DISRUPTORS, DISRUPTION, TECHNOLOGY START UPS, INNOVATORS – all are words synonymous with the FINTECH and INSURTECH movements.
These are businesses new to the sector aiming to improve efficiency, improve customer experiences and often rewrite the business models of the traditional players.
FINTECH has been mostly focused around the broader banking sector where core banking services – current accounts, payments, currencies, lending, borrowing and wealth management are undergoing vast changes. Key themes include; mobile, big data, data enrichment, blockchain, peer to peer, crypto currencies and robo advice. In 2017 PSD2 or the Open Banking Initiative, will enrich mobile banking significantly to create new added value propositions, improve personal money management and reduce cyber crime.
INSURTECH is naturally focused on the Insurance sector, where technology is equally changing customer propositions throughout the value chain. Some similar themes exist plus; wearable tech, Internet of Things, simplification, robo broker, engagement and lifetime insurance propositions.
PROPTECH has been quietly growing in the shadows of FINTECH and INSUTECH, but is now poised to disrupt in many ways. We’ve already seen increasing numbers of online estate agents, e-conveyancing, new entrants into the mortgage market, crowdfunding property sites and now crowdfunding mortgage sites. We’ll see Insurtech integrate with Proptech to offer home buying related products such as life cover and home insurance, re-engineered to make them simpler and faster to buy. We’ll see big data play a big part to reduce question sets and improve take up.