2012 REVIEW:TECHNOLOGY AND INSURANCE

IN THE UK

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JANUARY 2012Aggregators race to telematics motor insurance

Strong start to the year as insurance aggregators (comparethebox.com, gocompare.com) in the UK are trying to di�erentiate themselves by adding telematics motor insurance to their online comparison o�ering.

Looking back, telematics will turn out to be a constant theme in 2012.

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FEBRUARY 2012Cyber risk becomes high pro�le

As more and more business is conducted online, insurers are preparing products to cater for cyber threats. This month QBE unveils their “Cyber Response” product (For UK businesses, 100m+ turn-over). They join CyberRisk from Marsh,CyberEdge from AIG and others.

This follows the EU Data Protection Directive which was announced earlier this year, as we move closer to what will eventually be a mandatory data breach disclosure.

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MARCH 2012Google buys BeatThatQuote to develop their UK insurance o�ering

Google is increasing their online insurance o�ering in the UK by adding an aggregator: Surprise surprise, when you enter “car insurance” in google.co.uk their o�ering is here, in �rst position, at minimal costs to them. Google can a�ord to play the long game on this one.

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APRIL 2012Experian Fraud report out : Insurance Fraud up 23%

Record-breaking year for fraud in the UK is blamed on the di�culties that people face in the current economic climate.

Interestingly �rst-party fraud is up, third-party fraud is down, suggesting technology is improving.

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MAY 2012OFT refers motor insurance market to Competition Commission

The O�ce of Fair Trade (OFT) has referred the motor insurance market to Competition Commission. The way the market is structured means that costs (repairs, courtesy cars) and premiums are higher than they should/could be. The estimated cost across the industry is an additional £255m.

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JUNE 2012Hackers steal 6.5m Linkedin passwords

Pretty much all of the UK insurance professionals are on Linkedin, and therefore potentially a�ected. If you haven’t changed your password on Linkedin, do it now.

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JULY 2012Insurers to access DVLA database to �ght fraud

The DVLA will start building a platform funded by the insurance industry to reduce inaccurate declarations regarding driving history. DVLA will perform the check by asking for the driving license number of the (would be) insured.

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AUGUST 2012Aviva trials smartphone app for car insurance telematics

In what is sure to be a growing trend amongst insurers, Aviva trials a smartphone app (ios and android) scoring driver behaviour (according to acceleration, braking, etc..), potentially giving premium discounts for good drivers. The main advantage over a black box is that no installation is required, making this a much more accessible proposition.

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SEPTEMBER 2012Summer �oods hit insurers hard

2012 was the wettest year on record – As insurers face up to £1b in claims, they are at loggerhead with the Government over the replacement of Statement of Principles

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OCTOBER 2012Solvency II implementation date moved back

Prehaps not surprisingly the FSA announced that Solvency II requirements have been pushed back again and will come into e�ect one year later on the 1st January 2014.

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NOVEMBER 2012SSP/Aggregators under hacker’s attack

The Software provider SSP was forced to temporarily pause its services on all insurance aggregator sites (SSP is sitting behind a few aggregators in the UK such as confused.com, gocompare.com and Moneysupermarket.com) after an attack on the integration process with Google compare.

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DECEMBER 2012EU Gender directive comes into force

The rules that specify that insurers cannot use gender as an underwriting parameter came into force on 21st December. The impact on premiums is yet to be seen (although signs are that women’s premiums will go up rather than men’s going down).

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www.insurengine.com team@insurengine.com+44 (0)1245 501 000