Re/insurers face urgent need to embrace technology and offer flexible solutions: Jon Hancock of Lloyd’s
Insurers and reinsurers are entering a period of significant challenges that will affect the products that are offered and the very way they do business, Jon Hancock, director of performance management at Lloyd’s, said at the Guy Carpenter symposium at Baden-Baden on Sunday.
“Every one of us is facing new risks that weren’t there a decade or less ago,” he said. “There are things that keep risk managers awake at night that are not currently coverable by insurers because we haven’t yet thought of products to address them.
“Cyber is a strong example: it is still underdeveloped as a product. We do not have a full understanding of the exposure and there is not always a clear division between what is covered and what is not covered.”
Hancock added that products are being created to serve new and emerging demographics, including products that can be switched on and off as needed.
“People want products that can be arranged quickly and efficiently,” he said. “The good news is that as an industry we are responding to change. It’s not just the products themselves: customers expect us to deliver them in different ways a digital, online, bespoke, trackable service.”
He warned that if the industry is slow to embrace these new demands, it will fail to equip itself with the skills needed to succeed in the future.
“We need new skills to understand the technologies in the new landscape everyone is facing,” he said.
He noted that the six new ideas outlined in The Future of Lloyd’s strategy aim to address these issues.
“What is key across every one of those six solutions is that data and technology are critical,” he said. “We are going to get Lloyd’s to a point where we know customers are going to experience a loss before they do, and then when a claim does happen it is paid immediately.
“Every syndicate is different, and everybody will approach things in their own way, but doing nothing is not an option.
“We have to change if we are to remain relevant to customers. If somewhere as complicated as Lloyd’s can do it, anyone can,” he concluded.
