No hiding place: the technology firms ready to become insurers

The insurtech revolution is already challenging re/insurers, but those who feel they were on the front foot may not have contended with the possibility that change could be much more fundamental than they realised. Paul Cuatrecasas, an expert in acquiring technology companies, tells Intelligent Insurer more.

Innovation and disruptive change are a couple of perhaps over-used buzzwords in the risk transfer industry right now. Already on the back foot from a long period of low interest rates and the resulting poor investment returns and a soft market, re/insurers are also being barraged by a dizzying array of new technologies with the potential to change and improve every aspect of their business.

In fairness, many companies are coping with the ‘insurtech revolution’ well. Many have put themselves ahead by partnering or investing in the technology ventures that look most likely to have legs in the long term.

But insurers and reinsurers cannot afford to rest on their laurels, as Paul Cuatrecasas, the chief executive of Aquaa Partners, a specialist investment bank that advises established companies on acquiring technology companies, warns. There is a very real danger that such innovations could change their market and business model in ways they might struggle to imagine. And there is also a possibility that some technology firms could find ways of cutting them out of the loop completely.