Latest InsurTech Headlines

All the headlines from our InsurTech Topic Page, ordered by recency.

Chinese Online Insurer ZhongAn Leads Financial Technology Innovation

Dec 15 2015 // Chinese online property insurer ZhongAn has topped a list of financial technology (fintech) innovation companies, leading a strong showing by Chinese firms this year amid increased funding and interest in the sector...

U.S. Looks to Revamp Auto Safety Ratings, Add High-Tech Crash Dummies

Dec 9 2015 // U.S. regulators proposed a remake of the five-star crash-test ratings system for automobiles to take into account new technology — and new test dummies. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s...

App to Alert Drivers About Emergency Vehicles Being Tested in Michigan

Nov 30 2015 // Cory Hohs’ idea was inspired by a close call with a Chicago fire truck on his motorcycle, but his new app, which warns drivers to the presence of emergency vehicle traffic, is being tested first in Grand Rapids,...

A Conversation on Innovation and the Industry’s Future with ACORD’s Hartnett

Nov 9 2015 // There are not many insurance executives who will quote inventor Thomas Edison, Microsoft’s Steve Baumer, futurist Alvin Toffler, Moore’s Law and philosophers Aristotle and Plato. There are also not many people...

ACORD Names 2 Insurance Innovation Challenge Winners: Livegenic, Insurity

Nov 5 2015 // A technology that gives claimants more control of the claims process and another that makes data conversion easier for insurers have been named winners of the 2015 ACORD Insurance Innovation Challenge. ACORD, the insurance...

High-Tech Weather Forecasters Still Rely on Old-Fashioned Balloons

Oct 29 2015 // When the latest computer forecast models couldn’t figure out where major Hurricane Joaquin was headed earlier this month, the National Weather Service ordered extra launches of one of its oldest tools — the...

Auto Insurance Market to Shrink 60% by 2040: KPMG

Oct 23 2015 // By the time today’s millennial insurance professionals are its top executives, the U.S. personal auto insurance industry will be a skeleton of its current self. Within 25 years, the private passenger automobile...

Unlike Uber, On-Demand Office Service Cleans Up with Employees

Oct 16 2015 // It’s scorching on the streets of Midtown Manhattan as Afonso Oliveira strides around the lunch-break crowds, unbent beneath his 45-pound, $350 industrial backpack. He is carrying everything that might be needed to...

New Car Safety Features Can Be ‘Turn-Off’ for Confused Drivers

Oct 9 2015 // Many Americans buying new cars these days are baffled by a torrent of new safety technology. Some features will automatically turn a car back into its lane if it begins to drift, or hit the brakes if sensors detect that...

ACE Takes 24% Stake in CoverHound’s Online Commercial Insurance Plans

Oct 5 2015 // CoverHound has raised $33.3 million in a financing round led by ACE Group, which the company plans to use to build an online commercial insurance platform starting with businessowners policy insurance offerings that could...

U.S. Missing Life-Saving Opportunity of Driver Assistance Technologies

Sep 30 2015 // New auto safety technologies such as automatic braking and sensors that keep a car in its lane could prevent almost 10,000 U.S. road deaths a year and save $251 billion if they were more widely available, according to a...

ACE Takes 24% Stake in CoverHound’s Online Commercial Insurance Plans

Sep 22 2015 // CoverHound has raised $33.3 million in a financing round led by ACE Group, which the company plans to use to build an online commercial insurance platform starting with businessowners policy insurance offerings that could...

Former Microsoft Executive Hartnett Named ACORD Innovation Chief

Sep 17 2015 // The insurance industry’s standards organization, ACORD, announced that Bill Hartnett, former financial services and insurance head at Microsoft, has been named its head of innovation, charged with bringing new ways...

Insurance Sector Struggles to Innovate: KPMG International Survey

Sep 17 2015 // While insurance executives overwhelmingly know that innovation will drive future competitive advantage and growth, most seem to be struggling to kindle the spark within their organization, finds a KPMG International report...

New York AG Urges Tech Firms to Act Responsibly as Business Models Evolve

Sep 16 2015 // New York State’s top lawyer told technology-firm executives he will “bring the full force” of his office against companies that mistreat their workers or cheat consumers. Speaking to entrepreneurs and...

Technology May Outpace Humans on Road to Automated Driving

Sep 14 2015 // From his laboratory at Pittsburgh’s Carnegie Mellon University, automated vehicle pioneer Raj Rajkumar says self-driving cars will evolve step-by-step, with humans staying in charge for a long time to come. More than...

NAPSLO Panel: Tech Disruption May be Good for E&S Market

Sep 10 2015 // “There are no rules. If you can figure out how to quantify a risk and define it, then you can insure it.” Hank Haldeman, president of the board of directors for the National Association of Professional Surplus...

HSB Expands Equipment Breakdown, Tech Insurance for ‘Invisible’ Risks

Sep 9 2015 // The Hartford Steam Boiler Inspection and Insurance Co. (HSB) is expanding the availability of HSB TechAdvantage, an equipment breakdown insurance that covers undetectable physical damage to microelectronics, by offering...

Risk Innovations Acquires Columbia Commercial General Agency

Aug 4 2015 // Atlanta, Ga.-based Risk Innovations LLC has acquired Columbia Commercial General Agency (CCGA), headquartered in Columbia, Mo. The deal was effective Aug. 1, 2015. The acquired business will continue to operate in Columbia...

Insurers Face Risks of Declining Customer Loyalty, Tech-Savvy Firms: Accenture

Aug 4 2015 // Insurers are not keeping up with rising customer expectations and will need to offer more innovative products and ally with some nontraditional partners to catch up and to keep more digital-savvy firms from stealing their...