The first country to implement an open insurance regulation—and the challenges it faces
The digital transformation of the insurance industry has not only included traditional insurance players in a digital environment; it has opened the door for an unimaginable number of new players. As insurers strive to achieve levels of customer experience that are similar to the most advanced industries—and technology vendors and insurers invest more in cloud technology and integration capabilities via APIs—open insurance emerges as a natural subproduct of the digitalization of the insurance ecosystem.
In summary, open insurance enables safe, standardized personal and public data sharing, with customer consent, via APIs among multiple players within the ecosystem—which will impact all components of the insurance value chain. As a result, it should encourage the emergence of more insurtechs and the entry of players from other industries, while driving innovation and the development of new customer-oriented insurance products.
From the customer’s perspective, open insurance is intended to not only provide a better experience, it can also help customers benefit from a more competitive market environment. Eventually, it is expected to democratize access to insurance products. This is especially important in developing regions such as Latin America, where insurance market penetration is well below double digits.
Open insurance is a topic that has been in discussion within the industry for some time, with initiatives taking place around the globe, especially in the most developed countries. However, Brazil was the first country to implement an open insurance regulation—and in a pretty ambitious way.