Data enrichment is a big thing in insurance at the moment, yet it needs to be thought of more critically. Its ethical credentials are weak, and coming under increasing challenge.
Read moreUnderwriters - in the spotlight
It's now more important than ever for underwriters to be fully aware of the ethical side to their work and how to manage it effectively. You're in the right place to find out what that involves and how to go about it.
Choose from one of these 'ethics and underwriting' themes. If you just want to browse, click here, or use the search box below.
Pricing Practices
"What are the ethical questions associated with insurance pricing? And how can we start delivering on them?" The regulator has spent several years considering this question and all the nuanced things that spring from it. That's where I can help.
Find out what the ethical issues are...
The final pricing report is about so much more than loyalty penalties (link)
The ethics of insurance pricing - 7 risks underwriters need to have on their radar (link)
Harsh lessons that UK insurers will learn from the pricing review (link)
Pricing is a prudential risk that comes with complications (link)
The underlying warning in the FCA’s report on household insurance pricing (link)
Dual Pricing in Insurance – the beginning of the end? (link)
Why insurers need to prepare for some tough scrutiny of their underwriting (link)
Some Insight I provide to Clients...
The more evidence gathered by the regulator about how insurers have been setting prices, the more the sector becomes exposed. What is vital for executives to understand is that the pricing review has set a number of 'hares running', and some with a significance much greater than how new and renewal prices are tied.
Aligned with the further steps the regulator is taking on accountability and 'data pipelines', the scene is being set for some tough ethical stands being taken on underwriting trends.
Where I add value for clients is through horizon scanning, independent insight and a critical friend role.
Analytics, Data and the Digital Future
"What do these calls for data ethics mean to how we underwrite business? Where do we start with data ethics? And what's expected of us?"
"Big data is not played under different rules", the Information Commissioner told insurers a few years ago. Data and analytics raise some significant ethics questions. Privacy is one, but there are other fundamental ones that insurers need to understand and have answers for.
Find out what the ethical issues are...
Why insurers need to review their use of credit data (link)
Gender bias in artificial intelligence: a vital trust issue for Insurers (link)
Is big data steering insurance towards a cliff or a superhighway? (link)
Destructive demand: Is it happening in insurance underwriting now? (link)
Access to medical records is controversial but achievable (link)
Telematics will be much more influential than people think (link)
Nudging, ethics and modern insurance design (link)
Research for a client...
Click on the report cover to go to the CII download page
Conferences I've spoken at on digital futures...
The ABI 'Cyber, Data and Technology' conference 2017
European Computer, Privacy and Data Protection - 2017
2016 Financial Times Future of Insurance Conference
Big Changes like Personalisation
"What should I be on the lookout for with all these big changes happening in insurance? Are there problems associated with 'personalisation?' What ethical risks should we watch for as our approach to underwriting evolves?"
These big changes are revolutionising insurance in exciting ways. They're also linked with some fundamental issues, like access to insurance and vulnerability. Just the sort of 'political' issues that will not go away. Understanding how they fit together is a big part of my work with clients.
Find out what the ethical issues are...
Personalisation – could it take insurance into a digital winter? (link)
Behavioural fairness is a serious risk to the future of insurance (link)
Are loss prevention initiatives just trojan horses for data harvesting? (link)
Ethical storm ahead – insuring people with experience of mental illness(link)
The atomisation of insurance (link)
Why that magic element of big data could be fatal for insurers (link)
Social Sorting: could it be the stuff of nightmares for insurance firms? (link)
This guide explains the big issues...
Click on the guide cover to start the download
Some Insight I provide to Clients...
The trend towards ever greater personalisation in retail general insurance changes the relationship a firm has with its clients. Here are two ways...
Personalisation lets you know more about a person, but that doesn't in itself built trust. It's important not to confuse proximity with intimacy. The latter is only given when the person trusts you.
And as personalisation becomes individualisation, arguments about social justice and accessibility can explode. Firms have to understand how this happens in order to prepare their response.
Fairness and Non Discrimination
"What should we be on the lookout for with issues like fairness and discrimination? What should our response look like? And where do we start?"
This is where insurers will face some direct challenges. Forget about the technicalities of pricing, cover or risk. The media will raise some challenging questions and will want explanations. This is where you can start framing your response.
Find out what the ethical issues are...
Why discrimination is an enormous ethical problem for insurance (link)
Insurers must prepare for big changes around genetic testing (link)
Ethical storm ahead – insuring people with experience of mental illness(link)
The big questions about vulnerability that your firm needs to address (link)
Two simple ways to make a fair decision (link)
Building a persuasive argument on fairness (link)
The dangers of unintentional discrimination (link)
Data, Equality and Insurance: a small survey (link)
Insurance, Fairness and the work of Marie Curie (link)
Moving the Debate forward...
In 2015, I took part in a panel discussion on fairness at the actuarial community's general insurance conference.
I've lectured on fairness and discrimination in insurance at the University of Leicester and the University of Southampton.
My 2017 ethics lecture to the Insurance Institute of Ireland was based upon the practicalities of ethical decision making
What does this mean for your firm?
Helping clients to understand and respond to the ethical implications of their underwriting strategies is a big part of my work with insurance firms.
Some of those ethical implications are in the public eye at the moment. I bring an independent and professional mind to how you fashion your response. My input is well known for being pragmatic, yet full of insight about what different approaches could mean.
Other ethical implications are on the horizon. I give input into forums like the CII's Future Horizons Group and the Digital Ethics Forum, as well as a number of academic research groups.
My in-depth analysis is delivered to clients. They want to understand the ethical landscape in which their underwriting is developing, as well as the way in which ethical forces could impact on their plans. What they're seeking is greater certainty that their underwriting plans support the trust that they want their clients to have in the firm.
Get in touch via the contact page (see top menu) if you'd like to meet up for a preliminary discussion.
Current topics I'm working on...
- Underwriting and application fraud
- Behavioural bias affecting underwriting teams
- SMCR and algorithmic trading
- The use of credit histories in underwriting
- The influence of empathic agents in underwriting processes
This analysis is on issues at the heart of current and emerging underwriting practices. Get in touch if you'd like to know more.
This in-depth analysis of a key underwriting trend highlighted important ethical issues...
Click on the report cover to go to the CII download page
Smart Policy Wordings
"What sort of ethical issues do smart policy wordings throw up? Is this something I should be engaging with suppliers on? What should I watch out for as these developments roll out?"
Recent articles on Underwriting...
5 sources of bias in analytics that insurers must address
Insurers understand bias in data, but need to be on top of bias in analytics as well. Organising their response around these five sources will make help a lot.
Read moreTwo rulings that threaten many digital strategies in insurance
Two rulings should set warning lights flashing for many a digital strategy in insurance. Insurers need to think carefully about their implications, for there are signs that others are.
Read moreThe Big Ethical Challenge for Insurers in 2021
The big ethical challenge for insurers in 2021 will be to learn the lessons from events in 2020 and to apply them systematically across the firm. It will be a bigger task than many insurers think, but those who get it right will reap reputational rewards.
Read moreData Ethics starts with Rigorous and Critical Due Diligence
Low consumer trust will hamper insurers’ digital strategies and fuel regulatory interventions. A more critical culture and more rigorous data due diligence is needed.
Read moreData and Power pt2 – the two big threats to insurers’ digital strategies
Insurers are going to find that discrimination and access represent the two biggest challenges to their digital strategies. How insurers engage with these issues is critical
Read moreThe final pricing report is about so much more than loyalty penalties
The UK regulator’s decision to ban ‘price walking’ in general insurance is significant. Yet that significance is wider than simply how policies are priced. I explore those signals so that insurers can start preparing now.
Read moreWhy insurers need to review their use of credit data
As a leading US insurer announces that it will remove credit scores from its pricing by 2025, there’s plenty of evidence that UK insurers need to be subject their use of credit data to serious review.
Read moreWhy pricing data can send out all the wrong signals
Insurance people used to think of pricing as just a market thing. Now they recognise that fairness has to be factored in as well. Yet the ethics of insurance pricing has other dimensions that need to be factored in. If they’re not, the current pricing review will take even longer and become even more tortuous.
Read moreThe big questions about vulnerability that your firm needs to address
The regulator’s new guidance on vulnerability presents insurers with some serious questions to address. Understanding the ethical context from which they emerge will help your firm really get to grip with the issues.
Read moreThe radical ways in which time is changing insurance
The need for annual or long term insurance policies is being questioned. A new temporality of insurance is emerging, with significant ethical implications.
Read moreNudging, ethics and modern insurance design
Nudging is a concept at the heart of much ‘new thinking’ about insurance. Yet it’s a complex thing and insurers need to take care when using it in the design of new products and services.
Read moreInsurers must prepare for big changes around genetic testing
We will soon see some big changes to the way in which the use of genetic information by UK insurers is regulated. It will be a different world, and insurers need to start preparing for it now.
Read moreAre loss prevention initiatives just trojan horses for data harvesting ?
A buzz phrase in the insurance market at the moment is ‘ecospheres of prevention’. It sounds like exciting stuff, but it is also replete with questions of ethics and power.
Read moreBehavioural fairness is a serious risk to the future of insurance
An influential narrative has emerged within insurance in recent years, centred upon the notion of behavioural fairness. It’s a narrative that could determine how insurance evolves over the next decade. The problem is that it’s a narrative with significant flaws.
Read moreSome thoughts on ethics, insurance and the pandemic
It is in times like the present that the reputation of the insurance sector will be defined. Here are some thoughts on ethics, insurance and the current pandemic.
Read moreTelematics will be much more influential than people think
Telematics features regularly now in the business and technology media. And academic institutions are having their say too. Yet all too often, the influence that telematics is having is underestimated.
Read moreA dangerous regulatory mindset that will undermine trust in insurance
‘Not our problem’ is the conclusion the UK regulator has reached about personalisation, the most fundamental change happening in insurance. So why is the FCA being so myopic? And how should insurers respond?
Read moreIs signposting as ethical as the market believes?
Signposting is being set up across a variety of retail insurance markets. The aim is to help consumers find the cover they need. Yet signposting is also a symptom of a stratifying market and that comes with all sorts of ethical implications.
Read moreWhat is insurance? And why data analytics makes this matter
When does a firm become an insurer? And what is insurance? These are not nebulous questions. Data and analytics makes it hugely important that there be clarity around them.
Read moreThe three lines of defence model is not working for insurers
Why are so many ethical challenges being faced by insurers at the moment? Has the three lines of defence model failed? If so, what can insurers do to make it work?
Read moreWhy discrimination is an enormous ethical challenge for insurance
Insurers are facing a challenge to how they have been managing discrimination across their business. They should treat it seriously, for it has powerful backing and could have serious repercussions.
Read moreThe big ethical challenges facing insurers in 2020
2020 will be an eventful year for insurers. During the many years I’ve been tracking the ethical challenges facing insurers, never before have I seen so many issues demanding attention. Some firms will find the learning curve steep and challenging.
Read moreHow positive an influence are reinsurers having on data ethics?
Reinsurers are an influential bunch. This makes their approach to data ethics important. So it’s troubling then that their messaging seems to be so mixed
Read more