Higinio Iglesias: «We are heading towards a hybrid market in which consumers will clearly perceive the value provided by the insurance broker. The broker will be an important player in the new markets”
To mark the Insurance World Challenges 2023, event organized by Community of insurance and held at the Goya Theater in Madrid under the title "Protecting an increasingly hybrid reality", Higinio Iglesias, CEO of E2K, participated as part of the panel "Towards an increasingly optimized, advised and multi-channel distribution", where he debated with other panelists about the current situation and perspectives of insurance distribution.
The CEO of E2K shared his vision of more than 30 years of experience in the sector in a panel discussion with other professionals such as Paula De Corral from NTT DATA, Francesco Dal Piaz from Wakam, Rafael Lluis from Liferay, a panel that was moderated by Estefanía Rodríguez from Insurtech Hub Munich. Iglesias began by referring to the breadth of the legal concept of distributor and offering his point of view regarding the future of the broker channel, emphatically stating that “The digital transformation of the sector will in no case be a phenomenon of disintermediation, because it is neither realistic nor logical, an issue that is becoming evident in digitally mature markets such as the North American. We are heading towards a hybrid market in which consumers will clearly perceive the value provided by the insurance broker. The broker will be an important player in the new markets”.
Regarding the emerging distribution models and the opportunities they bring, the CEO of E2K highlighted the new initiatives promoted by insurtech and neo-insurance companies, which ”We are faced with the reality that insurance is a regulated sector, and it is essential that the new emerging models are developed within the framework of current legislation, both for consumer protection and for the need for market practices in fair competition between the different sectoral actors”; however, he was also emphatic in stating that “Regulation cannot be a brake on innovation. It is necessary to promote and rely on instruments that favor innovation in regulated environments such as the sandbox”.
The impact of data exploitation and the application of artificial intelligence was also present in a relevant way in the panel. In this regard, Iglesias affirmed that "No one doubts that the future of the sector is in the data, and now the debate must focus on how to land this vision in a practical way in the day-to-day life of the insurance broker because every day we have to take, some of strategic, and it is necessary to have the knowledge provided by the analysis of the information, the predictions and the prescription of actions aligned with the specific interests.” and in connection therewith concluded “We have to be extremely pragmatic and demand concrete results from the technology applied to the use of data because many important things depend on it in the future of the insurance broker as a professional and businessman, among them, protecting one of its main assets such as independence professional."
He ended by highlighting the role and mission of E2K in the transformation process of the insurance broker, “Over the last 30 years we have built and developed E2K, by and for the progress of our community of insurance brokers, and we have done so based on a strategy aimed at promoting the broker into the future based on three fundamental pillars: the development of its mediation business, innovation based on technology, and recognition and respect for its individuality and sovereignty as a professional and company”.
Next, we leave you the video with the intervention of Higinio Iglesias in the IWC23:
