Caught my eye!

In an impressive opinion piece on June 27, 2024 entitled «Why insurance companies want to be your best friends», Brooke Masters, editor at Financial Times, made many interesting points that also apply in Switzerland. For example, insurers were largely reactive and focused on responding to claims.

This is her conclusion

It used to be that the less you talked to an insurer, the better the insurance product was, whether it was life insurance or cyber insurance. Customers paid their premiums and hoped not to speak to their insurance advisor again until their policy was up for renewal. At the same time, insurers focused on responding to claims.

Now, some companies are turning this equation on its head. No longer content to simply calculate risk and pay claims, they are interacting with customers more often to minimize losses. Enabled by technological advances, the shift is from repair and replace to predict and prevent. For example, fitness trackers, as first used by the American Manulife insurance company, which monitor customers and offer lower prices and premiums for physical performance.

But efforts to encourage customers to live longer now range from discounts on fruit and vegetables to cancer screenings and full-body MRI scans. Manulife CEO Roy Gori recently told the FT Global Insurance Summit that Manulife was trying to move from a business model focused on death and claims to one focused on enabling longer and healthier lives.

Sierra Signorelli, CEO Commercial Insurance at Zurich, believes that companies need to be convinced that insurers are a trustworthy risk partner. A survey of customers in 14 countries by Consultancy Bain found that there is widespread interest in preventative services and rewards for healthy living. However, less than one in 10 had actually tried them.

If customers start to see insurers as their friends, the relationship could pay off for both sides, as the benefits are enormous.

BH