Amazon to start offering insurance to UK businesses
(Reuters) — Amazon.com Inc. is to start offering insurance to small and medium-sized U.K. business customers, the technology giant's first foray into business insurance in the country, broker Superscript said Monday.
Members of Amazon's Business Prime program will be able to buy cover from Superscript such as contents insurance, cyber insurance and professional indemnity insurance, which a Superscript spokesperson said would be underwritten by “major U.K. insurers.” They will be offered a discount of 20% to current rates.
More than 50% of customers are prepared to buy insurance from nontraditional players such as big tech or insurtech companies, according to a recent survey of 12,000 people globally by consultant Capgemini.
"The (insurance) industry needs to bridge the divide between insurers and customers by providing a quick, smooth buying process that is customer-centric," Cameron Shearer, co-founder and CEO of Superscript, said in a statement.
Amazon's move into U.K. business insurance comes after U.S. insurtech Next Insurance said in March it was offering cover to U.S. small businesses through Amazon Business Prime.
“As businesses come out of the pandemic and gradually resume normalcy, we want customers to have the best-in-class tools to run their business,” Molly Dobson, country manager for Amazon Business UK & Ireland, said in the statement.
Financial institutions are worried that tech companies will steal their business, trading on the tech players' stronger brand names and ease of access to their products.
But industry sources said insurers or banks and tech companies are more likely to forge partnerships than compete directly, given the difficulties and expense for outsiders in entering the highly regulated finance sector.
Amazon also offers warranty insurance and “buy now, pay later” services in Britain.
