IKEA is likely to sell insurance soon. This was announced by iptiQ, a subsidiary of the Swiss Re Group. IptiQ is an insurtech that offers partners tailor-made, digital insurance solutions. The company already sells “household insurance” through IKEA in Switzerland and Singapore.
“We are very satisfied with the Ikea cooperation in both start-up markets,” said Andreas Schertzinger, Chief Executive Officer at iptiQ at the SZ-Conference “The Digital Insurance”. In the meantime, the IKEA cooperation has been expanded to include Malaysia. “We are in the start-up phase in two new countries,” said Schertzinger. This would bring the IKEA cooperation closer to Europe again. The exact planning is still a secret. However, Schertzinger made it clear that Europe was a very important market for IKEA and indicated that the cooperation would also be extended to Germany.
No problem with the law
In the discussion, Schertzinger also made it clear that the legal hurdles in Germany can be overcome for such an offer. The insurance manager referred to the Tchibo ruling, in which the Federal Association of German Insurance Merchants (BVK) had successfully sued against an insurance sale by the retailer (BGH, ruling of November 29, 2013, Az .: I ZR 7/13). “That is a good decision,” said Scherzinger. Nevertheless, a way has already been found how the IKEA cooperation in Germany is possible.
Combined policy in Switzerland
In Switzerland, IKEA offers a combined policy for household contents and private liability under the name “HEMSÄKER” – for home and security. As a comparison via the Comparis.ch portal shows, the offer beats comparable tariffs out of the field in terms of price. So far, the BVK has been able to successfully stop large collaborations between insurance companies and third-party providers in Germany. The appearance of IKEA Germany, on the other hand, is likely to represent a very big attack on the established insurers. In the discussions at the symposium it became clear that new service offers from insurers only make sense if they represent significant added value for the customer and are used regularly. Insurers should integrate service as much as possible into the everyday world of customers.
Insurers will have to release data in the future
According to Julius Kretz, Head of Marketing Systems & Platforms at the Alte Leipziger Hallesche Group, insurers will in future be forced to release their data. It would then be the same for the insurers as the banks, which already today have to allow service providers to access their accounts. The insurance companies should adapt to this and already use the EU Directive on the Regulation of Business Activities of Payment Service Providers in the EU (PSD II). It is particularly important that transparency about the goal and purpose of data usage is disclosed to customers. Anyone who can evaluate the customer’s bank accounts could quickly point out the high risk of theft when buying an e-bike, for example. Due to the Corona crisis, many consumers would have switched to digital products and would now demand that more.
Savings banks do not want a “digital broker strategy”
“So I see great opportunities for insurers in the health sector,” said Christian Gnam, Managing Director at InsurTech Hub Munich. Insurers could offer care and prevention and should cooperate with insurtechs if possible. While many experts are in favor of insurers allowing competing offers on digital platforms, Markus Reinhard, member of the board of directors of SV Sparkassen Versicherung, clearly rejected a “broker strategy”. “It is not the product variety that is important, but fast digital processes,” says Reinhard. He therefore demands that the S-Versicherungsmanager, a development by Insurtech Clark, be integrated into public insurers in Germany only as a multichannel of exclusivity.
Author: Uwe Schmidt-Kasparek
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