To mitigate this problem, Spring Labs, the intelligent AI powerhouse solution for financial services, announced Zanko ComplianceAssist.This new module builds upon the conversational intelligence capabilities of Spring Labs’ Zanko CustomerAssist, an AI copilot for fintechs, to dramatically reduce the time compliance professionals spend analyzing customer complaints, in addition to identifying high-risk and often hidden issues, and to efficiently enable corrective actions.

“Complaints are often viewed as negative, but they are actually the gateway to understanding how your customers feel about their experience with you as a financial institution. With Zanko ComplianceAssist, we help unlock the power of complaints by using AI to provide more granular and actionable insights,” says John Sun, CEO and Co-Founder of Spring Labs. “The benefits are much more than just cost savings. We hope to help our partners reduce regulatory risk, achieve better effective control over their fintech partners, and ultimately help the consumer be better heard when they speak to a financial institution.”

“We’re excited to be the first to partner with Spring Labs on a commercial application of AI which can benefit consumers and fintech partners alike. A crucial aspect of our business is providing quality oversight of complex and large-scale lending activities. Zanko ComplianceAssist helps our team identify insights and issues more quickly than we could on our own,” says Derek Higginbotham, CEO, First Electronic Bank. “Beyond just compliance, First Electronic Bank is committed to being early movers in exploring new uses of technology to improve how we serve consumers.”

“Complaints management is a critical component to an effective Compliance Management System and an important control over our fintech partner programs,” says Nissen Liddiard, EVP Compliance Officer, Celtic Bank. “Spring Labs’ Zanko ComplianceAssist product provides us with a useful tool to analyze complaint trends which allows us to better oversee our products and partners.”

“Zanko ComplianceAssist helps us assess the root cause of complaints at least 80 percent more efficiently, enabling us to resolve potential issues much faster,” says Jim Jackson, SVP Strategic Partner Oversight, WebBank. “This gives us greater peace of mind as we expand our channels for communicating with customers.”

By using AI to catalog, categorize and organize customer complaints, compliance professionals can slash the time they spend analyzing complaints by up to 65 percent. ComplianceAssist delivers automated classification, tagging, Voice of Customer (VoC) profiling, and root cause analysis, and can screen 100 percent of customer conversations to escalate the highest-priority complaints like deceptive advertising and fair lending, which customers can escalate to regulators if they’re not addressed properly and expeditiously.

“Ultimately, these advanced complaint analysis capabilities can help financial services firms scale their compliance processes to be more accurate, actionable, and effective,” continues Sun. “Zanko ComplianceAssist can be a key element in a firm’s growth plan, empowering compliance professionals with the invaluable tool they need to elevate their strategic contributions and role as ‘superheroes’ within their organizations.”

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Simplifai Claims Processing delivers robust cost and time savings, ensuring both insurance companies–and their clients–are happy, all while ensuring that a human is in control.

The first version will be targeting the Dutch Motor insurance market, with other markets and insurance types coming on quite quickly thereafter. Simplifai has already secured two customers, Van Ameyde and NH1816, for Simplifai Claims Processing.

The Simplifai Claims Processing provides:

• accurate suggestions, based on domain-specific knowledge, including understanding the specific laws, company policies, and terms of the agreement.
• an increase in the number of claims processed per day by up to 50% without adding staff.
• compliancy with GDPR, EU AI act, and others, ensuring that claimant’s data is secure and protected.

“Simplifai Claims Processing is a powerful solution built on top of InsuranceGPT, the first generative AI technology specifically targeting insurance companies,” said Bård Myrstad, Simplifai CEO. “With our Claims Processing solution, our aim is to give customers a powerful edge, both in terms of cost per claim processed, but more importantly, getting each claim manager more, and more interesting work to do without increasing their overall workload.”

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“Mike and Lizabeth each bring valuable experience in the insurance and financial services industries, along with strong leadership skills, financial expertise and deep knowledge of operations and risk management,” said C. Edward (“Chuck”) Chaplin, chairman of the Board, Brighthouse Financial. “We look forward to their contributions to our Board.”

During his more than 37 years at Ernst & Young LLP (“EY”), from which he retired in 2021, Mr. Inserra held various leadership roles, including serving as senior vice chair and deputy managing partner of EY Americas from 2015 to 2020 and as vice chair and managing partner of EY’s Financial Services Organization from 2013 to 2015. He also served as chief administrative officer of Moore Capital Management, a global investment management firm, from 2008 to 2010. Since his retirement from EY, Mr. Inserra has served as an independent consultant to several private equity firms, providing advice regarding companies in the professional and financial services industries. Mr. Inserra has served as a director of Brighthouse Life Insurance Company of NY, an indirect wholly owned subsidiary of the Company, since 2021.

Ms. Zlatkus held various leadership roles at The Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc. (“The Hartford”) during her 28-year career at the company, from which she retired in 2011. Those roles included executive vice president and chief risk officer from 2010 to 2011 and executive vice president and chief financial officer from 2008 to 2010. Ms. Zlatkus’ other roles at The Hartford included serving as co-president of Hartford Life Insurance Companies and as president of international wealth management and group benefits. Ms. Zlatkus has served as a director of several public companies since leaving The Hartford, including Pathward Financial, Inc. since 2021, AXIS Capital Holdings Limited since 2019, Boston Private Financial Holdings, Inc. from 2015 to 2021 and Indivior PLC from 2016 to 2019, among others.

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Separately, Blue Owl made a long-term investment in Kuvare today, purchasing $250 million of preferred equity. This investment creates long-term alignment between Blue Owl and Kuvare and provides valuable growth capital to Kuvare’s insurance companies, each of which will become new asset management clients of Blue Owl. Founded in 2015, Kuvare is a technology-enabled financial services firm operating several insurance and reinsurance businesses and has become a top 20 fixed and indexed annuity writer in the United States. Kuvare’s business segments include retail, institutional reinsurance and specialty insurance advisory services.

In addition to the preferred equity investment, Blue Owl and Kuvare entered into investment management agreements (“IMAs”) that will allow Blue Owl to deploy up to $3 billion of assets across its existing Credit, GP Strategic Capital and Real Estate investment platforms, which can grow over time. Upon the closing of the KAM acquisition, Blue Owl will be allocated up to $20 billion of AUM, in aggregate. Kuvare will continue to manage the overall asset allocations for its insurance businesses and strategic investments. Blue Owl’s IMAs with Kuvare insurance companies will be additive to Blue Owl’s permanent capital base while enhancing Kuvare’s investment capabilities.

These transactions are expected to be accretive to Blue Owl in 2024.

Doug Ostrover, Co-CEO of Blue Owl said: “The creation of Blue Owl Insurance Solutions represents a significant moment in Blue Owl’s journey. Our acquisition of KAM allows us to provide broader solutions to the multi-trillion-dollar insurance market at scale. KAM’s capabilities in investment grade credit and real estate strategies supplement Blue Owl’s existing strength in these asset classes and further accelerate our ability to bring differentiated products and strategies to the market for Kuvare and third-party insurance clients.”

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With a career spanning over 40 years, Mr. Bradley is a proven leader in the insurance industry. Thomas most recently served as Chairman and CEO of Argo Group until his retirement in November 2023. He joined the Board of Argo Group in 2018 and was appointed Chair of their Board in 2020. Prior to his time with Argo, Thomas served as the CFO and EVP of Allied World Assurance Company Holdings, AG, a global provider of insurance and reinsurance solutions, from 2012 until 2017. Prior to that, Thomas served as the EVP and CFO for Fair Isaac Corporation, and the St. Paul Companies. He also held senior financial and operational positions at Zurich Insurance Group, including CFO for North American and CEO of the Universal Underwriters Group (now Zurich Direct Markets).

Mr. Bradley holds a bachelor’s degree in accounting from University of Maryland and an MBA in Finance from Loyola University Maryland.

“We are proud to welcome Tom to the CopperPoint Board of Directors,” said Ken Kirk, Board Chair. “He brings extensive insurance leadership experience and a deep knowledge of our industry. His participation will complement our board’s skills and experiences, while providing direction and oversight of CopperPoint’s vison for the future. We are excited to start working with him.”

CopperPoint CEO, Marc E. Schmittlein added, “I too am excited for Tom to be joining our CopperPoint Board. His very distinguished career will be helpful on many fronts as we continue our transformational journey.”

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AgentSync has always stood out from competitors thanks to its flexible cloud-native solutions, ability to solve complex, entrenched issues, and strong customer success. This round of capital allows AgentSync to double down delivering best-in-class products for the nation’s largest and most respected carriers.

“AgentSync has become core infrastructure for hundreds of insurance companies, helping them scale distribution and reduce costs,” said Brian Murray, Partner at Craft Ventures. “We are excited to deepen our partnership with the AgentSync team as they continue to upgrade the resilience and efficiency of the insurance industry.”

AgentSync’s infrastructure solves a vital problem in the insurance industry: effective and efficient distribution. By establishing flexible, scalable connections between insurance distributors and underwriters, AgentSync powers and streamlines the delivery of insurance products. The company continues to aggressively build and innovate with a focus on SaaS and API solutions that create data visibility and efficiencies for insurers, and exceptional experiences for agents and brokers.

“Given the current headwinds sectors of the insurance industry are facing, investing in modern, scalable infrastructure to manage distribution has never been more important. With AgentSync, customers have the flexibility to quickly and intelligently ramp distribution channels up or down as needed. This drives massive distribution channel-related cost savings when efficiently executed through software,” said co-founder and CEO Niji Sabharwal. “Helping our customers adapt quickly and manage risk and expenses during tough market conditions is extremely rewarding – especially knowing that they’re building bulletproof distribution infrastructure for when the markets improve.”

“AgentSync solves a critical, ubiquitous and long neglected problem in the insurance Industry. This infusion of capital ensures they have the platform and support needed to move up market to larger and more complex carrier requirements and continue to charge ahead solving the extremely complex problems plaguing the insurance industry today,” said Mike Rosenbaum, AgentSync board member and CEO of leading insurance software, Guidewire.

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Core Automation 
The latest enhancements to Applied Epic^® streamline end-user and administrator workflows for a simpler user experience and more visibility across agency roles and lines of business, including P&C and Benefits, to improve productivity, reduce operating costs and gain greater business insights.

• New Epic Dashboards: Easily view business KPIs and track performance with embedded dashboards purpose-built for defined specific roles with the agency to easily answer questions and make data-backed decisions.
• Open Applied Benefits Designer from Applied Epic: Access Applied Benefits Designer directly from the Applied Epic browser interface with a navigation panel link. This single sign-on capability will save clicks and prepare agencies for the integration between Applied Epic and Employee Navigator.
• Bulk Delete Policies and Direct Bill Items in Suspense: Easily select multiple items, and separately per screen, send to the Suspense Recycle Bin with just a couple clicks with new multi-select functionality in the Policy Suspense and Direct Bill Commission Suspense lists.
• Attachment Preview: Automatically display the first two pages of the selected attachment for multiple file types for a quick look at documents versus searching the large documents folder with the new Preview panel in the Attachments list for client accounts in the Applied Epic browser interface.
• Receive and Attach Multimedia Messages (MMS): Receive inbound MMS messages in Applied Epic, including JPEG, JPG, GIF or PNG files, and add one or more images in the thread to the client’s Attachments with the Attach to Epic action. Communications with clients are further simplified with the release of the auto-route text messaging feature later this quarter.

Commercial Lines 
The latest enhancements to Applied’s commercial lines products further enable the digitalization and automation of policy proposals, a coordinated application experience between agents and insureds, and increased connectivity to more carrier markets.

• Market Appetite Enhancements Powered by Ask Kodiak: Gain access to the most current carrier appetite information powered by Ask Kodiak^® directly in the Applied Epic browser interface, refreshed multiple times daily.
• Access Indio Submissions in Applied Epic: Access a client’s Indio^® Submissions list directly in the Applied Epic browser interface for a single view of all activated commercial lines submissions.
• Remarket with Tarmika: Populate Applied Epic policy data into the Tarmika quoting portal to streamline commercial lines remarketing workflows. Remarket commercial business faster by eliminating duplicate data entry when renewing Business Owners, Worker’s Comp, and Commercial Auto policies.
• Tarmika Insured: Create a simpler, more connected commercial lines quoting experience with the Tarmika Insured embedded consumer application that allows direct-to-consumer real-time quoting to multiple carriers.
• Access Tarmika from Applied Epic: Access the Tarmika quoting portal directly from Applied Epic to view existing quotes, start a new quote, or resume an existing one, eliminating the need to rekey account and policy details.

Marketing Automation 
The latest enhancements to Applied Marketing Automation^® further enable agents to keep customers engaged and producers connected, driving customer acquisition and retention.

• Artificial Intelligence Content Assist: Ensure emails are technically sound with Content Assist, artificial intelligence technology purpose-built for insurance agents with specific industry terminology. Decide the length, formality and subject matter, and let the power of generative AI technology provide descriptive text to catch the recipient’s attention, then give final approval prior to sending the email.
• Content Library Functionality Improvements: Experience a more intuitive content search with enhanced category selection functionality to automatically select or deselect categories in the Content Library. Receive more focused results, prioritizing the entire phrase of search criteria instead of just one word of the phrase.

Digital Payments  
New innovative enhancements to Applied Pay^® further enable agents to enhance their customer experience and staff productivity through greater integration across Applied applications.

• Online Payments: Offer insureds a simple, secure way to pay for premiums or other rendered services with Applied Pay’s direct integration into Applied CSR24^®. Provide a modern checkout experience that puts customers in control with options to pay on current and upcoming invoices, as well as non-invoiced amounts.
• Hosted Payment Page PAY NOW Link: Allow insureds to pay multiple or single invoices that are open in Applied Epic or request an exact payment for items such as third-party fees or services rendered. Automatically apply payments received through the Hosted Payment Page to a client’s account in Applied Epic and create an Activity and a Transaction for accounting purposes.
• Large Single Transaction Limits Allowed: Process extra-large premiums in Applied Pay with an increased single transaction limit, allowing larger clientele to make payments without having to resort to other banking services.

“At Applied, we recognize the advantage technology plays in our customers’ success and that is at the forefront of all our decision-making processes,” said Anupam Gupta, chief product officer of Applied Systems. “Our most recent investments to accelerate the Digital Roundtrip of Insurance create incredible power and value for our customers, creating more connected and intelligent workflows that help them know more about their business, focus work on the most valuable tasks, be more productive, and provide the best possible experience for their clients.”

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“The Southwest United States is home to many of our longstanding Partners, key business lines and unique areas of expertise. Under Patrick’s leadership, this team will be equipped to support our clients like never before,” said Greg Williams, Co-Founder, Chairman and CEO, Acrisure.

In his new role, Thomas brings over 15-years of experience operating as an Acrisure Partner in Orange County, CA.

“Clients always come first and by coming together as one cohesive brand, we’ll accelerate our ability to provide Acrisure’s “Extraordinary Advantage” to anyone looking to protect their businesses and lives,” said Thomas. “Together our 1,200 colleagues in the Region will leverage Acrisure’s limitless capabilities and deliver the full suite of financial services to address the various needs of our clients.”

Transportation and logistics have always been a key industry in Southern California, home to the nation’s two largest ports – the Port of Los Angeles and the Port of Long Beach – which serve as major pathways of goods for the entire West Coast. Acrisure’s Southwest Region serves clients in these and other vital industries with a growing number of insurance and financial products and services. To access more information about the Southwest Region, visit www.Acrisure.com/Southwest.

Earlier this year, Acrisure announced its efforts to bring all its Partners under one brand as part of its growth-based transformation with a process that is expected to take several quarters. Over the last decade, Acrisure has grown from $38 million to over $4 billion in revenue and acquired more than 800 businesses around the world. For more news and more information, visit www.Acrisure.com.

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In the lead-up to public launch, QuoteWell, founded in 2021, has secured over $15 million in Series A funding led by New Enterprise Associates, Inc. (NEA). Goldcrest and Floating Point also participated in the round. The new capital will be used towards expanding the company’s brokerage team and enhancing the infrastructure that underpins automation and operational efficiencies.

“We see a huge opportunity to better serve a segment of the insurance business that is often underserved by incumbents and developed what we call a hybrid insurtech that aims to provide the best service and results for our customers,” said Joey Bouchard, CEO and Founder, QuoteWell. “As a part ‘software startup focused on the insurance sector’ and part ‘wholesale broker,’ we combine industry best practices with a forward-looking, innovative lens to deliver the most impact.”

According to AM Best, the U.S. market alone is set to process over $100B in surplus line premiums in 2023, the segment of insurance that wholesale brokers specialize. Over the past decade, there has been heavy consolidation in the space, and while wholesalers serve various sizes of agents, from mom-and-pop shops to publicly traded companies, many are instructed to focus on accounts that bring in $25,000 in premiums or more. Additionally, insurance carriers often see risk in having their distribution heavily concentrated across a small number of wholesale brokers.

QuoteWell leverages a semi-automated approach to servicing its customers by combining human capital and technology. To date, the company has hired 12 licensed brokers to support submission flow and uses AI-backed models to assist in coverage recommendations from its panel of over 45 carrier partners. As a result, QuoteWell’s brokers can recommend coverage quickly and respond to agents in less than two hours.

“We are excited to partner with QuoteWell as they lead progressive change in a growing market of the insurance industry,” said Rick Yang, Partner and Head of Technology, NEA. “We believe Joey and the QuoteWell team have proven the value of and opportunity in marrying human relationships with automated systems, data and software for best-in-class outcomes. Innovation is critical and QuoteWell is driving efficiency and advancing processes and results for an important corner of an essential industry.”

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Commenting on this strategic move, Ben Lin, Co-Chairman and Chief Strategy Officer of FANHUA said, “The intermediary segment in Asia represents a unique greenfield opportunity within the financial services industry. However, it remains severely underserved in terms of technology. Mainland China, on the other hand, is at the forefront of digital adoption and insurance sales technology. With 25 years of experience in the insurance agency industry and significant IT investments over the past five years, we have developed a leading IT infrastructure for life insurance distribution. This positions us well to leverage our technological strength in serving the brokerage markets in Hong Kong and the rest of Asia.”

He added, “We are excited to partner with Asia Insurance, a leading insurance company in the region with deep local market knowledge. Most importantly, the two companies share common values, emphasizing a long-term focus and responsibility to our stakeholders. The joint ventures, headquartered in Hong Kong, mark a milestone for FANHUA in our endeavor to establish our global presence and realize our vision of becoming a leading technology-driven financial service platform. By working closely with the team at Asia Insurance, we are confident that our overseas expansion will be able to create value for our shareholders over the long term.”

Ms. Winnie Wong, CEO and Executive Director of Asia Insurance, said, “We are thrilled to enter into a strategic partnership with FANHUA, a renowned leader in the financial services industry. FANHUA’s extensive experience and proven track record in the insurance agency sector, coupled with its unwavering commitment to technological advancements, seamlessly align with our vision for growth and innovation. With strong presence in Hong Kong for over 60 years, Asia Insurance has always been dedicated to serving and meeting the evolving needs of our clients. By joining forces with FANHUA, we are confident that our combined expertise will enable us to deliver unparalleled life insurance solutions and services to our clients.”

She added, “This landmark partnership marks a significant milestone in our journey to further strengthen our presence in the region. We are excited to collaborate closely with FANHUA to deliver exceptional value and elevate the standard of insurance solutions and services.”

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