Page 40 - Insurance Times April 2023

their account. Insured may use a simple face scan on contact: the customer not noticing when fraud has been
their mobile device or computer to authenticate committed against their account. Pension and annuity
themselves whenever they return to the portal. funds are a target for criminals because of the high value
of their contents. By impersonating the policy holder,
Alternatively, existing customers can be asked to verify
fraudsters can take over an account and gain access to
themselves using a trusted document when they next
large amounts of money. Because the true account
access the portal to complete a sensitive transaction.
holder may only check their account once a year or less,
Future authentication is then completed simply and
account takeover fraud could go undetected and
securely using a face scan lasting for few seconds. This
unreported for some time. It is therefore imperative for
means that whether insured visit insurer’s online portal
insurers to tighten up defenses around pension and
once a month, once a year or once every five years, their
annuities.
face will ensure simple, secure access without any fuss
or hassle. This delivers the highest levels of security, Biometric face authentication helps to prevent account
protecting both the insurer and their customers, from takeover fraud. A criminal can steal knowledge-based
online fraud and identity theft. security information, such as passwords and mother’s
maiden names. They can dupe people into revealing
B. Enabling insurers to build trust during online PINs and special words. Once they have that data, they
sale: can change phone numbers so that an individual’s mobile
device can no longer be trusted.
All along the insurers win and retain customers through
trust. Trust is the fundamental to the long-term success Criminals cannot steal a face, however, they can copy a
of any insurance brand. High-value pensions and face, using photographs or videos or masks.
annuities typically require years of contributions before
So, insurers need to confirm that an online individual
they are accessed and drawn upon. Customers must feel
completing a biometric face authentication is the right
confident giving their money to an institution, whom
person, a real person and that he/she is authenticating
they trust to help the customers to achieve financial
right now. This ensures that the person logging into their
security. If these insurers’ customers trust the Company’s
insurance account is indeed the verified policyholder.
brand, they’ll show their loyalty by adding to their
portfolio of services, recommending that insurance
While summing up:
organization to their friends and family in future course.
Most of the insuretech companies focus on the front-end
C. Stringent enforcement of safeguarding features for
customer experience, reducing existing frictions in traditional
avoiding money laundering:
insurance transactions. The time it takes to fill out an
This might be a stiff challenge all along. Making it simple
application/proposal and receive a quote is a classic example
for customers to purchase an insurance policy needs to
towards this. Side-by-side it also seeks to streamline and
be balanced with critical checks to ensure that the policy
enhance back-end functions, such as how to assess and price
is not being used for money-laundering purposes, in any
risk, perform loss control, and claims’ management. The
way. Criminal networks, present in existence, use
claims process is particularly well suited for technological
insurance policies to ‘launder’ ill-begotten financial gains
transformation. Insurers traditionally have hired adjusters
by depositing large sums that they then draw down,
to determine the extent of their liability for a loss, damage,
turning fraudulent money into clean money.
or injury to the claimant and come up with a settlement.
To combat this, regulated insurers and other financial
institutions have to comply with anti- money laundering Today, new approaches aid the claims process, often in
(AML) regulations when they deal with their onboard combination with traditional ones. Immediate and hassle-
customers. free claim settlement is the priority service of insurers – as it
sets the benchmarking & branding of the insurers in the
D. Reducing the risk of account (of on-line
market for their performances – as such this initiative attracts
customers) hacking by fraud-stars:
the customers to come more within the purview of insurance
One of the downsides of infrequent interaction between
net. At the same time, it excludes fraudulent claims – e.g.,
insureds and insurers: the customer forgetting their
auto insurance claimants can submit photos via app
security credentials to access their account online.
immediately after an accident. Insurers also are using machine
But there’s another potential downside to infrequent learning, record of pre-acceptance inspection reports and
The Insurance Times April 2023 35