Insurers: Disruptor banks are chomping at the bit – so where are you?

Since we first wrote about disruptor banks eyeing the launch of insurance channels, evidence continues to mount that breaking into insurance is a concrete strategy for many out there. 

A handful of these challenger banks already offer some form of insurance propositions, but such offerings lean heavily on third parties. 

But now Revolt appears to be the latest disruptor bank to declare interest in its own, in-house insurance business. 

We noticed a compelling job advert which caught our eye seeking a new VP of Insurance to grow their team. And we are not talking about a start-up operation here, the bank in question has over 10 million customers…

That’s a lot of potential insurance policies. 

And let’s be clear, these are customers who are switched on to the new joined up proposition that the challenger banks are offering, from automatic invoicing, linking savings with stock market investments and many more useful and practical features that provide significant efficiencies and benefits to individual banking customers as well as SMEs. 

Cutting through complexity

The fact that these challenger banks are cutting through the opaque smoke and mirrors world of insurance too with a clarity and drive that is frankly refreshing to see. 

They are approaching insurance the same way they’ve approached banking – making a seemingly complex issue completely accessible and easy for customers to understand and capitalise on. 

And why shouldn’t account holders and SMEs join up what they’ve already got from their nifty disruptor banking app with insurance – particularly a commercial insurance policy that covers their business requirements, with many of their data fields already filled out and ready to go from their smartphones?

But have the challenger banks got it right? 

The job advert we saw was looking for an actuary or an underwriter to take on the job of building an insurtech within a challenger bank. 

Is that the right skill set for the role? Surely a digital expert would be better, particularly if they are approaching insurance as a retail and ecommerce proposition? Does the traditional insurance sector even have the experience needed to build out such a proposition?

Revolt and the challenger banks looking to disrupt and innovate through insurance channels may find it difficult to realise their ambitions if they look at the issue through the traditional insurance lens. 

In order to achieve what they are looking for, the disruptor banks need a combination of (industry) knowledge as well as a healthy disregard for how things are done today.

The insurance industry continues to present a tantalising opportunity to banking and many other sectors where the high margins that participants enjoy are the stuff of legends. 

But the fact is that building the technology required for an in-house insurance offering is complicated, and the skillsets and expertise that the disruptor banks are looking for are hard to come by. 

Quotall has made significant technology investments to bridge this gap for digital companies like challenger banks.

We’ll just leave this here… Quotall has created a complete API-based insurance service for retail and business banking. Disruptors, step up!