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 Anthony Mayer, VP Engineering & Konrad Heimpel, VP Product and Data, at Getsafe. We had a great conversation this week where we discussed a wide variety of topics such as: Is Getsafe a tech company operating in insurance or is Getsafe an insurance company? Whats the difference these days Insurance and technology go hand in hand The advantages of bringing perspectives from both parties together The importance of understanding the complexity of insurtech How does the product interact with tech? GetSafe being a user-centric company that solve user problems Needs may differ between insurance products but the underlying problems remain the same Creating a scalable product Where does product end and tech take over? The challenge of restructuring when moving to a remote working dynamic Where does Getsafe differ from an incumbent insurer? The challenge of tackling the complexity of insurance and distilling it down to simple technical solutions How important is insurance experience? How approaching things with naivety encourages innovation instead of being tied to our past experiences Being open to adapting to new ideas is a requirement for working at Getsafe How has getting a license to be a full-stack insurer changed things for Getsafe? How no longer being dependant on 3rd party systems facilitates the creation of new products Decreasing product turnaround time The advantages of having full control of the value chain How this improves the customer experience The move towards hybrid working  The impact on the talent pool Why should we come and join the Getsafe team? (They're hiring!)Thank you Anthony and Konrad 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 Hermann Fried, Managing Director, at bsurance.   We had a great conversation this week where we discussed a wide variety of topics such as:   Insurance being 20 years behind banks in terms of digitisation    Embedded insurance providing ease for the customer    How the pandemic has encouraged demand for accessible insurance    The general shopping experience is now extremely accessible, why isn’t insurance this way?   Why did it take so long to challenge the insurance model?   How the normalisation of online retail has impacted our tolerance for time   What is driving the rise in embedded insurance?    Offering the real time delivery of insurance policies    Asking who the client?   The real client being the insurance broker    Insurance’s broker driven model being the slowest aspect to change    How do we tackle trust in embedded insurance?   bsurance’s partner relationships    Discussing regulation, how does that impact embedded insurance?    Borderless trades   How much of a threat does embedded insurance pose to the traditional insurance market?   Most of the incumbents dont see the threat    Loosing aspects of the value chain    Addressing the gaps in the value chain    Insurance of the intangible world    How is the face of insurance changing?   Is insurance broken or is it lacking in customer centricity?    ‘Insurance is sold not bought’    We need to be incentivised to change    What’s next for bsurance?   Thank you Hermann 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 George Beattie, Head of Incubation Underwriting at Beazley.   We had a great conversation this week where we discussed a wide variety of topics such as:   Beazley’s value statement of; future profitability, situational awareness, brand and culture   Deconstructing innovation into different channels of activity   Incentivising innovators   Recognising failure as part of success   The clash between conservative values around constant underwriting and the need to adapt to a changing world   Insuring intangible assets   The industry wide struggle for continued relevance   The false concept that age represents capability   Maintaining relevance by working with a more diverse team of people   Is insurance broken or has it just not adapted?   How our lateral view of the market impacts innovation   Innovation through partnerships   How products need to reflect our changing needs and demands   Do we do a good enough job attracting new talent?  How do we avoid an echo chamber?   Encouraging opportunity by working with smaller, more focused groups   Avoiding treating people as commodities   Meritocracy as the defining characteristic for progress   Not being scared of hiring people better than ourselves   Asking if insurance experience is necessary when hiring   Being problem oriented   The importance of curiosity   How do you incubate ideas? Thank you George 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 Siddhartha Jha, Founder and CEO of Arbol. Arbol provides a platform for parametric coverage which allows clients to access reduced risk and hassle free protection using their automated processes and facilitates a straightforward experience for the customer. We had a great conversation this week where we discussed a wide variety of topics such as: How does Arbol's parametric platform work?  Parametric insurance lending itself to be easily scalable and transferable  Making the platform as convenient for the agents as possible Providing cover for situations which the traditional insurance industry is unable or unwilling to write risk for Claiming the unwanted gap in the market Parametrics as a facilitator for financial security Increased accuracy has allowed the risk to shrink Climate risk is currently largely uninsured Parametric insurance enables the broad-scale adoption of insurance Smart contracts, condensing information and accessibiity The demand for a changing insurance experience The increasing demand for parametric insurance in energy How the pandemic has encouraged trust in digital solutions The value of transparency The move away from pricing risk in an isolated way Large-scale adoption of parametric insurance only being feasible if we are able to lower the costs of business Parametric insurance as a social good -  increasing distribution and accessibility The surprising elements of the insurance market Insurance as an industry being highly protected by regulation Arbol's mission "1 . The customer will love Parametrics, 2. The capital market will love Parametrics"  Thank you Sid 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 Christian Macht, CEO of Element Insurance - the Berlin-based start-up and leader in insurance digitization.   We had a great conversation this week where we discussed a wide variety of topics such as:   Is there anything you learned from the insurance market that surprised you?   Investing in start-ups - Insurance being surprisingly not boring..!  The deep integration of the value chain within the insurance   Playing a part in changing the structure of insurance  Is insurance broken?  Discussing rapid growth   The challenges of providing both parts of the ‘insur’ and the ‘tech’  The B2B2X dynamic   Looking at alternative business models   Building a relevant insurance product that will continue to be relevant in the future   The value of spending on marketing vs customer engagement   The room for improvement in insurance   Setting up a company without the legacy of a traditional insurer   The importance of a trusting relationship with a customer   The challenge of changing the traditional insurance delivery model and customer experience   Cultural resistance to change   The advantages of being  more consumer-centric   The makings of a successful partnership   The importance of a USP  How do you maintain a strong culture during rapid growth?  The idea of culture being fluid and evolving   How do you specifically describe a culture which is constantly evolving?  Bringing a co-ceo on board   Thank you Christian 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 Taylor Perkins, co-founder and CTO of Slope Software, who offer an actuarial modelling platform that helps insurance companies understand and quantify their risk so that they can make better decisions about their business.   We had a great conversation this week where we discussed a wide variety of topics such as:   How approaching the market with a developed product was a key factor in Slope Software's success    However this meant working evenings and weekends   What were the unique challenges for Slope Software?   Life insurance, 30 year contacts and the challenge of ‘thinking in decades’ Demonstrating the ROI of a platform   Taylor’s background in being outside of insurance and how this brings an innovative perspective   Innovation in the insurance industry  Innovation vs adoption   Increasing innovation on the p&c side   The life cycle of insurance contracts   How innovation mirrors life cycles   The inherent problems in innovation teams  The importance of organisation-wide buy-in for successful innovation   What were the biggest surprises when entering the insurance industry?   Is there an incentive for a profitable, traditional insurance business to change?   The danger of being too comfortable in a position and risk-averse   The ripple effects of a small mistake   The threat of not embracing new technologies   Small constant change as opposed to large upheaval   Do you think the tech-side of insurance needs to do something to attract new talent?  How fostering and cultivating innovation will attract talent   The importance of recruiting people who enjoy solving problems   “Business owner or entrepreneur?”  Does advanced modelling risk making the current skills of actuaries obsolete?  Will actuaries exist in 10 years?  The necessary time input to become an actuary, years (7-10 years!)  10000 years to become an expert, 20000 years to become an actuary   Technology replaces the junior level roles, not the advanced roles   How does this impact the journey and journey of becoming a fully certified actuary?  Does embracing technology impact job enjoyment?  Slope Software's new funding! Their plans to move upmarket and focusing on enterprise-level clients, build and grow the Slope Software team and expand internationally!   Thank you Taylor 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 James Poole, founder and managing director of Agile Risk, a venture-backed risk intermediation team based in London who's aim is to drive down the cost for clients by securitising risk.   We had a great conversation where we covered a wide variety of topics such as:  - What are Agile Risk doing that is different from the status quo? - The importance and influence of a businesses purpose  - The universal objective of driving down the cost of risk for clients  - Agile Risk's approach of creating a new asset class  - The increasing demand for insurable risk in capital markets  - Investing in reinsurable risk - The misperception there being insufficient data in this particular area of insurance risk and  the risk being too complexed to understand  - Capital markets are structured around the allocation of real debt and equity capital and cash - How important is culture in driving change? - Our ingrained resistance to change  - Embracing forward looking models, eg. Monte Carlo risk model  - Hindsight as a hindrance to change,  - The three perennial certainties; change, principles and choice  - These constant changes drives need for constant movement and reevaluation  - Seeing the loss of a team member as an asset and an opportunity to embrace change  - Can insurance businesses be too profitable to change?  - "If it ain't broke don't fix it?!" - There is no fundamental requirement for a business to change, rather change is driven by the purpose of the business  - Solely profit-driven businesses being naturally imbued to be resistant to change - Speed being highly valued in start-ups and the issues this can create - Could  insurance benefit from engaging with other forms of capital? - How do you avoid group think? - The opportunities and perspectives brought into a business through continuous learning   Thank you James 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 Matt Carter & Mark Huxley, co-founders of Cognitive Risk -  the strategic digital change consultancy focusing on insurance and technology which operates in the space where 'insur meets tech' and helps businesses get smarter.   In this conversation we talk about:   - 'Smart insurance' - what does that mean to you? - Connecting smarter insurance  - Reimagining the relationship with the customer and asking are you working in an environment where you have a quality relationship with the customer? - What can we do for the consumer? - Taking a new perspective on the conversation around insurance - The importance of understanding the values of your business  - How Cognitive Risk seeks to become the connective glue between the thinkers, doers and executers - Facilitating and utilising existing technology  - The technology is there so what are the challenges? - The inherent challenges which insurance faces due to time scales - How do you mitigate risk whilst being open-minded to new technologies?  - How do you facilitate the use of existing technologies?  - What are the more macro challenges? - The risk of going with the new unknown  - And the benefits of the journey  - Risk being paramount to everything - Insurance is not about trying to create a new process rather the challenge of shifting to adopt the new  - The need for partnership is imperative  - Corporate culture and understanding what innovation is going to look like inside your own organisation  - Process thinking vs system thinking  - The importance of micro-innovation - "The digital age is over, we are know in the intelligence age" - Insure Scale Up providing a support mechanism and providing a community space for those who want to improve the insurance   Thank you Matt 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 Matt Duke, Head of Global Actuarial & Analytics Services at Xceedance.   In this conversation we talk about:  - Why work with actuarial as a consultancy as opposed to having in-house capability? - Does consultancy work suit that entrepreneurial mindset? - Is it harder to attract actuaries to a consultancy business?  -  Reimagining the employee experience post-pandemic – how do we make the quality of work better? -  How Matt identifies as a business leader with actuarial qualifications rather than an actuary first - How will the role of data science impact Actuaries – is an actuary required anymore? -  Actuarial exams are the basis – experience is what makes a great actuary -  Automation opportunity within Actuarial as enablement to more products and services -  Where does Actuarial science fit within the data analytics suite of an insurer today? -  Role of regulated environment in analytics – limitations, and challenges -  Does hyper-personalization of risk mean we make some people un-insurable? - Reducing the insurance as a public good argument? -  Hiring vs re-training? - Why don’t we do more with improving internal skills? -  Cryptocurrency and Insurance – is it viable? -   The future of actuarial? - Quantum computing and RPA – Bots?  - Collaboration in the Insurance market? Look for places where the market is un-profitable – auto insurance as an example  Thank you Matt 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 edition of the Leadership in Insurance Podcast where this week we are lucky to be joined by Alvaro Sanz Perez, co-founder of Cleverea the Barcelona based digital insurance provider.In this conversation we talk about: Innovation throughout the entire value chain of insurance Appealing to a millennial customer Differentiation through improved customer experience Doing things digitally without losing the human touch The challenges of creating an insurtech start-up without any insurance background Is insurance broken? Expanding into Portugal and the benefit of cultural similarities Cross-selling being fundamental to Cleverea’s success and the advantages of being multiline Multiline as a risk strategy The investment landscape in the Spanish Insurtech market The need for a ‘European ambition’ for funding and looking beyond just Spain The importance of the start up community in Barcelona The team dynamic of three co-founders - and when two of the three are twin brothers! Cleverea’s plans to expand throughout the year and their new products which are coming soonThank you Alvaro 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 Instech spaceOur host is FinPro Director, Alex BondPlease like and subscribe if you enjoyed this podcast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.