A digital future for insurance: Anja Biendarra, CEO Munich Re Bogotá

Anja Biendarra, the CEO of Munich Re Bogotá, Regional Centre South America, writes for Fides Today.

Digitisation is taking over every aspect of public and private life. This is creating great opportunities: processes are becoming infinitely reproducible, more exact, safer and more cost-effective overall. Many insurance customers are already taking advantage of the benefits of digital technologies: they buy their insurance cover online, get support in many processes by interactive chatbots and manage their own portfolio online via mobile devices. Overall, digitisation is offering a vast array of possibilities to improve services and products and thus customer satisfaction.

New technologies, like the mobile communication standard 5G, are opening up a whole new world of data-driven business models. And they are enabling primary and reinsurance companies to slim down processes and ultimately mitigate losses through better risk assessment and management. We at Munich Re are not only improving our offerings continuously with new digital technologies but are also developing new solutions that respond more precisely to the needs of our customers. That includes solutions for new risks that our clients and their customers are facing from emerging technologies and the ever-growing interconnectedness of devices, machines and humans. In this way, we contribute to ensuring that insurance remains a stabilizing factor for people and companies in the future.

We support our cedants in improving their business through the better use of digitisation and technologies in regard to products, services, underwriting and claims handling. Additionally, we help find solutions that ensure a secure journey through the digital world.

Particularly in the field of natural catastrophes, Munich Re offers its clients many products and services that facilitate claims processing for insurance companies and thus accelerate the compensation to policy holders through digital technologies.

Remote Industries is one example of cutting-edge digital services from Munich Re. This enables automated claims assessment following a hurricane. Immediately after a hurricane, aerial photographs of the affected regions are available, enabling an initial loss estimate to be made much more quickly and easily. From these high-resolution aerial photographs, damage to buildings is estimated using special AI-based algorithms. Thus, the insurer knows the approximate extent of the damage before the policyholder does. The rapid assessment significantly reduces the time needed to process claims. This means loss adjusters can be deployed much more effectively, and consequential losses can often be avoided.

Parametric Insurance Solutions are a comprehensive and rapid response to natural catastrophes. When a devastating natural catastrophe strikes, companies and organisations need their insurance claims to be settled quickly in order to avoid cash flow problems. Traditional covers often only respond after lengthy claims adjustments and leave gaps in costs associated with restoring to the pre-event level. Our parametric solutions, a concept with an unprecedented level of transparency and a very simple payout process, are closing these gaps.

These parametric products are triggered when the severity of a tropical cyclone or earthquake reaches a pre-defined wind speed or quake magnitude in a certain area. Payment follows immediately and is only adjusted to the actual loss at a later stage. The product is easily customisable and allows our cedants to limit their risk in a cost-efficient manner. The simplicity of the payout process substantially reduces administrative costs.

Digitisation is the key to a successful future for the insurance industry. In order to meet the changing needs of its client base, the insurance industry has to invest in hardware and technology such as IoT and data analytics. Ultimately, we are positioned at the leading edge of innovative solutions development together with our clients.

Meet us at FIDES and let’s discuss how we can create the future of insurance together.