INSURANCE TECHNOLOGY
One Inc and The Oklahoma Farm Bureau Insurance | November 11, 2022
One Inc, the leading digital payments network for the insurance industry, announced today that Oklahoma Farm Bureau Insurance (OKFB), the largest domestic insurer in Oklahoma, has selected the One Inc digital payments platform to provide both inbound and outbound digital payments. This move will enable OKFB Insurance to adapt quickly to changing market demands and enhance customer service. The integration, which is to be deployed with the Guidewire InsuranceNow all-in-one, cloud-based core system, will enable OKFB Insurance and its users to accept and disburse payments using both ClaimsPay and PremiumPay products from One Inc.
OKFB Insurance, known throughout Oklahoma for its excellent customer service and efficient claims assistance, looks to maximize its services to insureds through this partnership with One Inc. The integration will harmonize the company’s payment infrastructure, making payment processes a more cohesive and seamless experience for both inbound, and outbound digital payments.
According to Stephanie Helling, vice president of information systems for OKFB Insurance, the implementation will be expedited due to InsuranceNow’s ‘out of the box’ integration into One Inc. Guidewire recently announced One Inc as its strategic partner for payments.
"Our integration with One Inc's suite of payments products will help build a strong digital infrastructure for Oklahoma Farm Bureau Insurance to deploy next-generation technology, OKFB Insurance is fully committed to using innovative solutions to monitor and improve the customer experience. Leveraging the One Inc Digital Payments Platform with Guidewire will help us modernize and strengthen our customer relationships and experiences at all stages of the payments process."
-Gary Buckner, executive vice president and general manager of OKFB Insurance
We applaud OKFB Insurance’s recognition of the advantages in running its business on the One Inc platform, We are humbled by the company’s vote of confidence in our digital payment solutions and capabilities and applaud OKFB’s mission of providing the best service to their customers,said Ian Drysdale, CEO, One Inc.
About One Inc
One Inc is modernizing the insurance industry through a unified and frictionless payment network. Focusing only on the insurance industry, One Inc helps carriers transform their operations by reducing costs, increasing security, and optimizing customer experience. The comprehensive end-to-end digital payments platform provides expanded payment options, multi-channel digital communications, and rapid digital claim payments, even for the most complex insurance use cases. As one of the fastest growing digital payment platforms in the insurance industry, One Inc manages billions of dollars per year in premiums and claims payments.
About The Oklahoma Farm Bureau Insurance
Since 1946, OKFB Insurance has worked to protect Oklahomans from the risks they face every day, whether it be home, auto, life, commercial or farm & ranch. With agents in all 77 counties, we are ready to serve our neighbors at a moment’s notice and are committed to helping our members and their families to insure their future.
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RISK MANAGEMENT,COMPLIANCE
SAS | November 14, 2022
SAS is lauded an insurance fraud detection Luminary in Celent's inaugural trio of SolutionScape reports evaluating anti-fraud solutions across insurance market segments. The research and advisory firm analyzed a total 13 vendors' fraud detection offerings in three markets, evaluating each for its level of advanced technology and breadth of functionality.
Notably, SAS was the only vendor to earn Celent's Luminary designation in all three of its Insurance Fraud-Detection Solutions, 2022 Edition reports:
Property and Casualty Insurance
Health Insurance
Life Insurance
"Insurers' fraud tools have evolved from deploying scenarios to identify individual frauds to revealing fraud patterns based on historical fraud and detecting fraud in real time, Amid the industry's accelerating digital transition, the tech prowess and vast applicability demonstrated in SAS' anti-fraud offerings prove why SAS remains at the forefront of insurance analytics – and the only vendor to be named a Luminary in all three reports."
-Andrew Schwartz, Insurance Analyst at Celent
Harnessing the power of diverse data sources, automated decision making and AI
Celent's analyses highlighted major insurance industry trends, dominated by more virtual customer engagement in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. The anonymity of digital engagement only augments insurers' fraud risks and at a time when the Great Resignation has forced greater reliance fraud detection tools and technologies, as top talent becomes increasingly difficult to attract and retain.
To keep pace with ever more sophisticated fraudsters, Celent recommends that insurers choose vendors strong in the following categories: technology; functional capabilities; vendor stability, knowledge and investment in the solution; and implementation and support capabilities and experience.
SAS' insurance fraud solutions on SAS® Viya® check all the boxes. SAS' industry-tailored solutions deliver a single, end-to-end framework that uses layered defenses incorporating predictive modeling, text mining, network link analysis and more to better identify fraudulent activity before claims are paid. Industry-specific data models enable insurers to gather and consolidate internal and external data from varied sources, fueling a broad set of advanced analytic and AI techniques that automatically score claims at every stage of the process. Built-in case handling streamlines and facilitates investigations via a configurable workflow.
Insurance fraud in its various forms costs consumers and businesses $308.6 billion in the US alone, according to the latest figures from the Coalition Against Insurance Fraud, Our latest insurance fraud technology study with the Coalition found that insurers are diversifying their data sources to gain a more complete and accurate claims picture. As this trend continues, they'll need robust data management and orchestration. SAS delivers these capabilities, combined with a powerful decisioning automation engine that helps uncover once-hidden patterns and enable real-time fraud detection,said Stu Bradley, Senior Vice President of Fraud and Security Intelligence at SAS.
Beyond fraud detection
SAS' holistic approach to insurance technology topples operational silos and boosts efficiency by integrating fraud detection, risk management, and customer experience decision making on open, cloud-native SAS Viya.
SAS Viya is a platform designed to drive data and analytics innovation and navigate disruption, It's a way to unite and govern enterprise data and drive new and better decisions, whether it is for underwriting, mitigating enterprise risk, managing claims, detecting fraud or delivering a better customer experience,said Harris in the interview.
About SAS
SAS is the leader in analytics. Through innovative software and services, SAS empowers and inspires customers around the world to transform data into intelligence. SAS gives you THE POWER TO KNOW®. SAS and all other SAS Institute Inc. product or service names are registered trademarks or trademarks of SAS Institute Inc. in the USA and other countries. ® indicates USA registration. Other brand and product names are trademarks of their respective companies. Copyright © 2022 SAS Institute Inc. All rights reserved.
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LIFE INSURANCE, INSURANCE TECHNOLOGY
Amplify Life Insurance | October 04, 2022
Amplify Life Insurance, a digital-first life insurance platform focused on helping customers build wealth through permanent life insurance, announced an investment round led by Munich Re Ventures (MRV), with follow on investment by Crosslink Capital, Greycroft, and Conversion Capital. The investment brings Amplify's total funding to $25.1 million.
Amplify is the first digital platform that offers customers the ability to invest in public markets with their life insurance premiums, accessing tax-efficient returns throughout their lifetime via a product that has been historically available primarily to affluent and more mature demographics. Amplify's digital interface provides customers with a customized policy based on their financial goals, risk tolerance, and underwriting risk profile. Customers can also choose how much of their premiums are invested in tax-efficient, high-growth investments and how much goes towards their life insurance coverage. With built-in capabilities for expedited underwriting and policy delivery, most Amplify customers are able to get a life insurance investment policy within days and without a medical exam.
Munich Re Ventures, the venture capital arm of Munich Re Group, one of the world's leading providers of reinsurance, primary insurance, and insurance-related risk solutions, brings institutional expertise and deep knowledge in scaling insurers and insurtechs. MRV's insights and aspirations within the insurance industry align with Amplify's approach to permanent life insurance and goal of expanding consumer access to innovative insurance products.
"With Munich Re Ventures at the table, Amplify gains an industry leading investor whose insurance expertise is primed to propel Amplify through the next phase of growth,"
- Hanna Wu, Co-founder and CEO at Amplify
Additionally, Amplify has added former CEO and current President of Personal Capital, Jay Shah, to its Board of Directors. Jay has decades of executive operating experience scaling up consumer-direct fintech brands like E-Loan and Personal Capital. Additionally, Jay has held several successful Board and Advisor roles including Ellie Mae and One. Jay's addition will bring tremendous value to Amplify's ongoing strategy and continued growth.
Having spent the majority of my career running and advising fintechs across the consumer lending, banking and wealth verticals, I couldn't be more excited to bring my operational knowhow to the board of Amplify, Pattern recognition is an invaluable way to accelerate growth so I'm looking forward to unlocking great value for Amplify's customers with Hanna and the team,said Shah.
With this new funding round, Amplify is focused on reducing friction and human-to-human administrative processes in policy customization, payments, underwriting, servicing, claims management, and more. As part of the move towards building a customer-centric, easy-to-use platform, this investment accompanies a partnership whereby Munich Re will help Amplify implement a fully automated underwriting process through alitheia, Munich Re Life US' risk assessment and instant decisioning platform.
Permanent life insurance is a powerful financial product that has completely flown under the radar during the insurtech boom of the last five years, Amplify is using new and innovative digital-first distribution methods to bring the financial security and wealth generation possibilities of a Variable Universal Life Insurance product to a new, younger market. It is a privilege to be part of Amplify's journey as they provide this powerful tool to the masses,said Ben Bergsma, Investment Principal at Munich Re Ventures.
With the help of MRV and Munich Re, Amplify will further build the life insurance ecosystem needed to democratize permanent life insurance. Amplify will continue to focus on expanding the digital life insurance offerings including a mobile application to be launched later this year that will allow customers to manage their life insurance policies and investment portfolios. The company will also hire across teams including engineering, product, data science, customer experience, and marketing.
About Amplify Life Insurance
Amplify is the first digital permanent life insurance platform offering customers direct access to products where you access tax-efficient investment returns and obtain lifelong protection. It's founded by serial entrepreneurs with industry and technology expertise looking to modernize the $70B permanent life insurance industry. Amplify provides an AI-enabled educational journey, product recommendation and quoting, and real-time pre-underwriting to help customers learn about plans and customize a policy for their needs. Founded in 2019, Amplify aims to help customers achieve health and financial wellness. Based in the San Francisco Bay Area, Amplify is open to all 50 states, and has served thousands of customers.
About Munich Re Ventures
Munich Re Ventures is the venture capital arm of Munich Re Group, one of the world's leading providers of reinsurance, primary insurance, and insurance-related risk solutions. With more than $1 billion in assets under management, Munich Re Ventures invests in the most innovative start-ups transforming the future of risk and risk transfer. MRV's experienced investors are financially-driven while focused on the strategic interests of Munich Re and the broader insurance industry. MRV works closely with Munich Re Group businesses across the globe to fund and partner with the best emerging companies developing new technologies and business models – and risks – for tomorrow's world.
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CORE INSURANCE,INSURANCE TECHNOLOGY
Corvus | November 07, 2022
Corvus Insurance, the market-leading specialty insurance MGA offering Smart Commercial Insurance™ products powered by AI-driven risk data, today announced it has partnered with The Travelers Companies, Inc., an industry leader in personal, business, and specialty insurance, to back its Smart Cyber Insurance™ offering.
The venture will provide cyber insurance products and services to companies in continental Europe and follows the recent opening of the company’s Frankfurt office, overseen by Oliver Delvos, Head of International at Corvus. Subject to regulatory approval, the European expansion of Corvus’s Smart Cyber Insurance™ offering will initially be geared toward small- and medium-size enterprises and middle market businesses with annual revenues up to EUR 1 billion.
“Corvus is uniquely positioned in today’s European market, We’re thrilled to partner with Travelers to bring our transparent, data-driven, and expert approach to underwriting and risk mitigation to a new audience of brokers and policyholders.”
-Madhu Tadikonda, CEO of Corvus Insurance
This robust new offering will focus primarily on Germany and Austria, providing brokers and policyholders with localized and unmatched cyber insurance tools, along with the combined cyber underwriting expertise of both Corvus and Travelers. As part of its long-term growth strategy in Europe, Corvus will continue to expand its international business, opening additional offices across the continent.
About Corvus
Corvus Insurance is building a safer world through insurance products and digital tools that reduce risk, increase transparency, and improve resilience for policyholders and program partners. Our market-leading specialty insurance products are enabled by advanced data science and include Smart Cyber Insurance® and Smart Tech E+O™. Our digital platforms and tools enable efficient quoting and binding and proactive risk mitigation. Corvus Insurance offers insurance products in the U.S., Middle East, Europe, Canada, and Australia. Current insurance program partners include AXIS Capital, Crum & Forster, Hudson Insurance Group, certain underwriters at Lloyd’s of London, R&Q Accredited, and SiriusPoint. Corvus Insurance, Corvus London Markets, and Corvus Germany are the marketing names used to refer to Corvus Insurance Agency, LLC; Corvus Agency Limited; and Corvus Underwriting GmbH. All entities are subsidiaries of Corvus Insurance Holdings, Inc. Corvus Insurance was founded in 2017 and is headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts with offices across the U.S., in the UK, and Germany.
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