In an era marked by rapid technological advancements, the insurance industry is witnessing a significant transformation. Much of this is achieved via strategic collaborations that enable better products and services – and further reach into previously uncharted marketplaces.
Strategic partnerships are at the forefront of this evolution, playing a crucial role in bolstering the digital ecosystem. By joining forces with technology firms, data analytics companies, and innovative startups, insurers are enhancing their capabilities, streamlining operations, and delivering more personalised and efficient services to customers.
These collaborations are not just reshaping traditional business models but also paving the way for a more agile, responsive, and customer-centric industry. Insurtech Insights highlights the key collaborations and their contributions to the sector’s modernisation.
Lloyd’s Partnerships Forge Inclusive Futures Coalition
Sector: Industry-wide
Purpose: To promote industry-wide diversity and inclusion
Lloyd’s announced the members of the Inclusive Futures Coalition, a collective of market firms and delivery partners leading the Inclusive Futures programme launched in November 2023. This initiative aims to create meaningful change by supporting Black and ethnically diverse individuals from education to executive leadership.
Developed with feedback from over 250 diverse colleagues and experts in finance, academia, and D&I, the Coalition includes eight market firms: Arch, AXA XL, Beazley, Chubb, Hiscox, Howden, MS Amlin, and Tokio Marine Kiln, and three delivery partners: Equity, Green Park, and the Lloyd’s of London Foundation.
Bruce Carnegie-Brown, Chairman of Lloyd’s, said: “Lloyd’s launched Inclusive Futures to make our market and society more inclusive. We are now expanding our ambition for what we can achieve by launching the Inclusive Futures Coalition, harnessing the capabilities of our market and delivery partners to increase the impact of the programme to deliver lasting change.”
Flock Partners with Admiral
Sector: Fleet insurance
Purpose: To boost real-time risk management for UK fleet insurance
Flock, the London-based commercial car insurtech announced a new partnership with Admiral Pioneer, Admiral Group’s venture-building subsidiary to “transform UK fleet insurance with advanced technology and real-time risk management solutions.”
The partnership has enabled Flock to expand its offering and to support a wider range of fleet customers. The initial rollout will specifically target courier fleets, business fleets such as tradespeople and service vehicles, and short-term rental companies.
Ed Leon Klinger, CEO of Flock, commented: “Partnering with Admiral Pioneer is a pivotal moment for Flock. Admiral Pioneer’s pricing, underwriting, and claims management capabilities perfectly complement Flock’s technological expertise, data-driven approach, and deep understanding of commercial fleet customers.”
WTW Partners with Guidewire
Sector: Consulting
Purpose: To streamline processes
WTW and Guidewire’s new partnership will enable insurance carriers to swiftly integrate their cloud platforms and will also enhance the sophistication of speed, rating, and underwriting processes.
As part of the partnership, the two companies will introduce a “Ready for Guidewire” accelerator, which will ensure seamless integration between Guidewire’s PolicyCenter and WTW’s Radar analytics platform. Radar, tailored specifically for the insurance industry, offers advanced analytics for pricing and underwriting, facilitating real-time market deployment.
Gio Smyth, Managing Director and Americas regional leader at WTW’s insurance consulting and tech business, said: “Our Guidewire integration will enhance the operational efficiency of our mutual clients by reducing implementation time and cost, enabling them to maximise the benefits of Radar.”
SiriusPoint Partners with Euclid Security Programs
Sector: Reinsurance
Purpose: Enhance risk management
SiriusPoint Ltd, a global reinsurer, has entered into a strategic partnership with Euclid Security Programs, a boutique managing general underwriter specializing in security industry risks. This collaboration aims to enhance risk management capabilities for both companies. SiriusPoint will become the exclusive carrier partner for Euclid Security’s liability programme, covering security services, alarm services, and fire suppression protection.
Euclid Security, with a 32-year legacy in the program insurance industry and backed by Euclid Program Managers, will underwrite commercial general liability and excess liability risks in the US.
Patrick Charles, Head of North America Insurance for SiriusPoint, said: “Euclid Security has a proven track record in the security space, with a clearly defined scope to provide protection and underwriting expertise for niche risks,” he said.
Insurity Partners with Coherent
Sector: Cloud software provider
Purpose: Accelerating product development
Insurity, a leading cloud software provider for insurance carriers, brokers, and MGAs, has announced a strategic partnership with Coherent, a platform focused on streamlining and accelerating insurance product development. This collaboration aims to enhance the capabilities of property and casualty (P&C) insurance organisations, enabling system modernization and operational efficiency. Central to the partnership is Coherent’s Spark solution, which converts traditional spreadsheet business logic into user-friendly APIs. Integrated with Insurity’s advanced product suite, this technology accelerates product launches, facilitates seamless migrations from legacy systems, boosts processing speeds, and reduces operational costs.
John Brisco, CEO at Coherent, said of the partnership. “Our platform’s ability to unlock business logic and seamlessly integrate with Insurity’s systems is just one example of how we simplify complexities for insurers at scale. Together, we’re delivering a powerful solution that reduces deployment times and operational costs and significantly enhances market responsiveness.”
Cytora Partners with ChAI
Sector: Digital risk
Purpose: Assist insurers in navigating uncertain market conditions
Cytora, a digital risk processing platform, partnered with ChAI, an AI-powered market intelligence and commodity pricing forecaster, to assist insurers in navigating uncertain market conditions.
The collaboration enables insurers to leverage ChAI’s expertise in commodities such as metals, energies, plastics, and agriculture on Cytora’s platform and the integration will provide insights into commodity price fluctuations and their implications for insurance risks, including price forecasts up to a year in advance.
Insurers will also be able to make informed decisions quickly, enhancing their resilience against global crises.
Juan de Castro, COO at Cytora, said: “The volatility of today’s markets underscores the need for the best data and analytics to enable better, faster, and more seamless insurance decisions. We are committed to delivering these critical insights for our customers.”
Stellantis Partners with Bolt
Sector: Embedded services
Purpose: Simplify the customer journey
Stellantis, the captive automotive finance company, partnered with insurtech bolt to enable Stellantis customers to purchase car insurance directly through Stellantis websites and mobile apps, utilising bolt’s solutions.
Customers will benefit from a simplified and personalised purchasing journey, with access to a variety of insurers’ products and custom coverage options. Additionally, the partnership will offer usage-based insurance choices powered by telematics, data, and analytics, aligning with Stellantis’ commitment to breakthroughs in sustainable mobility.
Mark Buffa, Managing Director of Insurance at Stellantis Financial Services, said, “It’s important that insurance offerings keep up with customer demands. Partnering with bolt and their established insurer partners, we’re confident that customers and their vehicles will be better protected.”
hyperexponential Partners with Send
Sector: Pricing
Purpose: Enhance efficiency
Insurtech companies hyperexponential and Send have forged a strategic partnership aimed at enhancing the efficiency of pricing processes for insurers. hyperexponential specialises in pricing decision intelligence solutions, while Send offers advanced underwriting workbench capabilities. This collaboration will facilitate the seamless integration of hyperexponential’s hx Renew platform with Send’s underwriting workbench, creating a comprehensive ecosystem tailored specifically for insurers. By leveraging their respective expertise, the partnership aims to streamline operations, improve pricing accuracy, and enhance overall competitiveness within the insurance industry.
Richard Gunn, Chief Revenue Officer at hyperexponential, said: “Our partnership with Send represents our ongoing commitment to offering insurers a best-in-class, deeply interconnected pricing ecosystem. This integration empowers underwriters to achieve greater efficiency and accuracy in their pricing decisions, ultimately driving business success for insurers.”
CAPE Partners with Vexcel
Sector: Property
Purpose: Enhance visual imagery
The new partnership between CAPE and Vexcel has been forged to enhance CAPE’s property insights across the United States, Canada, and Australia using Vexcel’s advanced imagery capabilities. Founded in 2014, CAPE has been a trailblazer in predictive property risk, trusted by top homeowners insurance carriers and major US investment banks.
Future plans include expanding coverage to Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, further bolstering their comprehensive property insights offering.
Ryan Kottenstette, CEO of CAPE Analytics, said: “CAPE Analytics’ long-term partnership with Vexcel marks a transformative step in enhancing our market-leading property intelligence solutions.”
LB Forsikring Partners with Akur8
Sector: Pricing
Purpose: To create agile pricing strategies
Akur8, a leader in insurance pricing solutions driven by transparent machine learning, recently firged a strategic collaboration with LB Forsikring, a prominent Danish property and casualty (P&C) insurance company. LB
Akur8’s specialised solution, tailored for insurers, revolutionises pricing processes through advanced machine-learning technology. It facilitates accelerated model building, delivers transparent outputs via Generalised Linear Models (GLM), and supports data-driven underwriting practices.
Samuel Falmagne, CEO at Akur8 stated, “We are thrilled to partner with LB Forsikring, and help boost their pricing sophistication by providing them with the tools to carry out advanced price analysis, simulations and calculations while maintaining full transparency, auditability and control in their pricing.”
Resilience Partners with Lloyd’s
Sector: Cyber insurance
Purpose: To double insurance limits to US$20 million per client
Resilience, a leading cyber risk solution company, recently partnered with Lloyd’s to expand its cyber insurance limits in the US to $20 million per client. The expansion follows the launch of new features and capabilities that help enterprises continuously manage and mitigate cyber risk.
Lockton Re facilitated an agreement to bolster Resilience’s limit capacity, enhancing its offerings in cyber insurance and technology errors and omissions (E&O) liability. Previously capped at $10 million on both primary and excess bases with an A+ AM Best-rated partner, Resilience has now secured an additional $10 million in excess limits through Lloyd’s underwriters.
The expanded capacity targets US organisations with revenues scaling up to $10 billion, aiming to fortify resilience against intricate cyber risks.
“Our ability to offer up to $20 million in limits, along with Resilience’s industry-leading integrated cybersecurity and cyber risk solutions, will help our clients and broker partners build insurance towers efficiently, while also increasing the ability to deliver much-needed loss prevention solutions to clients,” said Mario Vitale, president of Resilience.
Howden Re Partners with Moody’s
Sector: Reinsurance
Purpose: Talent acquisition
Howden Re and Moody’s have partnered to launcha three-month reciprocal talent exchange program starting July 1, 2024, aimed at enhancing professional development and industry knowledge. The initiative will see two analysts from Moody’s Insurance Solutions team joining Howden Re’s International Treaty Team, while two Howden Re analysts will work at Moody’s. This collaboration not only enriches career opportunities but also promotes hands-on learning to deepen industry insights. Moreover, Howden Re will utilize Moody’s RMS high-definition models and Intelligent Risk Platform under an extended license agreement, enhancing their global risk assessment capabilities. The partnership underscores both firms’ commitment to fostering innovation and excellence in the insurance sector.
Massimo Reina, CEO, Howden Re International, said: “ This talent exchange will not only enhance the skills of our junior analysts but also strengthen the collaborative spirit between our teams, driving innovation and excellence in the reinsurance industry.”
Aflac Partners with SKYGEN
Sector: Supplemental insurance
Purpose: Automating billing and claims processes
Aflac, a leading provider of supplemental insurance in the US, partnered with SKYGENas part of its strategy to continue improving the customer experience journey.
SKYGEN’s advanced automation solutions will improve Aflac’s claims and billing processes, boosting speed and accuracy for better customer service. Their Dental Hub platform also offers a single point of contact to align providers, insurers, patients, and industry partners. Additionally, members can find suitable providers and access educational resources and key administrative data through SKYGEN’s portal.
Jon Edgington, SVP Aflac Benefits Solutions, said: “As part of our plan to expand capabilities to continue improving the customer journey, SKYGEN’s powerful set of innovative solutions will support customer satisfaction and retention as well as promote sales growth, given that customers will be more likely to consider other Aflac products based on a positive experience with Dental and Vision.”
Compiled by Joanna England
