Insurtech Is Much More Than Just Hype

Two weeks ago, during an on-stage conversation in Las Vegas with Munich Re board member Lisa Pollina, Chubb CEO Evan Greenberg commented that insurtech’s promises of transformation are ‘just hype.’

With that, Greenberg put a spotlight on a debate that has been percolating since the term ‘insurtech’ was coined around 2010, when Germany-based Friendsurance created a peer-to-peer insurance community.

There is no way to know whether Greenberg’s comments were meant to provoke and engage the audience – made up mostly of entrepreneurs, insurtechs, investors and insurance industry leaders – or whether he meant exactly what he said as dismissively as it sounded.

Either way, he was mostly wrong – and a bit right.

Not only does our industry use the word ‘insurtech’ inconsistently, but we can’t even agree on how to spell it – ‘insurtech’ or ‘insuretech’ and whether to capitalize it.