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Shaping the Future of Insurance: Accelerating the Revenue Engine with Personalization, Technology & Trust

Banking Frontiers organized its annual insurance conclave ‘InsureNext Global 2025’ in Mumbai on February 12, 2025. Here are the highlights of one of the panel discussions:

Panelists

· Amit Solanki, Executive President – Liability & Special Risks, Howden Insurance Brokers

· Suresh Sethi, Director, RIA Insurance Brokers

· Piyush Singh, Head – Rural, Agri & Govt Business, SBI General Insurance

· Jitendra Agrawal, Digital Transformation Leader

· Manoj Agrawal, Group Editor, Banking Frontiers (Moderator)

The insurance industry stands at an inflection point, where evolving customer expectations, technological innovation, and regulatory pressures are reshaping the landscape. At the InsureNext Global Conclave & Awards 2025, an esteemed panel of industry leaders convened to explore strategies for accelerating the insurance revenue engine through personalization, digital transformation, and collaborative ecosystems.

The New Gold Standard

Opening the discussion, Manoj Agrawal, Group Editor at Banking Frontiers, emphasized the increasing demand for hyper-personalized services. Drawing parallels with digital giants like Amazon and Uber, he noted that modern consumers expect financial products and services to reflect their individual lifestyles and preferences. “No customer has time to sift through dozens of policies,” Agrawal remarked. “They expect us to understand them and offer what’s relevant.”

Suresh Sethi, Managing Director, RIA Insurance Brokers, highlighted the importance of continuity in customer relationships. He cited the modus of family-owned jewellers, where long-standing personal ties foster trust, contrasting this with the high attrition of relationship managers in insurance. “Frequent changes erode customer confidence. Continuity is essential for fostering meaningful personalization,” he said.

Drawing the Line

Amit Solanki, CEO of Howden Insurance Brokers, drew a clear distinction between customization and personalization. “Customization adapts a product to a segment’s needs, while personalization tailors it to an individual,” he explained. Solanki emphasized that personalization is now a necessity, not a choice. Citing examples like pay-as-you-drive car insurance and risk-adjusted health plans, he stressed that modern insurance products must align with customer lifestyles.

“Understanding risk, identifying, quantifying, and mitigating it, is fundamental,” he added. “Only then can insurers deliver personalized solutions, whether for rural farmers or urban Gen Z customers.” Solanki also pointed out that personalization must extend beyond products to digital service channels and customer touchpoints.

Closing Information Gap

Jitendra Agrawal highlighted a pervasive industry challenge: fragmented data management. He termed it the “Basanti tera naam kya hai?” syndrome, a reference to customers repeatedly being asked to authenticate themselves despite having completed exhaustive KYC processes. “We need unified, real-time access to customer data across all departments,” he urged.

He championed data-driven personalization through initiatives such as PASA (Pre-Assured, Pre-Approved Sum Assured) products, which use existing customer data to pre-approve offerings that are relevant and timely. “It’s about curating experiences that recognize and respect the customer’s history with us, not starting from scratch each time,” he added.

Reinventing Claims

Piyush Singh argued that personalization must extend beyond product design to the claims experience. Sharing a personal example of his father’s medical treatment, Singh recounted how his insurer processed the claim within 2 hours. “Customers expect seamless, empathetic claims handling. This is where trust is either built or broken,” he said.

Suresh Sethi voiced concerns about the complexities of policy language and the potential for arbitrary claim rejections. He cited instances where claims were denied by categorizing common ailments like urinary tract infections as pre-existing conditions. “We must simplify terminology and standardize definitions to ensure fairness,” Sethi insisted. “Transparency is the cornerstone of trust.”

Accelerating the Flywheel

The panel agreed that fintech and InsurTech are transforming the insurance landscape. Jitendra Agrawal outlined how technologies such as Optical Character Recognition (OCR), AI/ML-driven underwriting, and automated KYC processes have streamlined policy issuance. Straight-Through Processing (STP) has significantly reduced processing times, enabling quicker onboarding and better customer experience.

Yet, Suresh Sethi cautioned that these innovations are largely confined to retail products. “Corporate policies, such as marine cargo and property insurance, still suffer from inefficiencies,” he said. He urged InsurTechs to extend their focus to complex commercial offerings, where significant gains are still to be made.

Amit Solanki agreed, noting that while InsurTechs have excelled in B2B2C models offering embedded solutions for corporates and employees, the next frontier is B2B. “Complex, customized insurance for large corporates remains underserved,” he stated.

Expanding Reach

Piyush Singh turned the conversation towards rural India, where insurance penetration remains low despite the vast reach of regional rural banks (RRBs) and cooperative banks. Only 106 out of 1430 cooperative banks hold Corporate Agency licenses, hampering insurance distribution. Regulatory hurdles and limited digitization compound the issue. However, InsurTechs are bridging these gaps. Singh highlighted the use of cadastral mapping and remote sensing for crop yield estimation, enabling insurers to offer affordable, data-driven crop insurance solutions. “Technology reduces operational costs and facilitates inclusion,” Singh remarked.

He also pointed out that while private sector banks leverage AI and ML for targeted cross-selling, RRBs and cooperative banks often lack similar capabilities. Jitendra Agrawal stressed the need to involve NBFCs and microfinance institutions to increase penetration. However, he cautioned that poor post-sale servicing could lead to customer dissatisfaction and mis-selling.

Suresh Sethi echoed these concerns, warning that weak support in bancassurance channels has led to the rise of unregulated claims consultants charging excessive fees. “Stronger regulation and accountability among distribution partners are necessary to protect customer interests,” he said.

The Litmus Test

Claims settlement remains the ultimate test of an insurer’s commitment. Piyush Singh cited positive examples where claims were processed quickly, boosting customer satisfaction. However, Suresh Sethi reiterated concerns about inconsistent claims adjudication and opaque communication. He cautioned against focusing solely on financial performance at the expense of customer trust. “Top-line growth is meaningless without qualitative service and ethical responsibility,” he said.

The session concluded with a clear message: while technology is an enabler, the real accelerators of the insurance revenue engine are trust, empathy, and customer-centricity. Manoj Agrawal summarized: “Efficiency gets you in the game, but trust keeps you there.”

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