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Insurance

Helping insurance companies navigate change to capture growth opportunities and create value in an increasingly digital world
For insurers to achieve sustained growth in the digital era, they must make bold moves as well as targeted investments in capabilities and technology. We are committed to helping our insurance clients across the life and P&C sectors achieve Change that Matters by transforming their strategy, core businesses, and operating models. Our global insurance professionals combine strategic thinking with deep knowledge across areas such as marketing and distribution, claims, core technology, underwriting and pricing, as well as enterprise capability building. We partner with many of the top global insurers to help them implement innovative solutions and digital tools, enabling them to pursue new opportunities and anticipate a rapidly changing competitive landscape. Our expertise across geographies and product lines provides clients with a comprehensive, granular view of where they are and how to capitalize on growth opportunities.

What we do

Strategy

We build enduring value by identifying future growth opportunities across lines of business, market segments, and geographies.

Transformation

We unlock an organization’s full potential, achieving a competitive advantage by leveraging new technologies reimagining every facet of operations.

Productivity

We improve performance through digital innovation in products, services, processes, and business models.

Impact at a glance

>75%

of the top global insurance companies served

55+

clients served globally on enterprise and business unit transformations in the past three years

500+

insurance-affiliate consultants worldwide

25+

proprietary tools, databases, and benchmarks

McKinsey at ITC

McKinsey is proud to partner with InsureTech Connect at ITC Vegas 2022, where topics around innovation, productivity, sustainability, and the future of the industry will be addressed.
Learn more

Examples of our work

Scaling a holistic-agile transformation

A large European insurer sought to strengthen its market position by developing the ability to respond to conditions faster and in a more dynamic way. We supported an enterprise-wide agile transformation that included setting a target and vision, leading an end-to-end pilot, and scaling impact across the entire organization, including the introduction of a new IT organization. Management layers were reduced from seven to three, and average product time to market decreased from six months to six weeks.

Developing a cross-industry ecosystem

A leading Asian insurer wanted to expand beyond its core product offering to become the dominant financial-services company in the region. We developed a growth strategy driven by diversification and M&A, and designed an integrated organizational structure to improve efficiencies, reduce costs, and improve cross-selling capabilities. The insurer created an ecosystem that spans seven business categories and serves more than 350 million customers.

Devising an enterprise digital strategy

A leading North American insurer was looking to differentiate its digital capabilities from those of competitors. We partnered with the insurer to develop an end-to-end digital strategy specific to each business unit and prioritized capabilities that would generate outsized bottom-line value and establish the insurer a digital leader in several critical areas. The execution achieved quick wins, long-term ROI, and sustainable digital capabilities across the organization.

Enhancing the quality of underwriting execution

A national multiline-US insurer wanted to improve its midmarket profitability. We performed a detailed diagnostic to understand the root causes of underwriting performance and designed an integrated set of initiatives that included improved analytics, frontline routines, tooling, and underwriter guidance. The program significantly reduced variability among underwriters in risk selection and pricing decision.

Supporting an agency overhaul

A large Asian insurer needed to turn around a declining agency force and improve both capacity and productivity in a highly competitive market. We supported the client on a multiyear program that consisted of bettering core operations, developing digital tools and analytics models across the agency value chain, and rolling out a company-wide effort. The program set the agency force on a growth trajectory and achieved sustainable productivity improvements.

Embedding analytics across claims

A leading global insurer sought to fundamentally reimagine the claims function in a competitive European market. We supported the design and delivery of a program encompassing more than 20 use cases that provided intelligent decision augmentation across the claims value chain. Working closely with the client, we established a new analytics capabilities consisting of data scientists, data engineers, business translators, and user interface (UI) developers; built a series of reusable data assets by consolidating internal and external data; and established additional safeguards around the deployment of AI-related risk and fairness standards.

Featured Capabilities

Insurance 360°: Insurance cost and performance benchmarking, covering the complete value chain from product development to operations and support.

Global Insurance Pools: A comprehensive database capturing global figures on insurance premiums, assets, profits, and growth.

Insurance Technology: A dedicated team of insurance technology experts who work with clients to transform IT, transform insurance companies, and transform insurance ecosystems.

Finalta: Detailed claims, distribution and productivity benchmarking along lines of business, market, customer and risk segments that are used to identify optimization opportunities and shape implementation strategies.

Leap: Works with established organizations to imagine, build, and scale new businesses—and develop the capabilities needed to do it again and again.

QuantumBlack: A dedicated team of insurance analytics experts enabling better business outcomes by implementing sustainable analytics capabilities across the entire value chain.

Featured Experts

Lino Abram
Senior Partner, Lima
Leads our work in financial services throughout Latin America and supports clients in the region in their processes to improve...
Umar Bagus
Partner, Johannesburg
Leads McKinsey’s work in insurance and advanced analytics in Africa; advises companies on advanced analytics and digital transformations
Violet Chung
Partner, Hong Kong
Supports digital and innovation in financial services across Asia and Greater China, serving clients with digital transformations,...
Kweilin Ellingrud
McKinsey Global Institute Director and Senior Partner, Minneapolis
Leads insights and discussions on future of work, gender equality, racial equity, and productivity. Serves clients across strategy...
Bernhard Kotanko
Senior Partner, Singapore
Serves insurance and asset management companies in Asia–Pacific and globally on large-scale strategy and transformation programs
Dr. Jörg Mußhoff
Senior Partner, Berlin
Coleads the firm’s global insurance work and leads the European insurance sector; advises executives and financial-services organizations...
Fritz Nauck
Senior Partner, Carolinas
Advises financial services executives as they set new strategies and pursue M&A, operational excellence, and optimal organizational...
Sandra Sancier-Sultan
Senior Partner, Paris
Leads McKinsey’s work in the insurance sector in France
Gökhan Sari
Senior Partner, Istanbul
Leads our Financial Services and Risk Practices in Africa, Eastern Europe, and the Middle East

Featured Insights

Report

Creating value, finding focus: Global Insurance Report 2022

– The insurance industry struggles to create economic profit. But amid COVID-19’s enduring changes, opportunities await.
Article

Five steps to improve innovation in the insurance industry
– Insurance executives are recognizing the power of innovation to accelerate the pace of company change. Yet for innovation to deliver long-term value, it must become embedded in a carrier’s DNA.
Article

How top tech trends will transform insurance
– Over the next decade, the fully tech-enabled insurer will bear little resemblance to today’s organization. Five trends, individually and in combination, will have a seismic impact.
Podcast

Global perspectives on insurtechs
– The growth of insurtechs is driving innovation and disruption in the industry. Four McKinsey experts discuss the current state and the future evolution of the field.

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