Ethics and Insurance

I help insurers achieve greater certainty on ethical issues, both present and emerging. I have a reputation for foresight, pragmatism and independent thinking, particularly around data ethics. You can keep in touch with my analysis through my free weekly ‘Ethics and Insurance’ newsletter. Join below

What I do

Insight

I help insurers understand developments in insurance from an ethical perspective and the options open to them. My analysis delivers an extra level of understanding from an independent perspective

Critical Friend

Insurers face some ethical challenges at the moment – I’ve been tracking them for several years. My role as a critical friend helps them to reality check their thinking and turn a situation into a plan.

Horizon Scanning

I’ve been an influential figure in analysing the implications of digital insurance for several years now. Through workshops and research, my ethics radar highlights the problems and opportunities to look out for.

Unconvincing Language from the FCA on Financial Inclusion

A recent speech on financial inclusion by a FCA executive outlined the myriad of ways in which the regulator is looking at financial inclusion. Yet while broad in scope, it is short in detail, and in particular, the important detail. So what can insurers take from this?…

Duncan Minty • 08 Jun 2022

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Data Ethics • 3 min read

Sentiment Analysis – Treat with Caution

The increase in remote working triggered by the pandemic caused Zoom to become a popular tool for holding meetings and speaking with clients. Now Zoom is to allow account holders to carry out sentiment analysis on those they are engaging with. I explore what it means for insurers.…

Duncan Minty • 31 May 2022

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Leadership on Ethics • 2 min read

Pay Attention to Undue Pressure

How a person responds to the ethics of a situation will be influenced by several things. Character is one, plus the skills and knowledge they’ve learnt. Yet what can sometimes render all these ineffective is something firmly in the hands of the firm’s leadership. It’s undue pressure.…

Duncan Minty • 30 May 2022

Is Adverse Selection being Replaced by Inverse Selection?

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Underwriting • 4 min read

Is Adverse Selection being Replaced by Inverse Selection?

Insurers have long been concerned about adverse selection. They see today’s data and analytics as helping them reduce their exposure to it. Yet that explosion of data and analytics could not just reduce adverse selection, but flip it over, creating what is being called inverse selection.…

Duncan Minty • 26 May 2022

Why the Clearview Ruling Matters to Insurers

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Regulation • 3 min read

Why the Clearview Ruling Matters to Insurers

A UK regulator fined Clearview just over £7.5m this week, for a variety of data protection breaches. So what can insurers learn from this ruling? I can see lessons for the sector on a number of levels.…

Duncan Minty • 25 May 2022

The Influence of Mental Health on Decisions in Insurance - Managing the Risks

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Underwriting • 5 min read

The Influence of Mental Health on Decisions in Insurance - Managing the Risks

Insurers are interested in your mental health because it’s seen as influential in all sorts of underwriting and claims decisions. The sector is moving from researching this, to putting it digitally into operation. So what are the ethical issues associated with digital psychiatry? There’s plenty.…

Duncan Minty • 24 May 2022

Checking Ethical Culture – Dealing with Rationalisations

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Ethical Culture • 5 min read

Checking Ethical Culture – Dealing with Rationalisations

We sometimes hear colleagues making excuses for the decision they want to take. They try to dismiss the ethical side of the decision, preferring instead to emphasise how everyone else is doing it, or that no one will be worse off. These are called rationalisations and they need to be challenged.…

Duncan Minty • 18 May 2022

Insurers are on a learning curve for Responsible Innovation

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Data Ethics • 3 min read

Insurers are on a learning curve for Responsible Innovation

The Geneva Association held an online conference earlier this month on “New Technologies and Data”. One session gave some interesting insight into sector thinking on responsible innovation. There were some good points, but also blind-spots…

Duncan Minty • 17 May 2022

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Underwriting • 4 min read

Is Open Data Compatible with Insurance?

There’s a lot of upbeat talk about how open data could revolutionise insurance. The seamless exchange of data and cover seems so simple. Yet dig around a bit and contradictions emerge. Are the principles of open data and insurance underwriting sufficiently in sync? It’s an open question.…

Duncan Minty • 16 May 2022

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Ethics and Insurance

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