At the 41st annual insurance conference of Standard & Poor’s Global Ratings, Alan Schnitzer, chairman and CEO of Travelers Insurance, emphasized the crucial role of long-term thinking and scale advantages in the company’s success. In the face of current economic uncertainties, inflation and geopolitical risks, Schnitzer said that insurance companies cannot quickly adjust their strategies but need long-term planning. He took the period of the COVID pandemic as an example, pointing out that travellers, with their solid balance sheets and liquidity management, had paid over 100 million US dollars in commissions to their partners in advance, demonstrating their ability to cope with the crisis.
Schnitzer highlighted the innovative measures taken by travelers in catastrophe risk management. The company has formed specialized teams for different disasters such as hurricanes and wildfires, and has introduced interdisciplinary talents such as data scientists and climatologists to optimize underwriting and claims settlement through scientific methods. This strategy enabled travellers to achieve a net income of 5 billion US dollars even in the context of frequent major disasters in 2024. In addition, the company has utilized artificial intelligence to enhance efficiency. For instance, it has reduced the claim processing time from two hours to two minutes and accelerated the compensation speed after the wildfire in California through AI analysis of aerial images.
Looking to the future, Schnitzer believes that competition in the insurance industry will increasingly rely on scale advantages. He pointed out that the pressure of technology, data and reinsurance costs makes it difficult for small or niche companies to remain competitive, while large enterprises like Travelers are more capable of effectively investing in AI, data science and climate change research. Although technology will enhance efficiency, he expects the company not to carry out large-scale layoffs but to adapt to the demands of the new era through natural attrition and upgrading of employees’ skills. Schnitzer concluded that future insurance companies will need diverse professional teams, including robotics experts, data scientists, etc., to cope with the increasingly complex risk environment.
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