Late last month, the International Association of Insurance Supervisors (IAIS) released FinTech Developments in the Insurance Industry ("the Report"), an interesting, thoughtful and important analysis of how the growth of FinTech (financial technology) - which has thus far focused mainly on banking and capital markets - is likely to affect the insurance industry. Referring to insurance-focused FinTech as "InsurTech", the 45-page Report considered:

  • innovation drivers in the insurance sector;
  • current InsurTech innovations;
  • the existing InsurTech sector (start-ups, financing, relationships with traditional insurers, etc.);future scenarios and their likely impact on insurance industry supervision; and
  • the effects of Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) such as blockchain and Big Data.

The Report should be required reading for insurers, FinTech businesses and regulators racing to prepare for the challenges and exploit the opportunities of the InsurTech era. In an article published recently in our Insurance Law Update, we summarize some of the analysis and key findings of the IAIS Report. Click here to read the full article.

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