Insurers not yet ready for open insurance - study

insurancebusinessmag | June 19, 2019

Insurers are eager to create or join business ecosystems to promote growth amid industry disruption - but few insurers are currently in a position to succeed with open insurance, according to a new study by global professional services company Accenture.

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Core Insurance

Cowbell Partners with Zywave, Expanding the Distribution of its Industry-Leading Cyber Insurance

PR Newswire | September 14, 2023

Cowbell, a leading provider of cyber insurance for small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), today announced its partnership with Zywave, an industry-leading provider of insurtech solutions. The partnership is powered by Herald, a digital infrastructure provider that connects software developers to commercial insurance carriers through a single API, and leverages Cowbell's leading technology and individualized coverage options for a superior customer experience through Zywave's expanding, simple and efficient, API-first interface for quoting commercial and E&S insurance. The collaboration marks the first standalone cyber insurance offering on Zywave's Hub, which provides MGAs, wholesale brokers, and retailers, with quicker access to modernized cyber insurance products. Despite cyber being the fastest-growing line of insurance business in recent history, four out of five SMEs are still uninsured or underinsured, according to a recent report published by the small business resource AdvisorSmith. By partnering with Zywave, Cowbell extends its reach within MGAs and brokers and helps further accelerate the adoption of cyber insurance within the SME market. "As the first cyber insurance provider on Zywave's Hub via Herald's API, our adaptive programs are now available to over 40 additional trading partners," said Rajeev Gupta, co-founder and CPO of Cowbell. "These partners can now experience the simplicity of placing the industry's best cyber insurance coverage for their clients and protecting their clients' future cyber risks with Cowbell's tailored risk mitigation service." "This is an exceptionally powerful partnership between the most innovative leaders in the industry," said Duncan Crystal, co-founder and CRO at Herald. "Together, we're proving how API-driven distribution can transform an industry that has traditionally run on paper. Our unified offering makes it easier for carrier partners to plug into networks of brokerages and MGAs, resulting in more premium for all players in the value chain, along with better coverage for businesses." The ability to adapt to ever-changing market conditions in almost real-time allows capacity providers like Cowbell to expand or contract the markets they serve without being hindered by manual processes and antiquated technology. Expanding Zywave's offerings through Cowbell's advanced technology and quality insurance programs ushers in a new and improved way for brokers to sell cyber insurance to their clients. About Cowbell Cowbell is a pioneer of Adaptive Cyber Insurance, a leader in providing small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) coverage adaptable to today's and tomorrow's threats and the advanced warning of cyber risk exposures. In its unique AI-based approach in risk selection and pricing, Cowbell's continuous underwriting platform, powered by Cowbell Factors, compresses the insurance process from submission to issue in less than 5 minutes. Cowbell is backed by 20 prominent leading global (re)insurance partners and serves SMEs in 50 U.S. states, the District of Columbia and the United Kingdom. Founded in 2019, Cowbell is based in the San Francisco Bay Area with employees across the U.S., Canada, India, and the U.K. For more information, please visit https://cowbell.insure/. About Herald Herald builds digital infrastructure for commercial insurance. Developers who use Herald quote and bind insurance from multiple carriers through a single API. For more information, visit https://heraldapi.com. About Zywave Zywave leads the insurtech industry, fueling business growth for its partners with cloud-based sales management, client delivery, content, and analytics solutions. Zywave's all-in-one platform provides customizable, user-friendly options that enable insurance professionals to build a unique solution to fit their specific growth goals—their own Modern RevOps Machine. More than 15,000 insurers, agencies, and brokerages worldwide—including all of the top 100 U.S. insurance brokerages—use Zywave solutions to enhance client services, achieve business growth and promote greater health, wellness, risk management, and safety. Additional information can be found at www.zywave.com.

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Claims, Compliance

New InsurTech Partnership Simplifies the Claims Process for Millions of Policyholders

Globenewswire | July 13, 2023

Bees360, the top provider of drone-enabled property inspection services powered by artificial intelligence (AI), and Hosta AI, the most advanced provider of AI-enabled interior property inspections powered by more than a decade of MIT research, have partnered to transform the insurance claims process. Inconsistent data collection and varying methods of individual inspectors and adjusters with differing expertise complicate traditional processes in property and damage inspections. With more than six million home inspections conducted annually in the U.S. alone, insurers need consistent, accurate, and transparent processes of effectively managing such risks. Bees360 and Hosta AI address this challenge head-on by harnessing advanced technologies to improve the quality, efficiency, and accuracy of property inspections, to produce the most robust property dataset possible, and to enable superior claims service from the start. "This partnership with Hosta AI means we are collectively bringing operational efficiencies and advanced interior data analytics to the insurance industry," said Andy Liu, CEO of Bees360. "By combining the power of aerial and interior inspection and advanced data processing, we are revolutionizing insurance claims processing and providing insurers with a competitive edge while delivering faster, more accurate results for policyholders." The combined AI capabilities of Bees360 and Hosta AI offer a complete solution for property inspections and claims adjustments. Bees360 leverages state-of-the-art drone inspection technology and Hosta AI delivers an AI-powered Assessment Platform to address the interior, resulting in streamlined and accelerated claims processing. "Our partnership with Bees360 allows us to harness their extensive aerial inspection capabilities and combine them with our expertise in advanced interior data processing,” said Henriette Fleischmann, CEO of Hosta AI. “By unlocking the potential of AI and machine learning, we can provide insurance companies with unparalleled insights to enable superior service and highly accurate claim settlement." Bees360 and Hosta AI share a commitment to delivering innovative solutions that expedite the claims settlement process, enhance accuracy, reduce costs, and improve customer satisfaction. About Bees360 Bees360 is a leading innovator of deep learning and computer vision technology who focuses on bringing AI and drone solutions to property underwriting and claim inspections. It is founded by data scientists and insurance experts whose collective background in data science, mathematics, property claims & underwriting provide an unparalleled level of knowledge to build AI-powered workflow and a disruptive business model for the conventional insurance industry. Learn more at www.bees360.com. About Hosta AI Established in 2020, Hosta AI is on a mission to empower people and businesses with fast, accessible and trusted information about their built surroundings. Hosta helps companies that need fast and accurate data about the built environment accelerate their businesses with automated property assessments. The Hosta AI Assessment Platform uses patent-pending AI spatial and material analysis to automate property assessments from just a few simple photos. To learn more about Hosta AI, please visit www.hosta.ai.

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Life Insurance, Insurance Technology

Quility Eliminates the Friction of Buying and Selling Life Insurance With Launch of Navigator

PRnewswire | July 10, 2023

Quility, an award-winning insurtech company, today announced the launch of Navigator: a proprietary end-to-end digital life insurance distribution marketplace. Quility Navigator is a free, user-friendly platform built by industry experts to provide a one-stop shop for agents to quote and sell insurance. Navigator's product selector and quoter tools feature pre-underwriting systems to confidently select the right insurance solution personalized to each client. Agents also gain best-in-class commission rates and full access to Quility's proprietary product suite. "Gone are the days of long, tedious applications and archaic underwriting systems," said Brandon Ellison, CEO of Quility and Symmetry Financial Group. "With the launch of Navigator, we are making it simpler and faster than ever to connect Quility clients with their best-fit policy. This, alongside our growing suite of digital products, is a major stride in our efforts to eliminate the friction of buying and selling life insurance." With a 90% likelihood of a client approved as applied for, agents experience a frictionless quoting and underwriting process supported by a seamless, tech-driven experience for clients. Along with the Navigator launch, Quility brings two new proprietary products to market, including a term life insurance policy in partnership with Legal & General America (LGA) and a digital hybrid whole life policy in partnership with American-Amicable Life Insurance Company of Texas. "We are thrilled about our partnership with Quility and the launch of Legal & General America's term life product on the Navigator platform," said Andrew Doerman, Vice President of Digital Distribution and Strategy at LGA. "We share a common vision of transforming the industry by leveraging digital technology with a consumer-first approach to simplify the buying journey. This milestone is yet another giant step forward in our mission to close the coverage gap and provide financial protection for families across the country." "The opportunity to partner with Quility and leverage their digital platform, Navigator, to market various insurance products to our clients, provided an additional, expedient pathway to accommodate the transformation to a digital-first focus," said Rick Weaver, Vice President Marketing at American Amicable Group of Companies. About Quility Quility uses innovative and proprietary technology to modernize the process of qualifying for and purchasing life insurance. The Quility digital platform offers clients the option to apply for life insurance online through a 10-minute application or with the support of a licensed insurance agent. Learn more at quility.com. About Legal & General America Legal & General America is part of the worldwide Legal & General Group. For over 70 years, the Legal & General America companies have been in the business of providing financial protection through life insurance for American families. The Legal & General America companies are Banner Life Insurance Company and William Penn Life Insurance Company of New York. With more than $57 billion in new coverage issued in 2020, LGA is a top five US term life insurance provider and ended 2021 with $780 billion of coverage in force with 1.4 million U.S. customers. LGA shares Legal & General's independent financial strength ratings: A+ Superior from A.M. Best and AA- Very Strong from Standard and Poor's and Fitch. For more information, please visit lgamerica.com. About American-Amicable Group of Companies Tracing its roots back to 1910, American-Amicable Life Insurance Company of Texas is a progressive special markets insurer. The Company offers innovative life insurance and annuity products developed to target the individual needs of protection, wealth creation and estate preservation. Learn more at americanamicable.com.

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