QBE partners with insurtech firm to develop policy automation
Insurance group QBE has announced plans to implement machine learning technology in order to automate its policy review process and develop more efficient underwriting.
The plan is the result of a partnership it has struck with insurtech firm RiskGenius, a machine learning company aimed at carriers, brokers and regulators looking to analyse policy and endorsement language.
The proof-of-concept platform will be initially rolled out in QBE’s North America division, which plans to upload more than 125,000 policy documents onto the RiskGenius platform in 2018.
The initiative is the first to result from QBE’s $50m investment in early-stage insurtech companies.
“QBE North America completed a proof-of-concept of the RiskGenius platform earlier this year and saw great results, leveraging the company’s proprietary machine learning platform to compare policies as part of our product development process,” said Bob James, group head of transformation for QBE.
The insurer also intends to use the platform to help its underwriters “best match policy language to meet the needs of our customers and their changing exposures”, said Mr James.
“We expect the platform to improve our speed to market for new products, as well as deliver new insights into our policies and streamline the policy review process. Over time, the benefits to QBE will only increase as RiskGenius further enhances its proprietary machine learning platform and overall product capabilities,” he added.
The partnership and rollout of the RiskGenius platform was welcomed by its CEO Chris Cheatham. “I love the fact that QBE has decided to focus on data and analytics when partnering with insurtechs,” he said. “The two parties are aligned in our vision for RiskGenius to become a utility, a standard, for insurance professionals looking to evaluate insurance policy language.”
