InsureTech Rules

FinTech's insurance sector came to the fore this week. This Google Trends chart and series of tweets tell the story of InsureTech's growth in 2016.

We found in our @burnmark report that #insurtech focused on disrupting legacy systems and processes are seeing more interest than apps Download report.
— Devie Mohan (@devie_mohan)

#insuretech and #fintech trends are clear - large investments planned for #machinelearning and #AI within the next year. Great @pwc survey. pic.twitter.com/sEWmcgr1ru
— Paul Dobson PwC (@PaulDobson_PwC)

Get to Know Your Customers Really Well – Accenture Banking. Certainly applies to #insuretech too! https://t.co/bbg5EXAffn
— BobenhouseIndustries (@bobenhouseindus)

Blockchain still rules the year, as this week's article links show, but InsureTech is getting its due.

Top 100 blockchain insiders
Using an algorithm based on social media influence, Klout scores and other factors, Richtopia has compiled a list of the top blockchain leaders, which gets updated every Monday. See the full breakdown here.

Beware of retail banking’s present becoming asset management’s future
If asset managers want to remain competitive, they’ll need to pay attention to consumer trends in retail banking. According to Vered Zimmerman’s piece for Copylab, asset managers must offer ways for customers to invest in what they care about, resolve their customers’ problems, and think of regulators as partners.

Customers don’t prefer chatbots over humans yet—but they will, says survey
Findings from Aspect’s 2016 Consumer Experience Index say that customers are split nearly 50-50 on whether they’d prefer to use a chatbot or artificial intelligence assistant to fix customer service issues, Bank Innovation reported. Part of that split could come from the perception that AI tools aren’t as effective, said Tim Dreyer, spokesperson for Aspect Software.

Robo-advisers: not just for millennials anymore?
Robo-advising companies like Betterment and Wealthfront offer boomers the chance to get the best returns for their money without the high fees associated with human asset managers, and they have more cash to work with than millennials. Still, the artificial intelligence behind the technology is not capable of serving all of each customer's’ needs yet, writes Richard Eisenberg for Forbes.

The future of money
The increased usage of smartphones in India has contributed to the influx in startups like Freecharge Payment Technologies and OneMobikwik that are looking to help country go cashless. But even with the government push to go cashless, India has a long way to go before it can get rid of cash, according to Leslie D’Monte of LiveMint.

THE BLOCKCHAIN WATCH
Think outside the blocks
Now that the banking community has woken up to bitcoin and blockchain technology, BCG Perspectives outlines what blockchain is (for anyone who still isn’t sure) and examines the different cryptocurrencies available.

BOJ, ECB to jointly study digital currency technology
The two agencies will team up to examine blockchain, the distributed ledger technology that supports cryptocurrencies like bitcoin and ethereum, the Wall Street Journal reports.

US Federal Reserve releases first distributed ledger research paper
The paper, which was drafted by the Reserve Board and the Reserve banks in Chicago and New York, examines the applications of the technology in payments and transaction settlement. The research looks at the top-down view of the concept behind blockchain as well as the challenges and opportunities for financial firms or payments operators seeking integrations, CoinDesk reports.