InsureTech could rise to 55% global usage: EY

As InsureTech aims to hit mainstream, consultancy EY expects technology based insurance to increase rapidly.

EY surveyed 22,000 digitally active consumers from across 20 markets as part of its FinTech Adoption Index, finding that insurance technology usage has risen significantly in the last two years.

In terms of adoption, insurance has made enormous gains as it was among the least commonly used FinTech services in 2015 and has now become the second most popular in 2017, with 24 percent usage, greater than both savings and investments, and borrowing. In future this Insurtech adoption rate could rise to as much as 55 percent globally, EY’s analysis suggests.

However, EY notes that what drove much of this increase is the expansion of the sector into technologies such as telematics and wearables, as well as the inclusion of insurance premium comparison services.

Overall, an average of 33 percent of digitally active consumers across the 20 markets surveyed now use FinTech services, EY found.

But emerging markets are driving much of this adoption, as China, India, South Africa, Brazil and Mexico average 46 percent, while China and India in particular have the highest Fintech adoption rates at 69 percent and 52 percent.

For comparison, the UK which has been a fast adopter of technologies generally, particularly online services, has an adoption rate of 42 percent.

EY believes that global Fintech adoption could rise to an average of 52 percent, with South Africa, Mexico and Singapore expected to see the greatest potential increase.