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Last May, the Spanish Association of Fintech & Insurtech published the first map of insurtech companies in Spain, organized in four different categories: distribution, insurance infrastructure, P2P insurance, new products and customer support.
This order corresponds with some of the major links in the value chain of an insurance company, of which the abilities of insurtech companies to change the sector have become very evident. Those traditional insurance companies that do not digitize their entire value chain, either through their own development or by establishing partnerships with insurtech companies, will soon fade into the background as this new order is being built now in the insurance industry.
In total, the map of Spain´s insurtech includes 28 companies, among which Signaturit appears within the insurance infrastructure category. What do the companies on this first Spanish insurtech ecosystem map have to offer?
In this post we will review 8 out of the 28 of the companies that appear in the first category of Spanish insurtech companies, thanks to the Spanish Association of Fintech & Insurtech, which classifies them as follows:
| DISTRIBUTION | INSURANCE INFRASTRUCTURE | P2P INSURANCE | NEW PRODUCTS | CUSTOMER SUPPORT |
|
Marketplaces Rastreator.com arpem.com acierto.com seguros.es kelisto.es aseguring internauto.com motopoliza.com polizadesalud.es segurosmedicos.com iSalud.com PuntoSeguro.com Quiero Vida |
Digital Signature Signaturit |
Crowdsurance Sharenjoy |
Saving Plans Pensumo alzhup Bajo Llave duNeed MyZUUM Next Seguros Medipremium |
eperito
|
|
Personal Finance Wiquot
|
Credit Scoring traity | |||
|
Mobile Broker Coverfy | ||||
|
Collaborative Economy socialcar |
| DISTRIBUTION | INSURANCE INFRASTRUCTURE | P2P INSURANCE | NEW PRODUCTS | CUSTOMER SUPPORT |
|
Marketplaces Rastreator.com arpem.com acierto.com seguros.es kelisto.es aseguring internauto.com motopoliza.com polizadesalud.es segurosmedicos.com iSalud.com PuntoSeguro.com Quiero Vida |
Digital Signature Signaturit |
Crowdsurance Sharenjoy |
Saving Plans Pensumo alzhup Bajo Llave duNeed MyZUUM Next Seguros Medipremium |
eperito
|
|
Personal Finance Wiquot
|
Credit Scoring traity | |||
|
Mobile Broker Coverfy | ||||
|
Collaborative Economy socialcar |
Note: Companies commented in this post are marked in yellow.
Within the distribution category, there is the comparison tool (or marketplaces) subcategory, also called insurance aggregators. The majority of Spanish insurtech companies fall into this category, mostly because they form part of the first wave of disruption the sector faced with the arrival of the internet.
Beginning in 2000, these online platforms that compare prices for insurance policies began to arrive, and at that time it caused concern among traditional insurers. However, these comparison tools or aggregators were not (nor are today) a major threat for the sector, since it poses no significant changes to the value chain. The only thing these companies brought was a price war with its consequent reduction in the profit margins from selling insurance policies.
The other categories and subcategories defined in the first Spanish insurtech map identified the companies that form a part of the second wave of disruption that has arrived to the sector, which is not only directly affecting the value chain for insurers (this time); but bringing about new products and new ways to get insured, for example some of them applying collaborative methodologies like P2P (peer-to-peer) to insurance products.
Regarding new products, on the map you can see Pensumo, which is proposed as a system of commercial loyalty that works both as an alternative system for pensions, in which the businesses subscribed to Pensumo make a micro-contribution to a savings product whenever a customer (also subscribed to Pensumo) makes a commercial transaction in any of these establishments.
Although the following company is not on the Spanish Association of Fintech & Insurtech’s radar, it seems appropriate to mention Testamenta here in the context of being a company offering an online processing service for wills – a process in which a lawyer’s advice is a service included, as well as the appointment with a notary that is close to the client’s address, thus facilitating the process.
Testamenta is already collaborating with several insurance companies, such as Zurich, Fiatc Seguros, Sabadell/DKV and AXA, companies that have decided to offer Testamenta’s services completely free of charge to clients taking out life insurance policies.
Among the new mechanisms to insure that are arising, and although on the map they appear organized in different categories, insurances that fall within the collaborative economy are highlighted. This is the case for socialcar and the insurance designed specifically by AXA to cover any incidents that may happen — accidents, injuries, thefts — when private cars are rented. It is also the case for Sharenjoy, which has a kind of P2P insurance to ensure safe experiences: concerts, sports events, organized trips and even weddings.
This insurance is not exactly the same type of insurance that Friendsurance offers in Germany, Inspeer in France, Guevara in the United Kingdom or Lemonade in the United States, according to what Francisco Álvarez, co-founder of Sharenjoy, explained to us: “Sharenjoy is a pioneering microinsurance in the world, because of the service we offer; even though it follows the collaborative model reducing the premium, it is an individual subscription and not P2P, such as in Friendsurance or Guevara. So Sharenjoy falls into the legal framework of the Spanish Institution Direccion General de Seguros.”
What are P2P insurances?
P2P (peer-to-peer) insurances, which fall into the collaborative economy, are designed to reduce the costs of insurance.
Although there are various types of P2P insurances, the most common is structured as follows: policyholders join together and contribute their premiums into a pool, part of which remains in the pool, and the other part goes to the insurer.
If any member of the group has some kind of small incidence, the cost is covered from the pool. If it exceeds a certain limit, then the insurer will be responsible to cover the costs. If no one has any problems, each member of the group will receive their corresponding part of the pool, or they can also roll the money over to the next year.
Thus, the perverse incentives to fool an insurance company are eliminated, since all group members benefit from a reduced premium if there are no incidents during the year.
Although the startup Sharenjoy is still in its early stages of development, it has already won the first prize of the digital insurance incubator Caser, in 2016.
Also part of the distribution category, but in the subsection of Personal Finance, are Fintonic and Wiquot. These two companies are fundamentally personal finance managers that help users to manage their money, helping them to better control their expenses in an automated way, with the ultimate aim to improve their ability to save.
Their contribution to the insurtech ecosystem is that they warn users when their insurance expires, which prevents the classic auto-renewals that happen without the policyholder noticing, and in most cases, without really wanting. In this way, it helps customers to change their policy if they are not happy, or if they no longer have the same need for coverage. Additionally, in the case of Wiquot, they make recommendations just before an insurance renewal happens, helping their customers to change their insurer if they can get the same or better coverage for a lower price.
Another company worth mentioning within the map is Coverfy, although it hasn’t launched its beta platform yet. But expectations are quite high, given that the startup proposes itself as “the first insurance broker 100% mobile”. There is not much information available on its website, but the idea is that Coverfy app will allow people to check, optimize and manage all their insurance in a smart, easy and free way.
Lastly, in the insurance infrastructure category in the first Spanish insurtech map is traity, which helps insurers to verify their potential policyholders´ reputation online, and Signaturit. We offer an advanced electronic signature solution, which is classified as advanced as provided by Regulation 910/2014, which links the signer uniquely and allows for unambiguous identification. One result of this is that our service affects the distribution area of the value chain, both in the direct channel and the indirect, since the electronic signature allows for the onboarding process to happen safely, legally and digitally:
- Direct Channel: Our electronic signature solution integrates with any system, and thanks to that it can be used on any device — smartphone, tablet or computer. It allows customers to sign a policy anywhere, if they are registering through a company’s website at home, or if they are in an insurance company’s office, which can provide tablets to sign electronically instead of having sign on paper.
- Indirect Channel: Both agents and insurance brokers, who themselves are an important distribution channel for insurers, can digitize the process of contracting new policies using our electronic signature. This is not only convenient for the customer, for its ease and speedy processing; but also for the broker, who now thanks to digitizing this process no longer needs to spend so much time on administrative tasks after selling a policy.
If you want to know first hand how our electronic signature tool works for insurance companies, register now and test all the features that Signaturit offers for free, for 14 days. If you need more information about advanced electronic signatures for insurance companies, don’t leave without downloading the following whitepaper without any additional costs.
