A recent survey of insurance companies worldwide shows North America to be lagging the rest of the world significantly in the adoption of automated underwriting.
The North American survey shows just 19% of companies in North America using a rules-based underwriting engine to process and interpret some data that would traditionally be reviewed by underwriters. A further 40% of respondents replied that they were in the process of acquiring or implementing such a system. The equivalent response rate for the rest of the world was 57% and 15% respectively. While the difference in the overall interest 59% of respondents in North America either using or planning to use such a system and 72% in rest of the world, the difference in actual adoption is staggering. There are a number of reasons for this ranging from legislation to differences in markets and products, however, it is likely that this is really a matter of timing and we will see North America catch up.
