Swiss Re allies with Microsoft on new 'Digital Market Center'

Swiss Re and Microsoft have formed a strategic alliance to “advance insurance innovation and extend financial protection to more people globally”. The centrepiece of the strategic alliance is the launch of Swiss Re’s Digital Market Center: Swiss Re said it will help develop next-generation, large-scale tools to transform the way the insurance industry predicts and manages risks, as well as how the industry creates tangible products based on Swiss Re’s risk knowledge.

Swiss Re’s new Digital Market Center will draw on Microsoft’s next-generation Azure cloud technologies, internet of things and artificial intelligence capabilities. The first areas of application are planned to be connected vehicles and mobility, industrial manufacturing (“industry 4.0”), and natural catastrophe resilience. The Digital Market Center will also develop innovative cyber platforms to measure business risks in a digital environment, enabling a new class of risk technology solutions.

Swiss Re said its Digital Market Center will offer insurers a broader understanding of risks and their ripple effects on society, governments and economies. For example, Microsoft’s automotive data capabilities will enable a much deeper analysis of automotive risks such as a car’s safety performance when using the latest driving assistance technologies. By providing data-driven insights from this type of data, Swiss Re aims to enable insurers to design innovative new motor insurance products, such as pay-as-you-drive covers.

Swiss Re added that its work in this area will go beyond new product creation and provide broader risk insights for complex, interconnected systems. For example, risk managers can get a greater understanding of how the loss of a ship’s cargo may impact global supply chains, or how natural catastrophes will impact a government’s key infrastructure investments. Based on these type of data insights, insurers can develop solutions that proactively mitigate losses before they occur.

As part of the strategic alliance, Swiss Re will transform its internal operating platform by modernising and moving it to the Azure cloud. It said this move will increase the efficiency and effectiveness of the core processes by leveraging the most advanced data processing and AI capabilities at scale.

Thierry Léger, CEO Swiss Re Life Capital, said: “Swiss Re’s alliance with Microsoft will help accelerate the digital transformation of the insurance industry, with benefits across all lines of business. By building digital markets and not just isolated products, we aim to transform the way businesses approach the risks they face. The alliance between Swiss Re and Microsoft presents an exciting opportunity for the insurance industry.”

Anette Bronder, Swiss Re group chief operating officer, added: “Digital transformation can only be achieved through strong partnerships. The strategic alliance with Microsoft will greatly advance our ability to make our risk expertise available to our clients. At the same time, we can achieve significant efficiency gains for our own internal platforms and processes. This is an important step for Swiss Re’s evolution as a leading data-enabled risk knowledge company.”