InsTech - insurance & innovation with Matthew Grant

Louw Hopley, Co-founder: Root: The future is embedded (303)

Root provides platforms and API for insurers, MGAs, brokers to build, launch and manage digital insurance products and embedded experiences in South Africa and the UK.

Matthew Grant caught up with Louw Hopley on the opportunities and challenges in the insurance industry, focusing on the role of embedded insurance in adapting to changing customer demands. Discover all from the emerging areas Root is planning to tap into, to the company’s appointment of a new CEO and regional manager. 

Key talking points:

• A year of progress and expansion
• The development of insurance distribution
• The future of embedded insurance
• Root’s journey: leadership and company growth
• Innovations in insurance: from digital assets to angry AI

If you like what you're hearing, please leave us a review on whichever platform you use or contact Matthew Grant on LinkedIn.

To find out more about InsTech, our membership and offerings visit www.instech.co or contact us hello@instech.co

Continuing Professional Development

This InsTech Podcast Episode is accredited by the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII). By listening, you can claim up to 0.5 hours towards your CPD scheme.

By the end of this podcast, you should be able to meet the following Learning Objectives:

• Describe what is embedded insurance and how it can help insurance adapt to changing customer demands
• Explain why customer demands have shifted and why insurance has not kept up with it
• Identify the necessary steps and changes a company can make when expanding globally and entering new markets

If your organisation is a member of InsTech and you would like to receive a quarterly summary of the CPD hours you have earned, visit the Episode 303 page of the InsTech website or email cpd@instech.co to let us know you have listened to this podcast.

To help us measure the impact of the learning, we would be grateful if you would take a minute to complete a quick feedback survey.

Russell Higginbotham, CEO: Swiss Re Reinsurance Solutions: Making society more resilient - using new data to close the protection gap (302)

Swiss Re Reinsurance Solutions was launched two years ago to make Swiss Re’s unique knowledge and tools available across the insurance value chain.

Swiss Re’s strongest point of knowledge is property - around which we centre this podcast. Robin Merttens spoke to CEO of Reinsurance Solutions Russell Higginbotham on approaching climate-related risks in the insurance industry as well as managing the balance between data accuracy and inclusivity of insurance products for customers.

Key talking points:

• The implication of climate change on property insurance
• If you are running an insurer now - what should you be focusing on?
• What should the whole ecosystem be doing with climate change? Planning the future
• Understanding ‘uninsurability’ 
• Partnerships with Google X, the moonshot factory and acquiring Fathom

If you like what you're hearing, please leave us a review on whichever platform you use or contact Matthew Grant on LinkedIn.

To find out more about InsTech, our membership and offerings visit www.instech.co or contact us hello@instech.co

Continuing Professional Development

This InsTech Podcast Episode is accredited by the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII). By listening, you can claim up to 0.5 hours towards your CPD scheme.

By the end of this podcast, you should be able to meet the following Learning Objectives:

• Describe how better data can help tackle the insurance protection gap
• Explain how acquisitions can help a company gain better data and why partnerships are important in the industry
• Summarise why climate change is such an important risk and what insurers should focus on to tackle it best

If your organisation is a member of InsTech and you would like to receive a quarterly summary of the CPD hours you have earned, visit the Episode 302 page of the InsTech website or email cpd@instech.co to let us know you have listened to this podcast.

To help us measure the impact of the learning, we would be grateful if you would take a minute to complete a quick feedback survey.

Rosina Smith, CPO: McKenzie Intelligence Services: Innovation and the insurtech journey - are we there yet? (301)

McKenzie Intelligence Services (MIS) helps accelerate disaster relief and economic recovery for insurers.

Matthew Grant spoke to Rosina, Chief Product Officer for MIS, who shares insights from her MBA dissertation's findings on the adoption of technology in insurance, highlighting the necessity of collaboration between insurtechs, insurance companies, and other stakeholders to drive innovation and effectively address the insurance protection gap. 

Key talking points include:

• Transitioning from working for a large organization to the world of startup and scale up
• MBA Dissertation - the process of writing and publishing 
• Managing biases - reconsidering the issue with the protection gap
• Collaboration and disruption - where do you stand as an insurtech?
• Evolving approaches for insurtechs
• What you should avoid in partnerships

To read Rosina Smith’s dissertation ‘Barriers to Adopting Insurtech in Natural Catastrophe (Re)insurance’ you can reach out to her on LinkedIn.

If you like what you're hearing, please leave us a review on whichever platform you use or contact Matthew Grant on LinkedIn.

To find out more about InsTech, our membership and offerings visit www.instech.co or contact us hello@instech.co

Continuing Professional Development

This InsTech Podcast Episode is accredited by the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII). By listening, you can claim up to 0.5 hours towards your CPD scheme.

By the end of this podcast, you should be able to meet the following Learning Objectives:

• Specify what is the insurance protection gap and why it has historically been misunderstood
• Identify some reasons why a business partnership between a insurtech start up and an insurer might not be successful
• Summarise why insurtechs need to reevaluate their strategy when partnering with insurance carriers

If your organisation is a member of InsTech and you would like to receive a quarterly summary of the CPD hours you have earned, visit the Episode 301 page of the InsTech website or email cpd@instech.co to let us know you have listened to this podcast.

To help us measure the impact of the learning, we would be grateful if you would take a minute to complete a quick feedback survey.

Dag Lohmann & Brandon Katz: KatRisk: High speed, high resolution catastrophe modelling (300)

KatRisk is a catastrophe modelling company providing global inland flood, storm surge and windstorm loss assessments for some of the largest insurers, reinsurers and brokers in the world. 

Taking a macrocosm approach, the company’s models offer an open software architecture, allowing users to better understand correlated risks and to make modifications to suit specific needs.

Matthew Grant caught up with Dag Lohmann and Brandon Katz on the company’s development such as taking on strategic investment from TA Associates, and the challenges that come with modelling correlated risks such as tornadoes, tornadoes, straight-line winds and more.

Key talking points:

• The journey to strategic investment
• Innovating catastrophe modelling with advanced technology
• Client collaboration and transparency: a core ethos
• Leveraging high-resolution models for underwriting and risk assessment
• The future of catastrophe modelling and climate reporting
• Looking ahead: expansion and new developments

If you like what you're hearing, please leave us a review on whichever platform you use or contact Matthew Grant on LinkedIn.

To find out more about InsTech, our membership and offerings visit www.instech.co or contact us hello@instech.co

Continuing Professional Development

This InsTech Podcast Episode is accredited by the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII). By listening, you can claim up to 0.5 hours towards your CPD scheme.

By the end of this podcast, you should be able to meet the following Learning Objectives:

• Define how correlation has changed the methods catastrophe modelling is conducted
• Identify the different types of government bodies that work alongside catastrophe modellers and why
• Summarise why catastrophe modelling tornados is difficult and why granularity of data can help

If your organisation is a member of InsTech and you would like to receive a quarterly summary of the CPD hours you have earned, visit the Episode 300 page of the InsTech website or email cpd@instech.co to let us know you have listened to this podcast.

To help us measure the impact of the learning, we would be grateful if you would take a minute to complete a quick feedback survey.

Richard Hartley, CEO: Cytora: Decision ready risk - the future of commercial insurance (299)

From episodes 68, 227 and now episode 299, InsTech has consistently caught up with Cytora and followed the company’s growth and expansion. 

Alongside Google, Cytora supported InsTech’s March event in New York, after which Matthew Grant caught up with Richard Hartley on the company’s growth, entering the US market and its impact on the insurance industry.

Cytora focuses on data integration, partnering with numerous data providers to enhance the underwriter's workflow and ultimately transform manual insurance processes into digital ones.

Key talking points include:

• Developing the vision as the technology develops
• Digitizing risk - rendering it decision read
• Collating the team - collaging different backgrounds in Cytora
• Case studies - real-life examples of how Cytora helps carriers including Markel and Allianz
• Heterogenous data in a homogenous view - ecosystems
• Judgement and data - subjectivity

If you like what you're hearing, please leave us a review on whichever platform you use or contact Matthew Grant on LinkedIn.

To find out more about InsTech, our membership and offerings visit www.instech.co or contact us hello@instech.co

Continuing Professional Development

This InsTech Podcast Episode is accredited by the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII). By listening, you can claim up to 0.5 hours towards your CPD scheme.

By the end of this podcast, you should be able to meet the following Learning Objectives:

• Describe how by partnering with different data sources, a platform provider can help an underwriter understand their data in a simpler, unified way
• Define what digitization of the insurance industry is and what it could look like
• Identify how platforms can help underwriters save time and focus on what they do best

If your organisation is a member of InsTech and you would like to receive a quarterly summary of the CPD hours you have earned, visit the Episode 299 page of the InsTech website or email cpd@instech.co to let us know you have listened to this podcast.

To help us measure the impact of the learning, we would be grateful if you would take a minute to complete a quick feedback survey.

Dani Katz, Co-founder & Director: Optalitix: Fix the roof while the sun is still shining (298)

Optalitix was borne out of the need for ‘optimization’ and ‘analytics’, as Co-founder and Director Dani Katz realized the biggest blocker for insurance companies was converting spreadsheets. Having now expanded beyond spreadsheets, Optalitix offers three software products to UK (re)insurers and MGAs. 

Robin Merttens spoke to Dani about the spreadsheet polemic, innovation in the London Market and the permeability of finding solutions to difficult problems in both work and personal life.

Key talking points include:

• Growing out a company - solving challenges for insurers
• To spreadsheet or not to spreadsheet
• Reflecting on how far digitisation has come in the industry
• Suns and roofs - best moment to innovate
• Underwriting workbenches - where to start? - Find out in InsTech's recent report
• Joining Google Cloud Marketplace
• Founding a charity

Read Matthew’s tips on being a panel host here.

If you like what you're hearing, please leave us a review on whichever platform you use or contact Dani Katz or Matthew Grant on LinkedIn.

To find out more about InsTech, our membership and offerings visit www.instech.co or contact us hello@instech.co

Continuing Professional Development

This InsTech Podcast Episode is accredited by the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII). By listening, you can claim up to 0.5 hours towards your CPD scheme.

By the end of this podcast, you should be able to meet the following Learning Objectives:

• Describe how the London Market can adopt digital transformation
• Explain how an underwriting workbench operates and how an insurer can adopt them
• Identify the issue with spreadsheets and what are the pros and cons of using them

If your organisation is a member of InsTech and you would like to receive a quarterly summary of the CPD hours you have earned, visit the Episode 298 page of the InsTech website or email cpd@instech.co to let us know you have listened to this podcast.

To help us measure the impact of the learning, we would be grateful if you would take a minute to complete a quick feedback survey.

Ben Ruddle, Senior Principal: Publicis Sapient: Beyond Beige - The untapped potential of underserved niches (297)

Robin Merttens is joined by Ben Ruddle, Senior Principle in Strategy at Publicis Sapient, to discuss how technology can help insurers cater to customers outside the typical insurance model. The discussion covers the concept of 'Beyond Beige,' focusing on the opportunity to serve individuals and businesses with unique or specialized needs that standard insurance products don't cover.

Key talking points include:

• The rise of comparison sites
• What is ‘Beyond Beige’ - the opportunities in the market
• Publicis Sapient's expansion into insurance 
• Addressing the issue of underserved markets

If you like what you're hearing, please leave us a review on whichever platform you use or contact Ben Ruddle or Matthew Grant on LinkedIn.

To find out more about InsTech, our membership and offerings visit www.instech.co or contact us hello@instech.co

Continuing Professional Development

This InsTech Podcast Episode is accredited by the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII). By listening, you can claim up to 0.5 hours towards your CPD scheme.

By the end of this podcast, you should be able to meet the following Learning Objectives:

• Specify why comparison sites are not helpful to the customer and their insurance journey
• Define what markets are typically underinsured and why
• Identify how incumbents can utilise technology to help better serve niche markets

If your organisation is a member of InsTech and you would like to receive a quarterly summary of the CPD hours you have earned, visit the Episode 297 page of the InsTech website or email cpd@instech.co to let us know you have listened to this podcast.

To help us measure the impact of the learning, we would be grateful if you would take a minute to complete a quick feedback survey.

Verena Brenner, Founder: HDI TH!NX: Insurer-led innovation (296)

HDI TH!NX was founded in 2019 by Verena Brenner, initially operating within the German insurer HDI Global, as an incubator for IIoT solutions. 

Now providing software to support risk management applications for insurers and insurance clients, tune in to hear Verena discuss the mechanics behind founding a startup within an insurer and the company’s development in providing varying solutions for their customers.

Key talking points include:

• Why HDI TH!NX was launched - from a PhD in global supply chains to utilising the impact of IIoT solutions
• The centrality of the customer
• Advice for launching a startup - innovation is not a hobby
• Growing into the ESG space - evolution in the company’s direction
• Helping insurers understand their risk better

If you like what you're hearing, please leave us a review on whichever platform you use or contact Dr Verena Brenner or Matthew Grant on LinkedIn.

To find out more about InsTech, our membership and offerings visit www.instech.co or contact us hello@instech.co

Continuing Professional Development

This InsTech Podcast Episode is accredited by the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII). By listening, you can claim up to 0.5 hours towards your CPD scheme.

By the end of this podcast, you should be able to meet the following Learning Objectives:

• Specify what is required to successfully develop a business model intended to help insurers
• Define what an IIoT is and how it can help risk managers and insurers in understanding their risk better
• Identify sectors where IIoT and sensors are valuable in collecting the right data

If your organisation is a member of InsTech and you would like to receive a quarterly summary of the CPD hours you have earned, visit the Episode 296 page of the InsTech website or email cpd@instech.co to let us know you have listened to this podcast.

To help us measure the impact of the learning, we would be grateful if you would take a minute to complete a quick feedback survey.

Dr Avi Baruch, Previsico & Allison Whittington, Zurich Municipal & Mark Murphy, Donaldson Timber: Managing your flood risk - stories from the frontline (295)

How would your clients describe you? 

This week on the podcast we have taken a slightly different approach and brought Previsico’s clients, Zurich Muncipal and Donaldson Timber, to discuss how Previsico has helped them with flood risk management.

Previsico provides real-time flood forecasts, as part of its mission to reduce global flooding impact, by developing technologies that offer early warning systems for surface water flooding. Discover the importance of collaboration by hearing from Dr Avi Baruch and his work with Allison Whittington at Zurich Municipal and Mark Murphy at Donaldson Timber.

Key talking points:

• The start of Previsico: a PhD research project 
• Client Insights: Zurich Municipal's approach to flood resilience
• Exploring the impact of floods and the importance of early warning systems
• The role of insurance in flood risk management and resilience building
• Operational challenges and solutions in flood risk management
• Exploring the complexities of Sustainability and ESG Commitments
• The role of insurance in supporting sustainability
• Client Insights: Donaldson Timber's proactive flood risk management

If you like what you're hearing, please leave us a review on whichever platform you use or contact Dr Avi Baruch or Matthew Grant on LinkedIn.

To find out more about InsTech, our membership and offerings visit www.instech.co or contact us hello@instech.co

Continuing Professional Development

This InsTech Podcast Episode is accredited by the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII). By listening, you can claim up to 0.5 hours towards your CPD scheme.

By the end of this podcast, you should be able to meet the following Learning Objectives:

• Describe why developing warning systems for surface water flooding is important in the insurance industry
• Define why collaboration is important across the insurance industry
• Summarise how partnerships with insurers can help with the operational advantages of adopting new technologies

If your organisation is a member of InsTech and you would like to receive a quarterly summary of the CPD hours you have earned, visit the Episode 295 page of the InsTech website or email cpd@instech.co to let us know you have listened to this podcast.

To help us measure the impact of the learning, we would be grateful if you would take a minute to complete a quick feedback survey.

Mark Fermor, Non-Executive Director: GeoSmart: Groundwater - the hidden predictor of future flood loss (294)

Groundwater flooding poses a great risk to properties in the UK but remains much less widely modelled than other types of flooding. 

This week, Matthew Grant caught up with Mark Fermor at GeoSmart, a company specializing in flood data analytics in the UK. They discuss GeoSmart's role in providing detailed flood risk assessments, leveraging their advanced modelling tools that cover all sources of flooding and how they are helping other organisations access and understand open-source data.

Key talking points:

• Discovering the hidden cause of flood risk
• What problems are GeoSmart helping insurers to solve
• Different ways to experience a flood
• The issue of groundwater beyond the UK
• Open-source data - how GeoSmart can help

If you like what you're hearing, please leave us a review on whichever platform you use or contact Matthew Grant on LinkedIn.

To find out more about InsTech, our membership and offerings visit www.instech.co or contact us hello@instech.co

Continuing Professional Development

This InsTech Podcast Episode is accredited by the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII). By listening, you can claim up to 0.5 hours towards your CPD scheme.

By the end of this podcast, you should be able to meet the following Learning Objectives:

• Describe what groundwater is and why it is an important factor to model to understand flooding
• Explain how open-source data can help the insurance industry understand risk better
• Summarise what flood models are and how GeoSmart produces their models

If your organisation is a member of InsTech and you would like to receive a quarterly summary of the CPD hours you have earned, visit the Episode 294 page of the InsTech website or email cpd@instech.co to let us know you have listened to this podcast.

To help us measure the impact of the learning, we would be grateful if you would take a minute to complete a quick feedback survey.