Topic
Insurance claims and underwriting
413 stories · tracked since Aug 5, 2024 · latest Sep 22, 2026
Underwriting decides what an insurer covers and at what price; claims is the process of paying out after a loss occurs.
How a risk becomes a policy, then a payout
An underwriter reviews an applicant's risk — a driving record, a property's construction and location, a fleet's loss history, a commercial operation's exposures — and decides whether to accept it, on what terms, and at what premium. A large share of that work is delegated rather than done in-house: a managing general agent or underwriter (MGA/MGU) writes business on a carrier's paper under an agreed set of rules, often for a specialty line the carrier doesn't staff itself. Once a policy is in force, a loss triggers a claim: the policyholder reports it, an adjuster or claims handler investigates and values the damage, and the insurer pays out, part-pays, or denies it under the policy's wording.
Why both sides are hard to get right
Underwriting is a forecasting problem: an insurer prices a risk with only partial information, and coverage sold too cheaply in one cycle can turn into years of underwriting losses once the risk shows up as claims — property and catastrophe lines make this visible fastest. Claims work is hard for a different reason: a single flood or wildfire season produces a surge of losses that differ enormously in cause and severity, and handling them as though they were alike is itself a source of mispricing. Fraud, slow investigation and ordinary back-office friction sit inside that same process, at the moment a policyholder is deciding whether the cover was worth buying.
Carrier underwriting versus delegated authority
Not all underwriting happens the same way. A standard carrier employs its own underwriters and keeps the risk on its own balance sheet. Specialty and niche business — wildfire-exposed property, ports and terminals, data-centre hardware — more often runs through an MGA or MGU with delegated authority to bind cover on a carrier's behalf, frequently because that manager has built underwriting technology or expertise the carrier hasn't. The Lloyd's market adds a further layer: a lead underwriter sets the terms for a risk and other syndicates "follow" that lead rather than underwriting it independently, which is why efforts to digitise following are treated as underwriting infrastructure in their own right.
Where the activity is concentrated now
Coverage here leans heavily toward large composite insurers and reinsurers alongside specialty MGAs and claims-services firms, and the activity clusters around AI and automation applied to both halves of the process — underwriting tools that speed up risk assessment, and claims software aimed at faster, more consistent payouts. Executive moves in underwriting and claims leadership appear often, a sign insurers are investing in the people as well as the tools. The subject regularly overlaps with property and catastrophe risk, partnerships between insurers and data or software vendors, and funding rounds for underwriting and claims startups, reflecting how much of current insurtech investment is aimed at these two functions specifically.
Written by Insurtech Daily from the coverage below.
Most active here
Often alongside
Reported by
Insurance Business, Coverager, Insurance Business UK, Reinsurance News, Digital Insurance, Insurance Journal, Insurtech Insights, FinTech Global, Beinsure, FF News
Coverage
-
Fuse Launches Transportation & Commercial Auto Hub as the Line Struggles to Reach Underwriting Profit
New vertical brings verdict trends, repair and medical costs, crash data and carrier appetite into one view for brokers, carriers and reinsurers
-
AI Insurer MGT Expands Its Small Commercial Coverage to California
MGT, a company that calls itself an “AI-native neo-insurer,” is expanding to California to offer small business coverage. The company says its underwriting model allows it to evaluate risk at a fraction of the…
-
People Moves: Chubb Names Ringsted Chief Scientist; Technical Risk Underwriters Makes Leadership Promotions
Chubb Limited named Sean Ringsted as chief scientist and executive vice president, Chubb Group. In this newly created role, Ringsted will focus on and have responsibility for the company’s artificial intelligence, data…
-
Bishop Street Underwriters establishes new UK group structure
The new structure will unite the firm’s UK businesses together under Bishop Street Underwriters UK.
-
Zurich expands use of WTW’s Radar platform
The broader deployment will give Zurich a centralized platform for pricing analysis, monitoring and decisions across markets.
-
Tech Update: Mosaic Launches AI-Enabled Digital Underwriting System for SMEs
Mosaic Insurance, the Bermuda-based insurer, launched a digital underwriting system designed to quickly bring complex specialty products to the small and midsize enterprise (SME) market. The AI-powered initiative…
-
Suspected arson forces 280 evacuations at Kent hotel; insurers face a live BI test
Structural concerns are already being raised about the building. This question will shape both the property and business interruption claims to come
-
New Jersey bill targets AI-powered insurance claim denials
The algorithm can help, but a human would have to pull the trigger on denials
-
Mosaic launches HALO digital underwriting system
Mosaic Insurance has launched HALO, a digital underwriting system designed to quickly bring complex specialty products to the small and midsize enterprise (SME) market. The AI-powered initiative combines broker trading…
-
Welsh road deaths rise again despite 20mph limit
Insurers say the claims data tells a different story
-
Earnix launches hub for insurance-specific AI agents and apps
Earnix today announced the introduction of Agent Hub, a curated catalog of insurance-specific AI agents and apps within Earnix AIOS — the AI Orchestration System powering Earnix’s pricing and rating, underwriting, and…
-
Amwins inland marine expert: AI cuts busywork, not underwriter judgment
Heather Frain says AI speeds up equipment underwriting, but experience is still crucial
-
Bridge Specialty automates 90% of wholesale insurance submission intake
President Anurag Batta explains how machine learning intake reshapes underwriting turnaround times and improves customer service
-
Talent pipeline at risk as AI transforms wholesale insurance
Jimcor's Kristen Skender explains how MGA automation reshapes entry-level underwriting roles
-
How AI is Transforming Document Workflows in Claims
Empowering claims teams to spend less time digging through files and more time delivering for policyholders
-
Group health underwriters must govern AI-assisted decisions
-
Verisk and Qantev collaborate to help health insurers in APAC and GCC markets
Verisk and Qantev, an AI claims intelligence platform for health and life insurers, have announced a collaboration for insurers in the Asia-Pacific and Gulf Cooperation Council markets, designed to help health and life…
-
Commercial property underwriting still needs human judgement
Data can inform a decision but rarely makes it but information quality still decides outcomes
-
Cyber rates are falling but insurers are asking harder questions
As claims climb and AI threats escalate, underwriters are moving beyond questionnaires to demand documented evidence of control improvement
-
$40m Series A: AIUC raises funding to build insurance and certification infrastructure for AI agents
Artificial Intelligence Underwriting Company (AIUC) has closed a $40m Series A round led by Ribbit Capital, with participation from First Harmonic. Alongside its $15m seed led by NFDG, the round brings its total funding…
-
Canopius creates analytics chief as AI race reshapes specialty underwriting
Nick Betteridge moves from group chief actuary to a new analytics role consolidating AI, pricing, and data science
-
CoverForce Launches Startup Program, Enabling Any Company to Launch a Digital Brokerage in Days
Program combines carrier connectivity, preferred pricing, vetted market access partners, and educational resources into a single path to launch – compressing what has historically taken new brokerages years
-
CoverForce Launches Startup Program, Enabling Any Company to Launch a Digital Brokerage in Days
Program combines carrier connectivity, preferred pricing, vetted market access partners, and educational resources into a single path to launch – compressing what has historically taken new brokerages years
-
Revolut's paperwork breach shows why insurers are rethinking what counts as a 'cyber attack'
Fintech bank handed over customer data after fraudster asked for it
-
Adam O’Reilly joins Ki as Chief Risk Officer
Ki, the algorithmic Lloyd’s digital follow platform, has appointed Adam O’Reilly as Chief Risk Officer, where he will lead the actuarial, compliance, legal, and risk teams and report to Mark Allan, Chief Executive…
-
AXA tells brokers where it will and won't compete for the next three years
The group's new strategic plan signals discipline at AXA XL and AI deployment across underwriting and pricing
-
Tech Bytes: Agero Partners With MOTER Technologies
Agero, through its Urgently acquisition, announced a partnership with MOTER Technologies Inc., an InsurTech that transforms connected vehicle data into real-time risk and claims insights. Together, the companies will…
-
EigenRisk integrates GeoX property intelligence into EigenPrism to elevate underwriting accuracy
EigenRisk, a provider of catastrophe risk management solutions, has announced a new agreement with GeoX, an AI-powered property intelligence company.
-
Register: AI Tools for FNOL & Digital Claims Intake ‘Demo Day’ on September 16
Insurance Journal’s Risky Future series is hosting the “AI Tools for FNOL & Digital Claims” Demo Day, a series of free AI tool demonstrations designed exclusively for insurance claims leaders, including chief claims…
-
LA County opens investigation into Farmers over wildfire claims handling
County lawyers allege the carrier stalled on toxin testing and remediation payouts for Eaton and Palisades fire survivors, making Farmers the second major insurer to face county action this year
-
Register: AI Tools for FNOL & Digital Claims Intake ‘Demo Day’ on September 16
Insurance Journal’s Risky Future series is hosting the “AI Tools for FNOL & Digital Claims” Demo Day, a series of free AI tool demonstrations designed exclusively for insurance claims leaders, including chief claims…
-
Digital footprint data can improve cyber claim prediction: Gallagher Re and KYND
A new study conducted by global reinsurance broker Gallagher Re and KYND, a cyber risk intelligence provider that helps businesses and insurers understand and manage cyber exposure, has disclosed that digital footprint…
-
AI Claims Processing: The Power of Document Intelligence
Empowering claims teams to spend less time digging through files and more time delivering for policyholders
-
IGI launches cyber reinsurance MGA
Cipher Underwriting is a Bermuda-based MGA focused on cyber treaty reinsurance.
-
NAIC to make insurers show AI use in claims and models
-
Insurance needs to hire tech and underwriting roles
-
Buying insurance online? 5 digital frauds that can put your money at risk
-
Insurance moves: Carbon Underwriting, Liberty Mutual, Mosaic and 5Star Life
Carbon Underwriting has hired its first dedicated US casualty head with fresh growth capital behind the role, and Mosaic has expanded its finpro team with two new integrated products for digital asset and asset…
-
AI saves underwriters time but decision quality gains lag
-
Underwriters say AI is saving time, not improving decisions
A new survey of 350 senior commercial P&C underwriters finds AI stuck on admin while senior judgment drains away uncaptured
-
Verisk releases Fraud Discovery platform connecting intelligence, analytics, and investigations
Verisk has announced Verisk Fraud Discovery, a fraud prevention platform that unifies fraud intelligence, advanced analytics, network analysis, digital media forensics, and case management into a single, scalable…
-
Insurtech Sixfold launches AI Underwriter for life and health insurance
-
Progressive files trademark for enhanced total-loss coverage
The filing covers the administration and underwriting of vehicle insurance programs.
-
Qubit Underwriting partners with RedotPay
RedotPay provides stablecoin-powered payment services that allow users to spend and send digital assets.
-
Catastrophe claims: the platform holds, the handoffs don't
-
AI creates new insurance risks for digital health firms
Beazley survey finds a gap between what executives fear and what actually drives claims
-
TRIA has never paid a claim. A cyber terrorism scenario shows what happens when it does
The US Treasury has modelled a hybrid cyber attack on Virginia data centres generating $14.6 billion in insured losses - and 88% of it sits in a coverage category TRIA was not designed to handle
-
ABI publishes new guides to help insurers spot economic, domestic abuse
The guides address how perpetrators redirect claims payments and cancel cover without a partner's knowledge
-
Viewpoint: Reinsurance Market to Experience Further Softening, M&A on Ample Capacity
The global reinsurance market maintains a very strong capital position that has benefitted from favorable earnings in recent years, with solid underwriting profits and resilient investment returns. However, this record…
-
‘Flight to quality’ creates opening for HDI Global’s US push: CEO
Cyber and casualty are central to the expansion plans, but Shadi Albert says profitable growth and disciplined underwriting will guide the strategy
-
NEOS and Marloo partner on AI-driven insurance pricing
-
Can insurers speed claims payouts before natural disasters?
-
DingGo launches MotorClaimPro to tackle hidden leakage in motor insurance claims
-
Peer to Pier: AI's shift from data-retrieval to real-time risk insight
Google Cloud's Christina Lucas on how AI is reshaping underwriting and claims
-
P&C industry's best half in years hides a casualty problem
Data shows underwriting income nearly tripled, but reserve deficits and nuclear verdicts tell a different story
-
Aon adds new capability to Risk Analytics Platform to aid risk evaluation
Aon, the insurance and reinsurance broking and professional services firm, has launched a new capability within its Risk Analytics Platform, Underwriting Analytics, designed to help re/insurers evaluate the impact of…
-
Altaline invests in Risk & Regulatory Consulting
Risk & Regulatory Consulting is an independent provider of actuarial, financial, IT, compliance, and other services to US insurance regulators.
-
Crif ships AI anti-fraud tool to tackle tampering during customer onboarding
CRIF – the global leader in credit and insurance information, analytics and solutions – has today launched its AI-powered fraud detection services in the UK, helping financial providers tackle tampering during customer…
-
Cyber reinsurance market to shift focus to strategic deployment: Ariel Re’s Carr
Ample capacity and sustained competitive pricing will characterise the cyber reinsurance market, but the core discussion is shifting from sheer volume to strategic deployment, Daniel Carr, Head of Cyber Underwriting at…
-
AXA scales governed AI infrastructure across global operations
The insurer's vendor-agnostic hub is already live in five entities, with AXA XL among those building claims and email applications
Showing the 60 most recent of 413.