Life insurance sector to feel ‘greatest impact of disruption’, report suggests

The report, The Evolution of the fintech boom and how you can be a part of it, released by Netwealth last week suggests that, despite experiencing slow growth, the life insurance sector will benefit dramatically from the latest developments in fintech.

The report suggests that the real time customer data available to insurers via wearable fitness devices, as well as the growing availability of third-party data and artificial intelligence, could lead to “automatic underwriting” and “insurance premiums that change based on a person’s monitored lifestyle behaviours”.

The report looked at examples of disruption already occurring in the life insurance sector, referencing companies such as AIA Australia and MLC who leverage data provided by fitness devices to incentivise customers for achieving their health and fitness goals.

“In the future, we may even see insurers using technology to constantly analyse the real time data received from these devices and using predictive analytics tools to engage with customers to indicate health patterns that are either harmful or beneficial to the insured person,” the report said.

Fintech could also “dramatically impact the insurance industry through the way in which consumers apply for insurance products, as well as the underwriting process.

“Using third-party data, such as information from health databases, genealogy databases, the tax office and artificial intelligence technologies, it is foreseeable that underwriting could be almost automatic, providing a quicker application experience and more tailored product for each individual customer.”