Our thoughts

‘Access to insurance’ is a term coined in the United Kingdom that refers to the ability of individuals to buy insurance cover. It came about as a result of concerns that people who present an extra risk, especially owing to a medical condition, should be enabled as far as possible to obtain cover in the interests of a fair and equal society. Recently an industry working party has been working on various ways to ensure fair access and to improve consumer understanding of underwriting and underwriting decisions. While this article was prompted by a UK-specific initiative, do stay with us….

Underwriting engines have been around for over 20 years. Initially they were used in head offices, processing application form information keyed in by clerical staff, and avoiding the need for (expensive) underwriters spending time on the more straightforward cases. From there data entry migrated to the point of sale, but still often with processing and decision-making deferred until the information could be uploaded in a head-office environment. But since those early days, use of underwriting engines has grown, and in certain markets, such as the UK and Australia in which specialist medical information is used sparingly, underwriting automation has become…