Undercover analysis: assessing insurance companies

INSURANCE is a curious sector. In years gone by, it has been regarded as something of a cash cow, with the likes of Warren Buffett treating the float as a source of money to be invested elsewhere.

Insurance companies were also seen as sclerotic, with time-consuming processes that often placed the customer last. It's not because these firms didn't care. Instead, it reflected an ingrained culture that didn't quite know how to change.

Then technology arrived. The forces of disruption were quick to spot the inherent opportunities in the sector, and the attention of digital suitors now envelops insurance firms. These include cloud computing, big data analytics, artificial intelligence (AI), the blockchain, drones and the Internet of Things (IoT). The reshaping of the industry is taking place in several domains: