A.M. BestTV at InsureTech Connect: It Is About Finding Pain Points, Trimming Fat, Say Investors’ Panel

CONTACTS:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

OLDWICK - OCTOBER 09, 2018 02:44 PM (EDT)
In this episode of ^A.M.BestTV from InsureTech Connect 2018 in Las Vegas, NV, a panel of insurance investors and market researchers report that investing in insurtech firms has reached an inflection point as investors and insurers build out early ventures and look to new technologies and risk sectors. Click on http://www.ambest.com/v.asp?v=insuretech21018 to view the entire program.

Sam Friedman, insurance research leader, Deloitte Center for Financial Services, highlighted how investors have become more selective.

“Initially, you saw this wave of new startups coming in, and people spreading their money throughout the industry, trying to figure out who is going to get off the ground the fastest,” said Friedman. “Now, the investor is much more discerning, you cannot just come to that company with a PowerPoint presentation. You have to be a more mature insurtech, having been in operation for at least 18 to 36 months.”

“We invest in a couple sectors beyond financial services, like mobility and e-commerce,” said Alex Lazarow, director, Cathay Innovation. “I think it is interesting how insurance intersects with some of these services. For instance, the future of mobility might be with driverless cars. So we ask, ‘how does automobile insurance change in that dynamic?’ Similarly, with the rise of e-commerce, how do we see new types of insurance distributed to these platforms, as well as tied to products and services? How do we actually reinvent insurance products and services for our consumers?”

Other people that appear in this episode:

• Matt Streisfeld, principal, Oak HC/FT.

For full video coverage of the InsureTech Connect 2018 conference, including exclusive executive interviews, please visit http://www.ambest.tv/insuretech18 .

Other innovation-focused episodes of ^A.M.BestTV include:

• For Insurance Technologists, The New Frontier Is Small Commercial Lines: Insurance technologists said the market for commercial coverage, particularly for smaller businesses, is large but fragmented, making it an enticing target for technology-enabled insurers and startups: http://www.ambest.com/v.asp?v=smallcommercialpanel1018 .


• Technology Helps, Culture Makes the Difference: Sridhar Manyem, senior director, Edin Imsirovic, senior financial analyst and Clare Finnegan, criteria analyst, all of A.M. Best, examine the company’s new industry survey of more than 450 insurance companies globally, which shows how many insurers are hungry to embrace innovation, but some face internal challenges to change: http://www.ambest.com/v.asp?v=innovation1018 .


• Innovation Report First Step in Integrating Into Rating Evaluation, Says A.M. Best Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer: Matt Mosher, executive vice president and chief operating officer, A.M. Best, discusses a new report from the rating agency that examines insurers’ perspectives on innovation, and said the next step is to develop criteria to evaluate an insurer’s ability to innovate: http://www.ambest.com/v.asp?v=mosher1018 .

^A.M.BestTV covers exclusive A.M. Best and insurance industry information and reports, targeted topics and key developments in the insurance, reinsurance and related sectors daily. Sign up for alerts of episodes at http://www.ambest.com/multimedia/ambtvsignup.html . View ^A.M.BestTV episodes at http://www.ambest.tv .

A.M. Best is a global rating agency and information provider with a unique focus on the insurance industry.