technology

Insurers seem to be chasing appearances, investing eye-watering sums of money into projects to improve the application process, but these sleek, web-based systems can mask a distressing reality: Underwriting technology underpinning the decision process is not attracting the same attention. RGA's Bruce Bosco calls for a greater emphasis on automated underwriting to improve the customer experience and help bridge the protection gap. 

Wearable technology could dramatically change the way life carriers do business and interact with their customers. See what some insurers are already doing with wearables.

So how do insurers unlock value from big data? Jeff Heaton, RGA’s Chief Data Scientist, published author and professor at Washington University in St. Louis, has a few ideas. To start, he suggests it’s time for insurers to better understand the basics of data science. To that end, he self-produced a video to explain the basics in just four minutes. RGA sat down with Heaton to discuss the video and his thoughts on what every employee at an insurance company should know about this form of statistics.

Indirect use of discrimination factors that are outlawed is inexcusable and needs to be avoided by due diligence by insurer and indeed the firm supplying the data. Any decent carrier would not want to cross those red lines anyway – and that is even if the data company involved is not itself subject to regulatory oversight and/or consumer protection laws. Moral: act with integrity and choose your business partners carefully.

There’s not enough oversight for apps that track everything from people’s fitness routines to their menstrual cycles, bioethicists say.

‘Insurtech’: our inboxes are full of news alerts, and hardly a day passes without a notable insurer or reinsurer somewhere commencing a digital initiative, applying artificial intelligence, partnering with a hi-tech high-flyer or investing in a digital/data/analytics start-up. Insurtech is big these days.

Top industry analysts discuss hot technology issues such as blockchain, insurtech, cybersecurity and more. These present both challenges and opportunities.

On 19 January 2019, the New York State Department for Financial Services (DFS) issued a circular letter concerning the use of external consumer data and information sources for life insurance underwriting. This followed a prior notice sent to insurers that the Department was investigating the use of such data for potentially unfair or discriminatory practices.

When it comes to Electronic Health Records (EHRs), for some time now life insurers have wondered when or if EHRs would become a reality. This is no longer in question, and RGA's Sue Wehrman now explores the question of how the industry will use this new technology. 

As the use of algorithms and public data to inform insurance premiums becomes more common, we’ll need to decide what is and isn’t okay