Insurance Post Forward Features List

Please find below full details of articles currently being written for Insurance Post. 

The following features and analysis pieces are being produced for Insurance Post in the next few weeks.

If you would like to contribute comment, information or data to the features listed below, then please contact the journalist directly by no later than the deadline stated. Telephone interviews will be given priority over written submissions.

 

Get involved

Diary of an Insurer will give those working in the insurance industry a glimpse of what the working week is like for individuals in different functions across an array of companies in the sector. To share your experience of working in insurance please email emma.hughes@infopro-digital.com.

Our ‘60 Seconds with’ column allows you to really find out what makes middle managers tick. What can’t they live without, what chores do they hate and what would they call their autobiography? Do you know a middle manager who we should get to know better? Contact emma.hughes@infopro-digital.com.

Also, if you would like to share your thoughts on the latest insurance news, data, and market activity, then please email your opinion piece ideas to postonline@infopro-digital.com.

FEATURES

Topic: Artificial intelligence in insurance

Writer: Izabela Chimielewska (Izabela.chmielewska@infopro-digital.com)

Deadline: Monday 27 November

The insurance industry is grappling with two critical challenges: combating fraud to protect honest customers and enhancing customer experiences to meet evolving expectations. Both issues raise fundamental questions about the future of AI in insurance.

Insurance Post delves into the intersection of these challenges and the transformative role of artificial intelligence (AI) in addressing them:

  • How can AI be used to improve the claims process?
  • How can AI be used to improve fraud prevention in insurance?
  • In what ways is AI streamlining the fraud and customer experience processes?
  • What are the long-term implications of using AI to combat fraud and improve customer experiences?

 

Topic: New year, new shape of the City for insurers

Writer: Emma Ann Hughes (emma.hughes@infopro-digital.com)

Deadline: Thursday 30 November

With McGill and Partners moving to 40 Leadenhall and Aviva moving out of the 1960s 23-storey St Helen’s building by the middle of 2024, with Perennial then set to take control of the site, how is the City’s insurance district changing post-pandemic?

  • As Lloyd’s stays in Lime Street, how have insurers reshaped the space they occupy in the City to reflect post-pandemic ways of working?
  • Have insurers reduced their square footage in the City or expanded to ensure they have the capacity for further talent acquisition and long-term growth?
  • What do underwriters, brokers, claims handlers, etc, expect from office space in 2024 and how are insurers upping their real estate game to ensure it is their offices that people want to set foot in?

 

Topic: Defining insurance’s transformation roadmap

Writer: Fiona Nicolson (fiona.nicolson@googlemail.com)

Deadline: Thursday 30 November

As past, painfully expensive IT transformation projects show, shifting the centuries-old insurance industry from the way it has long worked can be a laborious process.

As organisations confront the combined forces of a challenging economy and a rapid evolution toward digital-first, real-time product offerings, Insurance Post explores what it takes to create a transformation roadmap that will deliver more personalised customer experiences for policyholders.

  • How do businesses extract and integrate disparate data sets and incorporate the intelligence from that data directly into their workflows and end products?
  • How can insurers focus investment and prioritise between cost transformation and growth opportunities?
  • How can you shift from a transformation project mindset to making continuing technological updates part of business as usual?
  • Does wearable tech and virtual assistant technology, like Amazon’s home hubs, mean insurers need to change the buying and claims experience for customers?
  • In what timeframe could embedded insurance become the dominant form of distribution?

 

Topic: What flexible working reforms mean for the insurance industry

Writer: Frances Stebbing (frances.stebbing@infopro-digital.com)

Deadline: Thursday 30 November

In mid-2024, new rules will be introduced for flexible working. What does this mean for the insurance industry?

  • What are the new rules for flexible working?
  • What approaches are insurers taking to flexible working today? What steps should insurers take today to prepare for the new rules for flexible working coming into force?
  • Employees will have the right to request flexible working from day one of employment. What does this mean for employers when it comes to recruiting and onboarding processes?
  • How are insurers monitoring whether flexible working are benefitting employees at different stages of their careers, employers, and customers?
  • What approach are insurers taking to the balance between remote working and anchor days?

 

Topic: Property insurers race to slash claims times

Writer: Tom Luckham (tom.luckham@infopro-digital.com)

Deadline: Friday 1 December

A significant spike in complaints suggest the home insurance industry is struggling to keep pace with the amount of claims it is receiving. From April 2022 to March 2023, complaints about buildings insurance claims delays to the Financial Ombudsman Service rose by 50%.

  • What is causing the growing claims limbo?
  • What actions are insurers taking to manage customer expectations about the time it will take to settle a claim?
  • Could the FCA look at how many times a customer has to chase an insurer about a claim and question adherence to the Consumer Duty?
  • How do insurers review complaints data and amend their processes? 

 

Topic: Insurtech challenges and opportunities in 2024

Writer: Frances Stebbing (frances.stebbing@infopro-digital.com)

Deadline: Friday 8 December

Insurtechs faced many challenges throughout 2023 such as customers budgets being cut, funding, recruitment and retention plus inflationary pressures squeezing margins. However, Gallagher Re’s latest Global InsurTech Report for Q3 2023 revealed insurtech funding increased 19.8% quarter on quarter.

What challenges and opportunities can insurtechs expect in 2024?

  • Is access to funding a challenge for start-ups?
  • Will investment in insurtechs remain robust in 2024?
  • Has the recent hype in artificial intelligence peaked investors interest?
  • Will collaboration be key to success in 2024? Will more traditional insurance companies look to partner with insurtech firms to leverage each other’s strengths?
  • How will the insurtech sector transform in 2024? Could providers buy insurtech businesses?

 

Topic: Professional indemnity insurance and the cladding crisis revisited

Writer: Harry Curtis (harry.curtis@infopro-digital.com)

Deadline: Tuesday 12 December

At the end of October, the government withdrew its EWS1 Professional Indemnity Insurance Scheme for building fire safety assessors, saying that the market has changed, and insurers are now offering PI cover for EWS1 work.

The closure of the scheme would suggest that the government’s intervention in the market was a success yet a recent survey by Clyde & Co revealed there are still more insurers expecting to write less surveyors’ PI insurance in the next 12 months than there are insurers expecting to grow their surveyors’ PI books.

Insurance Post explores how the PI market reacted to the government’s scheme and how the market is operating today,

  • What was the state of the PI market for fire safety assessors last year pre-EWS1 PII scheme?
  • How did the state-backed scheme get the market moving again and to what extent can the market be said to be fully functional?
  • How have other government interventions made EWS1 forms less relevant?
  • What have the ramifications of the cladding crisis been for the PI market in terms of insurers remediating books of business and changing their appetites for professionals such as surveyors and contractors?

PODCASTS

The following podcasts are being produced for Insurance Post.

If you would like a spokesperson to take part in one of podcasts listed below, please email emma.hughes@infopro-digital.com. The podcasts will be recorded on Thursday 18 January and Thursday 25 January in our studios at Infopro Digital’s offices, 133 Houndsditch, London, EC3A 7BX.

What to expect from the regulator in 2024

What can the general insurance industry expect from the regulators in 2024? As a general election looms on the horizon, should providers and brokers prepare for tough questions about how they provide value for money for consumers? Could a crackdown on broker commission be on the cards due to concerns about multiple occupancy buildings insurance?

Valentines Day and high net worth insurance

With some households having spent hundreds, if not thousands of pounds on gifts during the Valentine’s period, the risk of underinsured contents insurance policies can increase. With high value items like jewellery and handbags vulnerable to price fluctuations and underinsurance, how can the industry make sure high-net-worths have sufficient cover? What evidence is expected for items valued over a certain amount? How has consumer expectation of high-net worth cover changed in recent years?

How mentoring and apprenticeships are changing insurance

How can you get a mentor? What makes a good mentor/mentee? Can you go outside your organisation? What are the benefits? How are insurance companies making the most of the government funded apprenticeship levy? What do apprenticeship programmes involve? What role do apprenticeships play in attracting top talent with fresh skills into the general insurance industry?

Insuring windfarms

Some of the global windfarm stock is reaching the end of its originally intended lifespan. Why can it be tricky to get cost-effective cover for older windfarms and those with larger turbine sizes? What are the insurance challenges facing windfarms? How do unpredictable weather patterns made more extreme by climate change and the inability to test renewable assets in those conditions make it more difficult to model the risk posed to wind farms? How are insurers able to support the switch from fossil fuels to green energy?

Equine insurance

Ahead of the Cheltenham Festival (12-15 March 2024), Insurance Post reflects on the pandemic’s impact on insuring horse racing. How did insurance ensure the return of horse racing? What factors are impacting the price of equine insurance today? How are insurer’s equine team designing products for businesses and horse owners around the world?

Top trends driving motor insurance

What are the main trends reshaping motor insurance today? How is technology transforming motor insurance? What are changing driving patterns and increased ownership of electric vehicles having on the type of covers and services offered by insurers? Could connected cars be about to take-off and help insurers streamline the claims process and provide cost savings?

How cyber insurance is changing

Cyber continues to be one of the insurance industry’s fastest growing and most rapidly evolving areas of risk and exposure. That brings equal amounts of opportunity and challenge for an underwriting business focused on portfolio performance. How are insurers taking on this challenge? How are increasing digital exposures widening the protection gap? How are insured’s expectations of cyber cover changing?

How Blueprint Two will transform the London market

On 1 July 2024, Velonetic (previously known as the London Market Joint Ventures) will transition all customers to a new single digital platform and processing services. It’s a critical – but exciting – time for the London market. Is the London market on track to hit the milestones set out in Lloyd’s Blueprint Two? What can players behind the curve do ensure they pick up the pace of digital transformation? How will Blueprint Two transform the market?

  • No, you can’t get final sign-off

Dear PR friends,
Following some requests received by Insurance Post’s freelancers and in-house journalists, we’d like to clarify a few points regarding quotations.

  • We prefer you to trust us and not ask to check the quotations. Interviews are recorded; the points made by the spokesperson will be reported faithfully.
  • For features, if you need to get the quotes approved, let us know in advance and get them signed off well within deadline. You’ll be able to see your spokesperson’s quotes, not the whole article.
  • In some cases (technical points, figures, dates, unusual spellings), we’re happy for you to check we didn’t make mistakes.
  • Only factual mistakes will be amended.
  • We have a style guide and we’ll stick to it.

If you find these rules unreasonable, you may opt out of contributing comments. But we hope to continue working with you in a constructive and trusting atmosphere.

The Insurance Post team

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