Proudly South African

Living-Smarts.com

Making Life even Better!
  • RSS
  • Home
  • Insurance Companies
    • Insurance Companies in South Africa
    • Absa Life
    • Alexander Forbes Insurance
    • All Life
    • Auto and General
    • Avbob
    • Better Life Insurance
    • Brightrock Life Insurance
    • Clientele Life
    • Constantia Insurance
    • Budget Insurance
    • Dial Direct Insurance
    • DirectAxis
    • Discovery Insure
    • First for women
    • FNB Life Insurance
    • Frank.Net
    • Hippo Insurance Quotes
    • Hollard Life Insurance
    • Iemas Insurance
    • Integrisure
    • 1LifeDirect Life Cover
    • Miway Life Insurance
    • Metropolitan Life Insurance
    • Momentum Life Insurance
    • Nedbank Life Insurance
    • Old Mutual Life Cover
    • Outsurance Life Cover
    • PPS Insurance
    • Prime Meridian Insurance
    • PSG Online
    • Regent Insurance
    • Sanlam Life Insurance
    • Stand Bank Life Insurance
    • Triarc Life Insurance
    • Unity Insurance
    • Virgin Money Insurance
    • Vodacom Life Insurance
  • Life Insurance
    • Top Reasons why you Need Life Insurance
    • Life Insurance Quotes
    • How to File a Complaint with the Insurance Ombudsman
    • Life insurance for diabetes
    • Life Insurance Terms and Definitions
    • Life Insurance questions and answers
    • Things You Have to Know Before Getting Life Insurance
  • Funeral Insurance
    • Absa Funeral Cover
    • Assupol Funeral Cover
    • Hollard Funeral Cover
    • Metropolitan Funeral Cover
    • Momentum Funeral Cover
    • Nedbank Funeral Cover
    • Old Mutual Funeral Cover
  • Healthy Living
    • Diets
      • 12 most popular diets
      • The Atkins Diet
      • The Paleo Diet
      • The 13 Day Diet
      • How to Gain Weight
    • Crime & Safety
      • South Africa – 4th Most Dangerous
    • Illnesses
      • Top Causes of Death in South Africa
  • Insurance News
    • Vodacom Enters Life s Insurance Biz!
    • Bad News for Loan Seekers in NCA Changes
    • SA Customers Disappointed in Life Insurance Companies
    • A Life Insurance Revolution with Big Data?
Search the site...
  • Home/
  • Life Insurance/
  • Insurance News/
  • A Life Insurance Revolution with Big Data?

A Life Insurance Revolution with Big Data?

June 7, 2015 / Emma B / Insurance News, Life Insurance
0
A Life Insurance Revolution with Big Data?

A New Way of Getting Life Insurance

Absa Life, the life insurance division of Absa Bank, might be revolutionising the life insurance industry with their newest way of approving clients. 700,000 of Absa Bank's clients have been pre approved for life insurance without any medical tests or long questionnaires. How? By using big data to estimate the insurance risks a client poses. Big data refers to any large collection of data that can be used to infer information about the people that it came from.

How it All Works

Traditionally, life insurance is underwritten. That means that experts use medical tests and questionnaires to gauge how much of a risk clients pose. But Absa say that their new algorithm, called “Affinity,” can predict client risk just as well as an underwriter can. How? Well, Absa are keeping their methods a secret, but they have let slip that certain things such as your ability to bank a pay cheque every month (meaning you're healthy enough to work) can predict how likely you are to claim on your life insurance.

There are exclusions though. In order to qualify for a new pre-approved life insurance policy you must not have made claims on another policy, can't suffer from a dread disease (AIDS, cancer, stroke, heart attack, diabetes), can't be HIV positive, and you must be a client of Absa Bank. If you don't meet any of those conditions, then you'll need to go about getting your life insurance in a more traditional manner.

What it Means for You

All this boils down to the fact that getting life insurance in the future could be far easier than it is now. Getting a great policy without needing to fill in forms or go to a doctor's office is definitely convenient. However, it does remain to be seen exactly how accurate Absa's new risk assessment method is.

One concern with all this, of course, has to be privacy. Obviously, Absa's algorithm is based on all kinds of information that the company is holding about its consumers, including what you buy, where you are, and how much money you're making. For some people, this will be an issue. Do we want banks to hold this kind of information? Do we want them to be able to use it? And how safe are their data security systems? Could hackers get their hands on this sort of information? However, these are concerns that are shared in many other areas, including how you use your personal computer and mobile phone, since many companies collect data about their customers. Whilst customers might not be comfortable with this data being used, the truth is that there are many other companies also using your data.

Worries aside, at the very least Absa's new method is going to save a certain group of customers a lot of time and hassle, and for many of us, that's a great thing!

* Disclaimer: We do not represent any of the companies, products and/or services reviewed, published or advertised on this website. Nor are we financial, health or insurance professionals or services provider. If you request a quote or purchase a product/service, it will not necessarily be given by the company reviewed on any specific page. Any decisions you make based on the information presented is at your own discretion and we advise that before doing so, you consult with the relevant professional.

Main subject: life insurance

Posts you might find interesting:

What is Critical Illness Cover?

What is Critical Illness Cover?

Life Insurance for Extreme Sports

Life Insurance for Extreme Sports

Life Insurance for Smokers

Life Insurance for Smokers

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

Stuff you have to see!

60
The ultimate eating contest
Prison Video

<< >>

Popular Articles

  • Most Viewed

    Signup for our newsletter

    Which subject interests you the most?

    View Results

    Loading ... Loading ...

    Categories

    Like Us and Stay Updated!

    Recent Posts

    • Critical Illness Cover Cr: Navy Medicine http://tinyurl.com/p4devpc

      What is Critical Illness Cover?

      March 4, 2016
    • How to Quit Smoking Cr: R. Cruz http://tinyurl.com/p4devpc

      How to Quit Smoking

      February 26, 2016
    • Living with Diabetes Cr: Practical Cures http://tinyurl.com/p4devpc

      Living with Diabetes

      February 18, 2016
    • What is HIV and AIDS Cr: S. Hardy http://tinyurl.com/p4devpc

      What is HIV and AIDS?

      February 11, 2016

    Categories

    • Crime & Safety
    • Diets
    • Funeral Insurance
    • Healthy Living
    • Illnesses
    • Insurance News
    • Life Insurance
    • Life Insurance Companies

    Get In Touch

    Useful Links

    • Sitemap
    All rights reserved (c) 2015 Living-Smarts.com
    • Contact Us
    • About Us
    • Terms of Use
    • Sitemap
    • Login
    Living-Smarts.com ("LS" or "Site") is not a financial services provider, nor are we an insurance company. We do not provide insurance ourselves. All content on the Site is for informational purposes only and does in no way constitute legal, health or financial advice. We advise that before making any financial or medical decision you consult with the relevant professional. LS will not be held liable in any shape or form for damages, direct or indirect, resulting from any decision you make based on the information on the Site. The Site does not represent any companies reviewed, published or advertised on the website. Any decisions you make based on the above information is at your own discretion.