Allianz launches new UK marine insurance service

Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty (AGCS) has launched a new online marine insurance service for UK leisure boat owners, in collaboration with ‘insurtech’ company Visicover.

Visicover is a web-based service that lets customers buy their policy online, and also enables them to fully self-administer their cover via the site at a time that suits them. This enables the customer to personalise the cover according to their specific needs. The format is described by Visicover as a “radically new approach to risk rating.”

The launch of the service for marine leisure vessels builds on the success of Visicover’s online aviation insurance, which is available in partnership with AGCS across 10 European countries including the UK.

“The marine insurance sector continues to undergo significant change,” says Andrew Whitehouse, head of marine, regional unit London for AGCS. “New technologies are enabling new distribution models, underpinned by greater insights into risk data. This initiative with Visicover helps us to explore ways to enhance the customer journey in an increasingly digital world.”

Visicover CEO Jan Houlberg adds: “Clients expectations of insurance providers are becoming ever greater, shaped by their online experiences in other sectors. They want to be able to choose the cover that suits them at the time they need it, all delivered quickly and at a compelling price.”

Houlberg also alludes to the wealth of data that web-based insurance platforms can offer. “Meanwhile, a well-designed, online self-service proposition provides data opportunities for insurance providers to gain hitherto undreamt of insights into the risks they insure; knowledge which can then be used to greatly enhance their business decision making,” says Houlberg.

“The new marine leisure product will provide such insights, and we are pleased that its launch further strengthens our co-operation with AGCS.”