Personal Auto Insurance is experiencing an unprecedented transformation driven by increasing improvements in telematics. One area leading the transformation is Usage-based Insurance (UBI). While this technology has existed for more than 10 years, it is finally being accepted and adopted by insurance carriers and drivers alike in significant numbers. Fueled by the evolution of telematics, risk models, and pricing; UBI is experiencing quicker-than-anticipated growth. Carriers are presented with new opportunities and challenges unlike any ever before in this new world of technology-driven innovation.

While the telematics capabilities that enable auto insurers to track mileage and driving behaviors continue to advance, Usage-Based Insurance (UBI) has  potentially been slow to gain traction among consumers. In keeping with our mission of working with Members to design the best possible insurance products, AAIS recently went direct to consumers to understand the reservations that may be stalling adoption of UBI products and strategies to overcome these obstacles.

This is the next installment in a series of conversations with AAIS leadership to get to know them, their background, and the unique work they’re doing within AAIS to further the insurance industry. In this edition, AAIS Views spoke with Michael Payne, Chief Pricing Actuary, about his career, being creative as an actuary, the role data is playing to create better pricing models, and how AAIS is leveraging those models to deliver value to our Members.

Tell us about your background.

Michael Payne: When I was in college, I liked math, but really didn’t know what I wanted to do. Then I heard about Actuarial Science from an alum who came back to campus and gave a presentation about the career path. That’s what sparked my interest. I got an internship at Zurich and that turned into my first job out of school. I started out doing pricing at Zurich, went to SCOR Re to do reinsurance pricing, and went back to Zurich to eventually lead a pricing tools team.

One not-so-traditional role in my career was a stint I did at Sears in their Home Services unit where I was the Director of Underwriting Analysis. Basically, if you bought a refrigerator at Sears, they were going to offer you a protection plan. It was my role to figure out the prices for those protection agreements based on how likely the appliance was going to need to be repaired or even replaced.

Overall, I really like pricing. It’s prospective in nature as you try to determine what might happen in the future.

In the winter of 2018, I joined AAIS where I’ve been able to leverage my pricing experience. My role includes product development and delivering loss costs that are appropriate for the coverage being offered. Not all carriers have a large team of actuaries or loads of data, so our rating plans offer them a faster speed to market for a new line of business, or even insurtechs to get their first policies written.

On Aug. 16, at the 2021 Summer National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) National Meeting, AAIS VP of Government Affairs, Legal & Compliance, Robin Westcott, presented the results of a Proof of Concept (POC) testing whether openIDL could support a COVID-19 Business Interruption Data call issued by the NAIC.

The meeting served as the kickoff for the openIDL Regulatory Reporting Steering Committee (RRSC). Ms. Westcott provided highlights from the positive findings set out in the report published by AAIS declaring that blockchain/distributed ledger technology had passed the test enroute to even broader applications across the industry.

Following is a summary of Ms. Westcott’s presentation:

While the U.S. economy slowly returns to normal following the COVID-19 pandemic, the insurance industry continues to grapple with business interruption claims, court battles and the future of pandemic-related insurance. In Part II of our two-part Advisory Report, Nicole Milos, Assistant Counsel at AAIS, explains the systemic risk global pandemics pose to the insurance industry and how we’re leveraging data gathered during the pandemic to meet customer demand for future pandemic-type coverage.

Regulatory-driven statistical reporting was first established for the insurance industry by the NAIC Property & Casualty Model Rating Law some 70 years ago. And the practices and procedures that underpin insurer statistical reporting have changed little in the decades since. Now, however, statistical reporting is being modernized with the development of the open Insurance Data Link (openIDL). Dina Burgess, Manager of Enterprise Risk Applications at AAIS, talks about the need for this change and the new ease, efficiency and accuracy that characterizes modern regulatory reporting.

At AAIS, we’re continually refining our best-in-class products and services to better meet the needs of our Members in a quickly changing industry. In January of 2013, we recognized the need to improve our work processes in order to respond to growing market demand. That’s when AAIS adopted Agile as a new approach to project management.

The auto industry is fueling up for new technology down the road. Fully autonomous vehicles and advanced crash-data analysis will all impact not only how the industry operates, but how it is insured as well.

Robots – once the subjects of science fiction books, movies and TV programs – are now real-life partners involved in our daily lives in many ways.

Robotic applications are cropping up everywhere to replace an assortment of jobs that
have been performed by humans for decades. Often times, they’re designed to perform a very specific task, allowing them to deliver enhanced productivity, reduced operating costs and decreased error rates. They can be found in various locations and industries, completing repetitive tasks such as assembling orders in a warehouse, harvesting crops on a farm and even preparing meals at a fast-food restaurant.

Earlier this year, AAIS surveyed insurance carriers to better understand where they believe the auto insurance market is heading and the challenges associated with the auto technology evolution. After analyzing the responses, the results were clear: change is coming, and the opportunities for AAIS to help Members stay ahead of the curve are great.