With the excuse of "Black Friday" we have all been forced to navigate the sea of offers that keep arriving in our email inboxes and that constantly bombard us through the media.
In my case, this excuse gave me the opportunity to stop by my favourite online shopping site: Amazon.
Once there, it was inevitable to think about how well they have done it and how easy they make your life: the username, password, payment details, shipping address,... things that before or that on other websites you still have to fill in every time you enter, now are data that you only provide in the initial registration. From that moment on, the website becomes your friend, it accompanies you and helps you without you noticing it, with the sole mission that you end up at the destination known to all, a messenger knocking on your door and delivering the evidence of your clear weakness for online shopping.
This example given to us by Amazon has been one of the models to be followed by many digital startups, which have come into the world with the sole purpose of facilitating the most cumbersome processes of our daily lives, such as renewing insurance, comparing water, electricity or telephone services, contracting financial products, managing our accounts, sharing payments between friends, withdrawing money from the ATM, etc.
And following the principle "tell me what you do and I'll give you a sexy name" . .. the well-known phenomenon of Fintech platforms arose, including Lending tech, Payments techs, Wealth management, Money transfer, Blockchain/bitcoin, Capital market tech, Equity crowdfundingand those that concern us today: Insurtech.
This phenomenon is revolutionising the international market. In the first half of 2016, Insurtech financing operations exceeded 1 billion dollars, distributed in more than 80 agreements in different geographies, with a greater focus on the US and Asia. These are platforms that are making a strong entry into the insurance market: 1) Creating new corporate structures. 2) By proposing new forms of underwriting, claims, distribution and sales. 3) Offering an improved customer experience.
Companies such as LEMONADE, an app that offers home insurance for owned and rented homes, with a novel social policy called "the giveback"; TROV, an app that offers insurance for specific things (computers, cameras, etc.); or CARROT, a "pay as you drive" insurance for young people, are some examples of hundreds of initiatives that are born almost every day and that are gradually making a dent in a traditional sector par excellence, the insurance sector.
One issue that is curious about this phenomenon is the reaction of traditional insurance companies: according to PWC's 2016 Global FinTech Survey, 23% of the insurance companies interviewed said they had no relationship with Insurtechs. Whaaaat? Fortunately, most of the insurers interviewed say they have a relationship with this type of company, either by buying and selling services provided by Insurtechs, financing and/or participating in them through their own investment funds, creating incubators to launch them, or simply buying Insurtechs to improve, transform or complement their services.
Faced with this revolution that is just beginning and that is slowly growing and expanding in Spain, as consumers we can only feel attracted by the idea of Amazon's ease and transparency reaching the world of insurance. As players in the sector, we are keeping our fingers crossed in the hope that the traditional giants of the insurance world will soon realise that this is the future, that it is here to stay and that we cannot turn a blind eye to this reality.
Aybis Naranjo, Brain Trust CS
