing your product specifically towards women? The Stella Expert Series The key to success lies in engagement The challenges when raising money and in particular as a young female founder Prevention questions vs promotion questions and how women are treated differently to their male counterparts when raising capital Feeling overly challenged and overly questioned due to unconscious bias Creating psychologically healthy work environment are crucial to produce the best outcome Utilising social media and having an online presence to make as many connections and opportunities as possibleThank you Sam for your time, it was great to speak to you!This Podcast was brought to you by FinPro, an executive recruitment business that works in the Insurance and Insurtech space.Our host in FinPro Director, Alex Bond Please like and subscribe if you enjoyed this podcast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hello and welcome to the latest episode of the Leadership in Insurance Podcast where this week we are lucky enough to be joined by , Lotta Rauséus, COO & Co-Founder of Insurely, who are using their open insurance ecosystem to help insurance companies and banks give proper peace-of-mind to their customers.We had a great conversation this week where we discussed a wide range of topics such as: Injecting transparency into the insurance industry Open banking - what does that actually mean? The empowerment of open data and transparency Why has insurance lagged behind banking in digitisation? Was there an incentive to make insurance transparent? The reaction on the regulatory side The lack of touch points insurance companies have with the consumer How do we build loyalty with a lack of touch points? The difficultly of engaging with your insurer as a consumer Are brokers the true customer of the insurance market? Taking back the control of the customer experience, its about more than just price How our experiences as a consumer drive our decisions in business How important is transparency to the insurance industry? How transparency is key to making informed decisions The positive correlation of transparency and innovation How restrictions drive creativityThank you Lotta for your time, it was great to speak to you!This Podcast was brought to you by FinPro, an executive recruitment business that works in the Insurance and Insurtech space.Our host in FinPro Director, Alex Bond Please like and subscribe if you enjoyed this podcast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hello and welcome to the latest episode of the Leadership in Insurance Podcast where this week we are lucky enough to be joined by Adrien Lebegue, Managing Director, Europe, ZA Tech.ZA Tech is the technology venture founded by ZhongAn Online, a global leader in online insurance, and backed by Softbank’s Vision Fund. ZA Tech is redefining the insurance landscape by enabling digital ecosystems to easily embed relevant protection within their customer journeys.We had a great conversation this week where we discussed a wide variety of topics such as: Start ups to Scale ups Incubated by ZhongAn and SoftBank How does this background impact ZA Tech’s day to day? The value of being consumer first ZA Tech’s differentiated value How being digitally-native has no limits How being a pioneer in the market brings new regulation challenges Optimisation comes down to nailing technology, vision, people and regulation How do you find people who are suited to this high speed environment? Trust the people and the vision Asking people what frustrates them about the industry Taking the leap from traditional insurance to hyper growth insurtech The impact covid had on embedded solutions How the pandemic accelerated consumer adoption The influx of investment thanks to covid The cultural shift towards a remote structure What makes a good partner?Thank you Adrien for your time, it was great to speak to you!This Podcast was brought to you by FinPro, an executive recruitment business that works in the Insurance and Insurtech space.Our host in FinPro Director, Alex Bond Please like and subscribe if you enjoyed this podcast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

 Hello and welcome to the latest episode of the Leadership in Insurance Podcast where this week we are lucky enough to be joined by Ana Zamora CEO of Vitaance, the Madrid-based life insurance start up who are applying artificial intelligence and data science to help their members live a better life.We had a great conversation this week where we discussed a wide variety of topics such as: Encouraging wellness habits and helping people improve their life style Translating lifestyle changes into rewards Turning death insurance into life insurance Was a cultural shift necessary for customers to be comfortable sharing data with their insurers? How AI can improve life style Making an intangible product more tangible by generating engagement Providing more than just peace of mind Customers are historically indirect in life insurance and how Vitaance are changing Does insurance just serve the broker? What does fairness and transparency mean from a practical perspective? Removing the complexity for the members benefit What does building customer-first products look like from a technology perspective? Data science as an evolution of actuarial science What is the true nature and purpose of insurance? Has insurance culturally lost sight of the customer? Does regulation cause or hinder innovation? Vitaance’s promise of having a diverse and inclusive team Cultural add as opposed to cultural fit The different metrics for measuring companies for funding in Spain as opposed to elsewhere What does 2022 have in store for Vitaance?Thank you Ana for your time, it was great to speak to you!This Podcast was brought to you by FinPro, an executive recruitment business that works in the Insurance and Insurtech space.Our host in FinPro Director, Alex Bond Please like and subscribe if you enjoyed this podcast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.