P2P Insurance
Duuo Launches Canada’s First Digital Peer-to-Peer Equipment Rental Insurance Platform
About: A Canadian insurer Duuo has collaborated with a peer-to-peer (P2P) marketplace ‘Traveling Munchkin’ to roll out Canada’s first cloud-based equipment rental insurance platform ‘Rent-my-Stuff Insurance’. The platform offers protection against damages and losses of rented equipment. Duuo has developed the insurance platform in partnership with Slice Labs, an on-demand digital insurance ecosystem provider. The platform aims to evade the risk and fear of renting valuable gears to unknown users.
Process: Duuo leverages Slice Insurance Cloud Services (ICS) ecosystem to enhance the reach of affordable insurance to the public without hassle and fear. The P2P platform connects the renter and equipment provider through a quick online transaction to complete the deal. Once the deal is closed, the renter receives the equipment and the provider receives an ample amount of money. Furthermore, the company has added security and credibility to rented products by offering a guarantee for loss, theft or damage by removing a dependency on the renter to secure insurance.
What's Next: The fear of equipment damage and security are the challenges facing by the gear renters. Rent-my-Stuff Insurance helps in eliminating the bottlenecks by providing insurance to each item as well as encouraging renters to monetize underused possessions to earn supplementary income. Duuo has plans to advance its service by partnering with other rental providers to grow and engage with customers across Canada.
P2P Insurance
Pineapple to Bring Artificial Intelligence to P2P Insurance
About: Pineapple has developed a peer-to-peer (P2P) insurance product whereby individuals can take pictures of items they wish to avail insurance and the app automatically identifies the items using artificial intelligence. Premiums are then held in wallets which collectively pay claims made by individuals in the community. Any remaining funds are returned to policyholders at the end of the policy.
Process: Pineapple is seen as South Africa’s first P2P insurance provider. The use of artificial intelligence (AI) to automatically detect which item is being insured from a photograph gives Pineapple a clear advantage by cutting down on the number of questions required to provide a quote. The most original element of Pineapple’s proposition is that policyholder premiums are returned to them once claims and an administrative fee have been paid. The concept of returning premiums to policyholders will undoubtedly prove a hit with consumers and in principle should help reduce fraudulent claims. Allowing policyholders to build their own network of peers will also help ensure the longevity of Pineapple, as policyholders have an incentive to minimise risk within their network.
What's Next: The use of AI has streamlined the quotes process for consumers. Combining this with the clarity, Pineapple provides policyholders on how their premiums are used and the potential to receive some of their premiums back will significantly improve the user experience. Being at the forefront of the P2P insurance market in South Africa will allow Pineapple to play a fundamental role in shaping how the industry develops, and to set a precedent for other providers that wish to enter the market.
P2P Insurance
Dynamis Introduced Blockchain Based P2P Unemployment Insurance Product and Claims Management
About: Dynamis has introduced smart contracts based peer-to-peer unemployment insurance product that runs on Ethereum blockchain network. The startup is using P2P insurance platform powered by blockchain technology to create a decentralized network for brining transparency to the insurer-insured relationship. The product provides distrusted ledger technology, where the authority to validate transactions is dispersed evenly across the network.
Process: Dynamis has launched its first product, community-based unemployment insurance that leverages user data from social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn to verify employment status of the insured. Moreover, it relays on insured individual’s peers and colleagues to automate claims using blockchain-powered smart contracts. Clients registered with Dynamis offer unemployment insurance to their employees by paying premiums in form of bitcoins and the transactions are recorded as smart contracts. At the time of redundancies and layoffs, employees receive payouts from peers without the need for any insurance company.
What's Next: Using Blockchain, Dynamis palms create a decentralized network of peer-to-peer insurance platform, where severance funds are actually paid to employees during layoffs. Albeit, P2P insurance based on blockchain is in its nascent phase, increased number of startups are foraying into the niche space and using technology to streamline identity authentication, claims management, and fraud management.
Microinsurance
Acko Collaborates with HDB Financial Services to Offer Microinsurance Through HDB Aabhar Cards
About: MobiKwik has rolled out a micro-insurance product in association with ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Company to extend the latter’s base of insurance providers. The platform offers instant life insurance to customers with a life cover of INR100,000 available for a monthly premium as low as INR20.
Process: The platform uses analytics and artificial intelligence to provide suggestions for an appropriate insurance product based on the profile of the customers. It allows users to choose from three sum assured policies: INR100,000, INR150,000, and INR200,000, available for monthly premiums of INR20, INR30 and INR40, respectively. The platform simplifies the onboarding process by letting users purchase life insurance products on the MobiKwik app through a paperless, two-step process that takes 10 seconds to issue a personalized insurance policy.
What's Next: MobiKwik’s micro-insurance product can address the challenges around product relevance for a customer that arises because of the standard underwriting. The offering can drive the adoption of life insurance products with a customized portfolio to cater to customer requirements.
Microinsurance
MobiKwik Unveils Insurance Solution to Protect Household Goods
About: MobiKwik rolled out an insurance solution to secure household goods from any accidents in collaboration with private insurer ICICI Lombard. The new offering eliminates all paperwork or inspection and issues a policy within 10 seconds.
Process: To generate the insurance policy instantly, the user needs to pay the premium and enter the address and details of home contents using MobiKwik app. The policy provides coverage of INR200,000 for a monthly premium of INR25. The new insurance covers all home contents regardless of whether it’s an owned or rented property. It has been designed to protect household appliances including TV, refrigerator, and furniture, from fire accidents caused by short circuits and gas leakages. This makes insurance products available to customers at affordable prices and at their convenience. Customers can also claim digitally within the app similar to the buying process.
What's Next: MobiKwik’s strategy is to ensure household good are safeguarded with the launch of the home insurance product, which is fully digitally and can be accessed in two-clicks by customers. By leveraging advanced technology and customer-oriented strategy, the two partners MobiKwik and ICICI Lombard intend to bring customized insurance products that provide comfort to different segments of users.
Microinsurance
Zego, a Pay-Per-Use Smart Vehicle Insurance for On-Demand Delivery Drivers
About: Zego offers on-demand deliver drivers the ability to purchase flexible commercial vehicle policies – providing cover only during the hours they work. Zego provides insurance for the gig economy delivery drivers when they are on work. Drivers can choose the best policy for them based on hourly basis or they can even take annual policies for themselves.
Process: Zego provide insurance for drivers with scooter, bicycle, car or private hire vehicle and provides instant quotes for its users in a minute. The proposition of commercial insurance that mirrors the hours of those working within the gig economy is not currently widely available among the largest insurers. In order to purchase an hourly commercial insurance policy, customers simply need to use Zego’s app. With increasing reliance on mobile devices among consumers and businesses, this purchasing method is likely to be well received.
What's Next: Giving customers the ability to purchase insurance that is flexible will revolutionize the customer experience – particularly for a gig economy sector lacking suitable insurance solutions. Although the use of an app as a method to purchase insurance is not market-changing, the product offered targets the growing needs of niche insurance markets related to shared economies.
Cyber Insurance
HSB Launches Cyber Insurance Solution to Protect Farmers from Hackers and Malware
About: Hartford Steam Boiler (HSB), part of Munich Re, launched a new HSB Farm Cyber Insurance solution that helps protect farmers and farm technology from hackers, malware and other cyber-attacks.
Process: Business cyber coverage for commercial farm exposures can include losses due to a data breach, computer attack, cyber-crimes, computer fraud or misdirected payment fraud. HSB Farm Cyber Insurance protects farmers against cyber-attacks involving computers and electronic devices located about the farm premises, including the farm owner’s residence. Data collected across the farm, from farm machinery to drones, is protected, with coverage for the costs of restoring data and systems in the event of a cyber-event and the loss of income. HSB Farm Cyber Insurance also offers personal cyber coverage for the farmer family, including identity theft, online fraud, cyber harassment, and damage from cyber-attacks on the family’s computer systems and connected home devices.
What's Next: HSB’s cyber coverage is available to insurance companies that partner with HSB to offer coverage to their customers. HSB Farm Cyber Insurance also can be combined with HSB’s Farm Equipment Breakdown Insurance, which covers the repair or replacement of farm equipment.
Cyber Insurance
AXA XL Partners with Slice Labs to Introduce Cyber Insurance for SMEs
About: AXA XL, a subsidiary of global insurance company AXA has partnered with on-demand insurance cloud provider Slice Labs to introduce a new cyber insurance policy specifically designed for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the US. AXA XL’s cyber insurance solution is powered by Slice’s Insurance Cloud Services (ICS) platform, to provide businesses with complete cyber insurance protection along with real-time intelligence, helping them to proactively counter cyber risks.
Process: AXA XL’s cyber insurance policy covers data protection and privacy risks, for both third-party claims and first-party mitigation costs. These are associated with a cyber-incident, such expenses for notification, credit monitoring, reputation management, loss of business, and extra expense. The policy also provides protection for cyber extortion threats and other breach-related liabilities including regulatory penalties, GDPR, and merchant services agreements. Therefore, the policy gives businesses access to cyber insurance protection and also helps them protect their revenue, profitability, and customer relationships.
What's Next: The partnership between AXA XL and Slice Labs will build a digital end-to-end cyber offering for SMEs. Customers are provided with an individualized dashboard for an overall cyber risk assessment and scores along with benchmark scores of their industry peers across each risk category. The solution delivers insightful data to help SMEs understand their cyber risk exposure and learn how to strengthen their cyber defenses.
Cyber Insurance
Arceo Deploys Ransomware Assessment and Response Solution for Enterprises
About: American cybersecurity solution provider Arceo launches a cyber insurance platform called ‘Arceo360 Ransomware Service’ to assist organizations to combat ransomware attacks. Arceo360 responds quickly to block attacks and helps businesses to sustain their reputation, productivity, and crucial information. The company aims to advance solutions to be a step ahead before outbreaks.
Process: Arceo boasts that the system allows users to identify micro cyber risks, and make optimal strategies and security postures. The service leverages advanced risk analytics and vendor panel to offer resilient recovery service along with technical assessment, email defense, and instant response to misconfigurations and vulnerabilities. Furthermore, it allows business users to measure the level of ransomware risk in advance, or request expertise and supported solutions for malware affected systems.
What's Next: Malware encrypts the files and prevents users from assessing their systems and personal files. Due to the lack of cyber safety, the virus spreads deliberately by extortionists to demand ransom has become a complex matter throughout industries. Arceo claims that Arceo360 mitigates the above issues and can manage security according to user needs, restore and recover corrupted data as soon as malicious activity happens. The company has plans to continue advancement in cybersecurity to defend businesses from threats regardless of their budget and security levels.