InsTech - insurance & innovation with Matthew Grant & Robin Merttens

Matthew Grant is joined by Paul Templar , CEO and Co-founder of VIPR , and Greg Massey , US Advisor for VIPR . VIPR was founded in 2009 in the UK but has continued to grow and is expanding into the US following funding from PE firm Tenzing in 2020. Paul Templar has been with the company since its early days and Greg Massey joined recently having formerly been SVP - Head of Programs for Zurich in t...

Last week on the podcast we found out what Chat GPT had to say about InsTech. This week Matthew previews our newsletter on generative AI, particularly who is using it and where are we on the hype cycle.  For the curious, we have released a monthly newsletter dedicated to exploring the uses of generative AI across insurance.  Topics covered include: The three different reactions from insurers to in...

We’re back with another “Partners’ Chat” as Robin Merttens and Matthew Grant reflect on what has happened in the world of innovation and insurance and where it is going next.  The conversation touches on InsTech’s various events in the year so far, the success of InsTech’s recent carbon offsetting report and a look forward to the progress being made by our members in analytics and data. Talking po...

Launching a new insurance business is hard, particularly for those with limited experience in the complexities of a regulated market. OneAdvent can help. Joining Matthew this week are Tim Quayle , COO at OneAdvent and Matt Jones , Chief Strategy Officer at Cowbell, a cyber insurance company entering the UK market. We cover some of the important areas when launching an MGA - and proved that talking...

Reaching emission reduction and sustainability goals is becoming more important than ever. Supporting the carbon markets, including through new insurance products, can be a key way of doing this.  This week Matthew Grant speaks to InsTech’s own Ali Smedley - Senior Research Analyst and author of “ Carbon offsetting: the insurance use case ”. To learn more, you can download the report here . Topics...

While supply chains are under increasing pressure, many losses associated with cargo delays go uninsured. If shipments are late, perishable goods are lost, business is interrupted and budgets are overspent. Henry Gale speaks to Yann Barbarroux, CEO and Co-founder at Otonomi about the insurance product the company has built to cover supply chain delays for third-party logistics companies and freigh...

Technology comes in many forms - some of it is very visible and accessible - but a lot of the important technology is working away out of sight - and usually out of mind. And many of the most successful companies are those that are building out this critical infrastructure.  Richard Tyler, Founder and CEO of Phinsys and Eric Butler, Head of Americas and Bermuda join Matthew Grant to discuss why Ph...

Send offers modular commercial insurance software to insurers, reinsurers and MGAs. The core offering is an underwriting workbench that supports from initial enquiry to bind. It’s a single place for underwriters to access data, documents and decision points. New insurers can use it as a core system, or for more mature companies, it can be bolted onto existing systems, including legacy. Send was fo...

Flood events are increasing around the world, with many losses uncovered by insurance. Whilst parametric solutions can help provide new capacity to insure catastrophic risks and widen access to insurance, parametric flood insurance is not yet as widespread as parametric covers for hurricanes or earthquakes, due in part to data and modelling challenges specific to flood.  Henry Gale speaks to Peter...

The Florida insurance market has faced numerous challenges in recent years. For insurers to underwrite profitably in Florida, having the right hurricane reinsurance is essential. David Schmid, Head of Parametric Products, Reask and Brian Espie, Chief Underwriting Officer, Kettle, join Henry Gale to discuss the new parametric reinsurance solution Kettle and Reask have created for Florida hurricane...

Matthew Grant is back talking to another co-founder of a successful technology company. Louw Hopley is Co-founder and CEO of Root which is providing technology to support embedded insurance for companies in South Africa, UK and other countries. Topics include: The advantages of building technology for companies in South Africa What an API really is and how it works The emerging use of Generative A...

One of the fundamentals of Insurance is understanding the nature of the risk. What happens when a bookshop adds in a coffee shop - is that riskier? Has this been communicated to the insurer? Does the premium change to reflect that? Matthew Grant is talking to Roger Ferrandis, COO and Co-founder, Wenalyze about how the company is helping insurers identify significant changes in their portfolio. Top...

With all the new technology emerging - and insurers thirsty for knowledge - there’s a growing need for someone to help figure out how to join it all together. Robin Merttens talks to Daren Rudd, VP Consulting - Head of Insurance Business and Technology Consulting, UK at CGI. You’ll hear about Daren’s personal experience and how he and his colleagues are helping insurers engage with new and innovat...

This week we’re back talking to Synergy Cloud - it's about claims - and Matthew Grant is talking to Tom Burroughs, Chief Technology Officer, the intrapreneur within the parent company Claims Consortium Group creating a new product and a new business. We cover a range of topics relevant to anyone building or using software, not just in claims, including: What insurance can learn from the travel ind...

Reinsurers are often the leaders in innovation - and usually identify earlier trends before they go mainstream. In this episode, Robin Merttens talks to Brian O'Reilly, Head of Innovation and Nicole Van Allen, Associate, to discover what Greenlight Re looks for in its business partners. Topics include: What to look for in founders Why actuaries still have a critical role Where to find the best inn...

We’re back talking about life and health for this week’s special edition with Tim Smith and Lisa Balboa from Hannover Re. Robin Merttens leads the discussion. Topics include: The role of a reinsurance company in providing protection for insurers and their clients An update on the use of wearables Making health insurance affordable for many How Hannover Re nurtures innovation We’d love to know what...

Concirrus was founded in 2012 and has evolved to become one of the leaders in supporting marine underwriting through tracking ships and managing data. Today the company is expanding into a platform for multiple risk types and provides analytics into areas including aviation and liability. The goal is to make all underwriters as smart as the smartest underwriter in a company using AI tools. With hi...

As climate extremes worsen, insurance plays a more important role in helping people recover from disasters. Yet even many of the most exposed people do not buy the coverage they need, while the global protection gap continues to widen as more homes are developed in high-risk areas. In this episode, InsTech's Ali Smedley and Henry Gale talk to Carolyn Kousky, Associate Vice President for Economics...

Guidewire is known for providing technology to the property, casualty and workers' compensation insurance industry. The company is expanding its analytics capabilities and also has an open ecosystem of partners which offer a variety of hardware, consulting and application services. Matthew Grant is joined by Charles Clarke - Group Vice President, Sales and Advisory and Chris Cooksey - Senior Direc...

With all the sophisticated models, data and tools available to insurers, it's as important as ever to know where something is. Managing aggregation is vital for successful underwriting and we are going to be seeing a lot more about platforms that bring together different data sources. In this episode Matthew Grant talks to Jacqueline Legrand, Co-founder & CEO, Maptycs. She had a problem - so she b...

Insurance runs on data which has to be moved between counterparties. Insurers, brokers, MGAs and many others still rely on spreadsheets (or worse) to do that, which causes friction and errors. In this episode, Robin Merttens talks to Dave Connors, Founder and CEO of distriBind, about why he set up the company and how they are working with insurers and others to provide a way to move beyond spreads...

We might be buying our personal insurance directly these days, but brokers still play a key role when it comes to all but the simplest of coverage. Costero goes one step further and finds solutions for risks that are unusual, and often hard to place but which are solving some of the world’s insurance protection gaps. Intrigued to learn more? This week Matthew Grant joins Managing Director Jamie We...

No technology innovation survives long without a client. Chaucer Group is well known as a successful Lloyd’s insurer and embodies the spirit of Lloyd’s by underwriting unusual and complex business.  Matthew Grant is joined by Duncan Gemmel, Chief Strategy Officer, and Hayley Maynard, Head of Innovation, Chaucer Group, for a live recording. Topics covered include: How to engage underwriters in new...

The consequences of non-damage business interruption (NDBI), when events like pandemics don't cause physical damage to a business but do result in significant drops in revenue, have been particularly clear since 2020. Small businesses and gig workers are particularly vulnerable to losses of income during events beyond their control, but these losses tend to be uninsured. OTT Risk, an MGA founded d...

With the increasing choices that insurers have of data sources to identify property characteristics, choosing the right level of detail and certainty is essential. This week Matthew travels virtually around the world to talk to Tony Agresta, EVP and General Manager of Nearmap and Dr Michael Bewley VP of AI and Computer Vision. Topics covered include: Achieving 3-D imagery and creating virtual imag...