Five Questions with Emma Mills, Vice President Insurance Partnerships

We caught up with Mastercard's Emma Mills to learn more about what Mastercard is doing with the Insurance industry.

Tell us a little about your role at Mastercard.

I’m based in London and work in a team focused on engaging with organizations beyond the traditional banks that you may expect for Mastercard. We have conversations with organizations in industries like insurance that are going through a digital transformation, where payments have typically been made using traditional methods like checks or direct bank transfers which no longer meet the needs of the industry or its customers.

We take a collaborative approach to engagements, and partner with players across an industry to address existing operational frictions, and apply complementary expertise and digital payment & data solutions to improve experience and drive efficiency.

So Mastercard has a strategic focus with insurance, tell us more.

Despite digital advances, payments in insurance remain outdated because they are complex and there are many different aspects to consider. Insurance organizations need to interact with a broad network of partners and suppliers with confidence, and they also need to settle customer claims simply, conveniently, and quickly.

The network of partners and suppliers across the supply chain must trust that payments will be timely, transparent, and secure or commerce cannot flow. Vitally customers need to trust that their insurer will be there in their moment of need, not one, three or six months later.

If we think about our own experience as consumers, people who purchase insurance for many reasons and we’re seeing a digital shift to on-line quotes, digital portals for policy documentation and claims management. So Mastercard with its global payment standards and acceptance, history of cyber security, fraud prevention and innovation, has a significant role to play in helping the insurance industry accelerate impactful and secure digitization. ?

?What payment challenges stand out from conversations with the sector?

Insurance companies are expert risk managers and payments are not always top of mind, so finding resources that understand both insurance & payments can be challenging. Especially with global insurance companies where local variations in payments create complexities that are hard to manage and can lead to handling payments in a practical manner instead of considering local nuances, operational efficiencies and customer experience.

There is also a lack of visibility into the significant challenges and cost associated with traditional payment methods. There is a lot more to payment than cost, and a great proportion of operational effort goes into processing legacy payment methods that often isn’t accounted for or recognized. Beyond transaction cost we see set-up failure, inaccurate data, security & fraud losses, reputational damage and customer dissatisfaction.

What is Mastercard doing to help?

We are expert payment problem solvers, and we are bringing our learning of digital transformation from other industries such as urban mobility, transit ticketing and international travel, to the insurance sector.

We’ve hired people in from the sector and combined that with Mastercard’s payment experts to work with insurance companies across the globe and look at how they currently manage payments, whether premium collection or claims. We take the time to understand strategic ambitions and help insurers to assess their options, then work together to utilize payment innovations to transform operating models within specific use cases.

What can we expect from Mastercard over the next 12-18 months in this space?

We’ve had a team dedicated to the Insurance sector for over five years now and we are already seeing traction with insurers providing their policy holders with a digital claim card, removing the need to be reimbursed, reducing the time to pay providers and creating control over who, when, where and how much is paid for a claim. We’re also working with insurers to settle claims directly with policyholder through the card they to purchase the policy.

With current economic uncertainty and todays digitally savvy consumer seeking better control and experience, we expect premium collection to evolve where insurers provide their customers with greater flexibility over how and when they pay.

There is also increased awareness of the significant role that data can play in the future of insurance, and we are working with the sector to drive impact through the unique combination of policy, claim and payment data.

It’s a truly exciting time for the insurance industry and Mastercard is working to set a whole new benchmark for payment success and digital transformation for the organizations at the heart of it, and their customers.

To learn more about how Mastercard is working with insurance organizations connect with Emma Mills on LinkedIn today and catch her at the Insurance Innovators Summit, London 5th November 2024.

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