INSURANCE INDUSTRY NEWS

MGA Selects Equisoft System For modernization
Equisoft, a global provider of digital business solutions for the insurance and wealth industries, is pleased to announce that Financière S_entiel has gone live with its agency management system. Read more.

CRM Deployment Key To Customer-Centricity
With the growth of digital engagement as a key priority, the customer relationship management (CRM) market has expanded to include a wide range of disparate solutions. In a new executive brief, Novarica categorizes three types of CRMs and how they differ in origin, emphasis, complexity, scope, and the types of data they contain. Read more.

LexisNexis, Yonomi Partner On Connected Home
LexisNexis® Risk Solutions and Yonomi Smart Home have joined forces to develop an innovative turnkey home insurance Internet of Things (IoT) solution. The proof of concept will include a smartphone app that uses device sensors to find common IoT devices in the home, creating a data feed to LexisNexis Risk Solutions. The insights collected, such as utilization statistics and loss correlation trends, will be packaged and provided to the insurer. Read more.

HSB Expands Home Sensor Partnership
HSB, part of Munich Re, and Whisker Labs have announced they have expanded a partnership to provide Ting sensing technology to help home insurance customers detect electrical hazards and will develop other Internet of Things technologies for consumers. Read more.

Burns & Wilcox Launches Cyber Product Line
Burns & Wilcox, North America's leading and largest personal insurance wholesale broker and underwriting manager, is pleased to announce the launch of Cyberman365, a new exclusive product line that mitigates Personal Cyber risks for individuals, families and homes. Read more.

Apollo Welcomes New Chief Underwriting Officer
Apollo Insurance Solutions Ltd. is pleased to announce that Marco Andolfatto has joined the Apollo team as CUO. With 20 years of insurance industry experience, he has developed and launched a wide variety of insurance products ranging from cyber, pollution, and other specialty lines to P&C focused coverages. Read more.

InsurTech Fundraising Breaks Records In Q3
Solid investor appetite for new and mature opportunities in the InsurTech sector was again in evidence during Q3 2020, and the mid-tier funding gap for firms seeking investments has widened, according to the new Quarterly InsurTech Briefing from Willis Towers Watson, a leading global advisory, broking and solutions company. Read more.

Billing Is Critical To Customer Engagement
Most insurers now consider billing to be a customer service issue rather than a purely financial issue. Online self-service is a baseline expectation of competent providers, and more consumers than ever expect mobile self-service, making billing a critical component of digital transformation. In its latest Market Navigator report, Novarica provides an overview of stand-alone billing systems for U.S. property/casualty insurers, with detailed profiles of 15 vendor solutions. Read more.

Aon, OPN Partner On Contact-Tracing App
Aon plc, a leading global professional services firm providing a broad range of risk, retirement and health solutions, is pleased to announce a strategic partnership with OPN's mobile platform as an offer to help clients address new challenges brought on by the pandemic and new requirements by Health Canada. The partnership is designed to add value for current clients and to bring more awareness to these capabilities. Read more.

Breathe Life, Relay In NY Accelerator Cohort
InsurTech NY, the largest InsurTech community in the New York metro area, has announced its growth-stage InsurTech accelerator cohort. Breathe Life and Relay are among 22 startups selected to participate in its insurance carrier and broker sponsored program that focuses on providing resources to support traction, talent, and financing. Read more.

Insurers Step Up To Help Ontario Small Business
To help struggling small businesses secure insurance amid the economic challenges the COVID-19 pandemic has created, Insurance Bureau of Canada is pleased to announce the launch of a new Business Insurance Action Team, which will help to find viable insurance solutions for as many small businesses in Ontario's hospitality sector as possible. Read more.

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Insurance-Canada.ca is pleased to announce the launch of the World Insurance Forum, a new virtual series giving you a launch pad to explore the most significant developments in insurance, technology, and risk management.

As a special introduction to this series, the first two sessions are being offered at no cost.

The series will debut on Tuesday, November 17, featuring Mark Dowds and Ruth Foxe Blader of Anthemis tackling the question, How Will InsurTech Shape The Future? Don't miss it!

In the InsurTech Spotlight this week:

Farmers Edge
With the most comprehensive data management platform on the market, Farmers Edge is a global leader in digital agriculture, delivering cutting-edge solutions powered by a unique combination of field-centric data, artificial intelligence, and complete integration. Learn more.

Calling all InsurTechs! Click here to participate.

From Doug Ongoing developments in the telematics world will change the nature of auto insurance Car manufacturers are capturing increasing amounts of data, as the value now goes well beyond their diagnostics programs, and they are willing to share it. Tesla, for example, started their own auto insurance service, is capturing claims data to feed back into their design process in order to reduce claim repair costs in future. Ford and State Farm will share connected vehicle telematics data for usage-based insurance (UBI) products, offering potential discounts and coaching. Third parties like LexisNexis and Verisk collect and manage data from OEMs, other third-party data sources and aftermarket devices. IMS recently announced that their technology is behind Utah's Road Usage Charge program, a source of revenue to offset the loss of gasoline taxes as more vehicles switch to electric power. Auto manufacturers will help cities. Ex. StreetLight Data and Ford Mobility to help cities identify hotspots for jurisdictional traffic crashes, making streets safer for pedestrians, cyclists and drivers. Auto insurers and startups are increasing their focus on improved risk management to reduce the number and severity of claims through telematics data. Given some of the trends above, that objective is shared by many others as well. What are the implications to auto insurance premiums? Doug Grant, CIP Partner Insurance-Canada.ca