“I think we'd all agree that insurance is a slow-clock speed industry. Change takes time. The more interesting question is, what does the end game look like? There, I think the answer is, the end game is fundamentally a revolution.
If you're a personal lines insurer, then almost certainly, motor dominates what you do. Motor is how you acquire customers. It's how you fund your brand spend. It's your biggest product line.
The motor market, in 10, 20 years, is going to disappear entirely from personal lines. When we're in the autonomous car world, I think motor is going to be essentially a wholesale insurance product. If you're a personal lines insurer, your entire business model has now changed.
This is not just about one line changing technically. This is about the way you acquire customers. It's the way you finance and structure your business.
The same is true if you think about commercial lines. First of all, the industries that you are serving are being fundamentally disrupted. Things like 3D printing changed the way manufacturing processes work. Secondly, also, the way you underwrite is being disrupted.
If you're not using artificial intelligence, external data sources in your underwriting, then you're on the road to becoming unprofitable. Who knows how long it will take before you realize that that's a problem? The problem has already started now.”
Andrew Rear
CEO
Munich Re Digital Partners