Innovation and regulation – how RDT helps insurers and their customers

When we describe new technology as disruptive, it’s not only because it can bring dramatic improvements and shake up an industry. It’s also because it can challenge the legal and regulatory framework, and could undermine the rules and safeguards that protect consumers and businesses.

Such is the caveat with insurtech, whose breakthrough technologies include the internet of things, cloud computing, sophisticated analytics, telematics, artificial intelligence, and blockchain. Collectively, allied to the power of big data, they provide new ways to identify, measure and control risks, which means we are now asking many questions about the boundary between public and private information.

Big data provides a very revealing and accurate picture for underwriters. Lawyers and regulators may contest the line between accuracy and intrusion, but there is no doubt that reliable data can protect and benefit consumers. As a data enrichment specialist, RDT is continually finding new ways to harness and process data to help insurers and their customers, and is working very closely with insurers and regulators to develop the full potential of new technology.

Will the regulators prevent companies giving the best deals to new customers only?

Recent news shows that customers of the four largest energy companies in the UK have been barred from getting the best deals for gas and electricity.

New customers are able to take advantage of the best deals, while existing customers are offered deals which can mean they pay hundreds of pounds more per year.

The same is also true with insurance companies. Existing customers do not get the best prices offered to them at renewal time, and the best deals are offered to new customers.

RDT helps the FCA lift the lid on Big Data

In November 2015, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) announced that it would investigate the use of big data in general insurance (GI), focusing on private motor and home insurance, and would seek input from industry stakeholders and experts. As an insurtech specialist in the GI sector, RDT provided a written response to questions on data usage – and was the only technology company that the FCA named as a contributor.

The FCA’s questions covered data sources, data accuracy, and how the growing use of digital information might impact consumers and businesses. The aim was to see if big data would foster or constrain competition, whether some consumers might be marginalised because of an increasingly granular approach to underwriting, and whether the regulatory framework needs adjusting in light of advances in technology.

With the help of RDT’s insights, the FCA has concluded that big data is more friend than foe. In its Feedback Statement, published on 21 September, it said that big data is “producing a range of benefits for consumers in motor and home insurance, by transforming how consumers deal with retail GI firms, encouraging more innovation in products and services and streamlining parts of the customer journey.” The FCA said that because the use of data by insurance firms is “broadly working well”, it would not launch an in-depth market study.