Vol 48 Issue 1: Digital innovation, real-world results

Nowadays, every industry is competing for top talent — those individuals who are tech forward and can respond to challenges with big ideas — and it’s certainly no different for insurers.

Luckily for the profession, George Kesselman singled out insurance as his career focus.

“Early on I realised I love the intersection of technology, finance and risk, so insurance became the perfect ‘hard problem’ that keeps me learning and building,” he says.

Kesselman initially trained as a computer engineer in Canada and spent his early career as a product manager at a Canadian tech startup.

After completing an MBA, he says “an irresistible leadership-development opportunity” emerged in Hong Kong.

“Asia felt excitingly dynamic, totally foreign to me at the time and exactly the kind of environment that would push me out of my comfort zone,” he says.

Since then, Kesselman has moved to Singapore and worked at Prudential Assurance Company, AXA Life Insurance and AIG.

He’s been the chief commercial officer at ZA Tech, founded by ZhongAn Online. He’s advised, and invested in, multiple Insurtech apps and platforms.

He’s founded InsurTech Asia. And, in between, he’s co-authored The InsurTECH Book (Wiley, 2018) and written The Power of Play (Wiley, 2023).

It’s an impressive resumé, and Kesselman has lost none of his drive and enthusiasm for tech solutions to insurance’s biggest challenges.

So, what holds insurers back from innovating? Insurance often viewed as a conservative industry when it comes to embracing new technologies, channels and processes.

Blockers to innovation

Kesselman says one reason for this is the lack of a catalyst for change. “The industry enjoyed long, steady growth and high regulatory barriers.

Continued profitability and the absence of immediate disruption dulled the incentive to take meaningful innovation risk,” he says.

“The first insurtech wave in the 2010s looked threatening but ultimately captured a small share of value. Many incumbents read that as confirmation they were ‘safe’.”

An additional barrier to innovation is legacy product architecture. Kesselman says insurers often try to bolt sleek digital wrappers onto products designed decades ago.

“Without redesigning the underlying product logic (pricing, triggers, service), the value from digital frontends is capped.”

And then, there’s the people factor. “Historically insurance attracted people with a risk-averse mindset and cultivated optimisation at the margins.

That fit the last cycle of stability but it also sent top product, data and engineering talent to sectors that looked more exciting,” Kesselman says.

“As the nature of risk shifts (climate, cyber, longevity, mobility), the industry must attract and empower top builders to transform core pillars, not just the frontend.”

Where are we headed?

However, opportunities abound for the companies and the people willing to make it happen. When asked to name the top three tech developments that could transform insurance in the next few years, Kesselman points to agentic AI; embedded contextual insurance; and data networks.

He points out that the sector is moving from assistive to agentic AI that can orchestrate workflows such as document extraction, triage, operations efficiency and sales support, with humans firmly in the loop.

“The macro case is strong: protection gaps (nat-cat, health, cyber) are wide, so AI that lowers loss-adjustment expense and expands underwriting appetite is real growth,” he says.

“Crucially, I believe this brings us closer to simple, custom coverages at scale, tailored to actual risk data, priced more accurately and transparently.”

Embedded insurance isn’t new but Kesselman says unbundled coverages, surfaced at the right moment inside partner journeys, will keep compounding.

As examples, he points to Chubb’s work with Grab across Southeast Asia, Timo in Vietnam, GCash in the Philippines and Nubank in Brazil.

“That’s millions of active policies within a few years: proof that well-designed embedded propositions unlock new buyers at scale and it’s a repeatable blueprint for large-scale partnerships.

“China is accelerating this even further, with multiple contextual covers offered inside everyday ecosystems,” he says.

Lastly, the vast amounts of data every modern-day company collects and organises offer a remarkable chance to tailor insurance solutions for customers and reach them on new channels.

Says Kesselman: “Carrier platforms that can plug into high-frequency partner data, payments, mobility and commerce will win on pricing power and loss prevention, not just distribution reach. China shows how ecosystem scale plus analytics creates a durable flywheel.”

APAC market thrives

A number of insurers and insurtechs are already doing interesting things in the Asia-Pacific market. Kesselman highlights Bolttech, which is offering insurance as a subscription.

He says: “Bolttech is redefining insurance as an always-on, subscription-like proposition and building modern infrastructure to deliver it seamlessly (notably for device protection), connecting insurers and distributors via APIs.”

He also says Allianz’s autonomous vehicle cover in Singapore, which tailors cover to autonomous shuttles and AV risk profiles, is an early, concrete step towards mainstream AV insurance in the region.

According to The World’s Top 150 Insurtech Companies: 2024 compiled by CNBC, the US and the UK have the most insurtechs individually, at 69 and 20 respectively.

However, the Asia-Pacific region has 25, with India and Singapore leading the way. “APAC combines under-penetration with digital leapfrogging,” Kesselman says.

“Mobile-first consumers, super-apps and bank/commerce ecosystems make embedded distribution structurally easier than in many Western markets.”

He observes that regional growth remains resilient, but the protection gaps are still wide. “Models that compress cost and surface cover at the point of need will scale fastest here.

Globally, premium growth has cooled from the 2024 peak but remains above the five-year average. APAC continues to be the swing region where new distribution and product designs move from idea to material book.”

To make the most of APAC’s unique combination of high tech uptake and low insurance coverage, Kesselman says insurers should ring-fence a digital P&L (a virtual, internal MGA).

He recommends giving a cross-functional squad (product, underwriting, engineering, ops, compliance) its own budget, capital guardrails and portfolio-level governance.

“Run short build-launch-measure-learn cycles with clear kill/scale gates every four to eight weeks,” he advises. “Stay within regulatory boundaries and pre-agreed risk appetites, cost criteria and data-privacy controls.”

Embracing collaboration

And insurers don’t have to go it alone. “Work with startups and platforms that bring pricing, data, distribution or automation strengths you lack,” he says.

He encourages insurers to move beyond simply buying the expertise they need. Instead, he suggests they should create joint squads with shared objectives, data contracts and integration roadmaps.

Plus, they should be explicit about success metrics up front and stop projects that don’t meet them. Underpinning that is an organisational mindset that encourages its people to be curious and rewards trying new approaches to problems.

“Leadership must normalise that some bets will fail,” says Kesselman. “The win is faster learning and redeployed capital.”

Quick take with George Kesselman

1. What’s your top productivity hack?

I ring-fence a daily, phone-free, one-hour, deep-work block. My iPhone stays out of reach. Only my Apple Watch (cellular) stays on, so I’m reachable for genuine emergencies. That hour is sacred. No notifications, one priority and a tangible outcome.

2. What’s the one item or device you can’t do without?

A dotted paper notebook. I rediscovered it last year and adopted a simple, bullet-journal system to capture notes, tasks and decisions. It’s become my daily go-to-fast, distraction-free and always-on tool. I review it weekly and snap anything that needs sharing or follow-up into my digital tools.

3. Which leader has had a huge impact on your thinking?

Chubb CEO Evan Greenberg, for showing how rigorous execution and a high-trust, performance culture can scale a global insurer and how disciplined, forward-leaning bets build a market-leading P&C franchise.

4. What are the rewards of a career in insurance?

You get to work on real-world shocks, health events, climate losses and digital risks, and build tools that make economies more resilient. When innovation lands, say, millions of first-time buyers getting simple, affordable protection, you feel the human impact immediately.