Irish InsurTech Blink (Cork), an alumnus of the Lloyd’s Lab innovation accelerator program, has launched Blink Interruption, a parametric insurance solution for business interruption that the company says can reduce claims processing time up to 95 percent. The Hurricane Non-Damage Parametric Insurance solution provides liquidity to small and medium-sized businesses in the immediate aftermath of an insured event (e.g., a hurricane), thereby reducing overall claims totals as a direct result of early intervention. It uses automated financial validation and immediate pay-out solutions to allow businesses to get back on their feet just days after the event occurs.
“Following a disaster, 90 percent of smaller companies fail within a year unless they can resume operations within 5 days,” comments Paul Prendergast, co-founder and CEO, Blink. “Blink Interruption offers real-time claim activation and pay-out solutions in the immediate aftermath, making it possible for businesses to recover and reopen.”
Prendergast says the appeal of the new parametric solution is in its simplicity. “Critically, it allows our insurance partners to offer cover through a streamlined claims validation platform that immediately begins measuring the impact of a disaster on a business, automates pay-outs and demonstrates to customers that insurers are there for them, when they need it most,” he elaborates. “This Lloyd’s Lab experience has been invaluable to us. We have collaborated with some of the world’s best minds in insurance innovation, and have delivered a market-ready product at the end of just 10 weeks. This is a huge achievement and a testament to the program itself.”
Blink describes the key features of Blink Interruption as follows:
Open Banking Validation: real-time monitoring and large-scale integration with 11,500 banks and credit unions enables automatic claim validation and is sufficient to prove the hurricane’s impact on the business.
Early liquidity provided post-event will allow businesses to recover and reopen.
“Traditional business interruption claims on average take between 6 months and 2 years by which time, it is too late,” Prendergast notes. “Blink Interruption offers early intervention when it matters most to business owners.”
“Blink have built an innovative concept in 10 weeks that offers a novel solution to a real challenge facing our industry—providing fast business interruption validation and claims processing,” comments George Beattie, Lloyd’s Lab mentor and Head of Incubation Underwriting at Beazley (London). “The product’s simplicity, transparency and real-time service enables insurers to support customers in their time of need. The solution offers insurers significant potential in enhancing the quality of claims servicing- an essential element of customer success. Beazley has ambitious plans with regards to product innovation and parametric products form an exciting part of the landscape. As a result of mentoring Blink during their Lab experience, we are looking forward to exploring parametric opportunities together and seeing how we can deliver ground-breaking new products to market.”
How Blink Works
- The solution continually monitors national weather systems, tracks hurricane formation and projected landfall path.
- Blink proactively confirms insured party was in hurricane path.
- It then measures the financial impact, verifies the business impact and confirms the policy cover levels. Blink issues payment to the policy holder.
- Blink validates business impact by tracking business activity via open banking and accounting software integrations.
- The validation process is repeated daily and ongoing business impact confirmed.
- Claim pay-outs commence after 1 week, to an amount and duration that is completely configurable subject to partner requirements.
- Blink reports that it earned its place as one of just ten InsurTechs selected for Lloyd’s Lab following a competitive “virtual pitch” process in which it competed against 140 InsurTechs from around the world.
Cutting-Edge Innovation Skills
Founded in 2016, Blink was acquired by AIM listed CPP Group (Leeds, U.K.) just 6 months after it commencing work. The company partners globally with insurance and financial services companies, driving innovation in Asia, Europe and North America.
“The team at Blink, supported by the mentors participating in the Lloyd’s Lab, have done an incredible job in turning their concept into a reality in a matter of weeks,” comments Jason Walsh, CEO, CPP Group. “The pace of delivery demonstrates the cutting-edge innovation skills at the heart of Blink. Creating a business interruption solution opens up a significant new market for Blink and will make it quicker and easier for insurers to support firms with financial assistance.”
Source: Insurance Business Magazine
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