The changing face of insurance

Start-ups are cropping up all over, offering innovative products such as micro-insurance, P2P car insurance and insurance on demand, says Ben Judge.

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Safer drivers can get better deals thanks to new technology
(Image credit: monkeybusinessimages)

As we hurtle further into the 21st century, it seems that no service industry is safe from "disruption". That's as true for finance as for anything else. Challenger banks are nibbling away at high-street banks. Peer-to-peer (P2P) lenders are bypassing traditional sources of financing. Robots are giving financial advice. But one bastion of old-school practices in the financial industry remains: insurance. High capital requirements and regulatory hurdles make it tough for newcomers to disrupt incumbents, while the dominant players, saddled as they are with cumbersome legacy IT systems, have been slow to innovate.

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Ben Judge

Ben studied modern languages at London University's Queen Mary College. After dabbling unhappily in local government finance for a while, he went to work for The Scotsman newspaper in Edinburgh. The launch of the paper's website, scotsman.com, in the early years of the dotcom craze, saw Ben move online to manage the Business and Motors channels before becoming deputy editor with responsibility for all aspects of online production for The Scotsman, Scotland on Sunday and the Edinburgh Evening News websites, along with the papers' Edinburgh Festivals website.

Ben joined MoneyWeek as website editor in 2008, just as the Great Financial Crisis was brewing. He has written extensively for the website and magazine, with a particular emphasis on alternative finance and fintech, including blockchain and bitcoin. 

As an early adopter of bitcoin, Ben bought when the price was under $200, but went on to spend it all on foolish fripperies.