SmartStream expands AI reconciliation and data management to insurance sector
0
As the insurance industry struggles with limited digital maturity, it faces mounting pressure from increasing transaction volumes, persistent data quality issues, and the complex demands of evolving regulations such as IFRS 17 and DORA. In this environment, the need for advanced, rapidly deployable SaaS data management solutions has never been more urgent. Addressing these challenges requires a fundamental transformation in how insurers manage systems, streamline operations, and ensure data integrity across the enterprise.
SmartStream Air leverages cutting-edge AI to reconcile and manage high volumes of data, for example across payments, reimbursements, claims, policyholder transactions, and investment operations. The platform enables insurers to rapidly identify exceptions and resolve discrepancies - regardless of data format or source – in a matter of seconds.
Robin Hasson, Global Head of Reconciliations at SmartStream, states: 'Our heritage and experience in working with the world's top 100 banks, gives us a strong foundation to support the insurance sector as firms identify use cases for increased automation. We're already partnering with leading insurers to implement AI-powered solutions that enable data-driven agility. In today's environment, insurers must respond swiftly to market shifts and customer expectations, or risk falling behind due to inefficiencies and increased exposure'.
Karlyn Carnahan, Insurance Practice Leader, Head of North American Research, Celent, states: 'Celent expects 2025 to be a transformative year in insurance, buoyed by a clarity of purpose around efficiency and growth and with lessons in technology strategy, partnerships, and market dynamics from the past several years of chaos absorbed. While getting arms around AI from a compliance and use case perspective is difficult, deploying proven technologies from other industries to support it will help insurers achieve their goals to grow efficiently and set up for the next several decades of business'.
Deployed as a SaaS solution, SmartStream Air is flexible enough to offer a comprehensive suite of capabilities tailored to insurance operations, including: premium collection and processing, commission payments, claims management, financial reporting, reinsurance settlements, policyholder refunds, investment account reconciliation, data integration and validation, risk and reserve management, expense tracking, and fraud detection.
With this expansion, SmartStream is positioning itself as a key enabler of digital transformation in insurance, helping firms modernise operations and meet the demands of a data-intensive future.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Independent
26 minutes ago
- The Independent
National Living Wage predicted to rise higher than expected
The national living wage could rise to as much as £12.86 an hour next year, the official advisory committee has estimated, as it gives new details on its annual review on the figure. The Low Pay Commission (LPC) says ministers are committed to delivering a 'genuine living wage' in its latest remit report, which lays out the minimum that Britain's minimum wage workers must be paid. Currently, the national living wage is £12.21 an hour, equalling £451.77 a week. The LPC estimating that this will need to increase to £12.71 an hour in 2026 to not fall below two-thirds of median earnings, which is the threshold the government expects it to stay above. But this could fluctuate between as much as £12.86 an hour, or as little as £12.55 an hour, depending on changing economic conditions. Across a 37-hour week, £12.86 an hour would mean £475.82 a week, up £24.05 from this year's rate. Across a year, this would be £1,250.60 more in an employee's pocket. At the lower end, a rise to £12.55 an hour would equal £464.35, a weekly increase of £12.58. This would mean a much lower £654.16 more at the end of the year. Founded in 1997, the LPC delivers recommendations to ministers each autumn regarding how it believes the minimum wage should be changed. The government ultimately sets minimum wage rates for the following April after this advice. A letter from deputy prime minister Angela Rayner and business secretary Jonathan Reynolds said the committee must take into account the cost of living as it reviews the national living wage. The two senior ministers insisted the government was 'committed to ensuring that the minimum wage is a genuine living wage'. They added: 'We continue to recognise that our ambition should be backed by evidence, and that the minimum wage rate should be consistent with delivering inclusive growth for working people and businesses alike. 'We are therefore asking the LPC to recommend a national living wage rate that is at least two-thirds of UK median earnings for workers aged 21 and over, to apply from next April, which takes into account the cost of living, effects on employment and developments in the wider economy.' Elsewhere, the government is pushing forward with plans to end 'discriminatory' age banding for the minimum wage, and has extended the LPC's remit to examine this. It said the LPC will consult with employers, trade unions and workers on narrowing the gap between the national living wage and the minimum wage rate for 18 to 20-year-olds, which is currently £10. There is also a minimum wage for those aged under 18, and apprentices, of £7.55. The LPC will report back in October with advice to the government on how much the minimum wage should rise by in 2026. The Resolution Foundation, a think tank which works to improve living standards, suggested the government was using 'ambitious language' on increasing the minimum wage, but in reality was adopting a cautious approach. Nye Cominetti, principal economist at the think tank, said: 'Despite the Government's ambitious language around 'delivering a genuine living wage', the new remit for the Low Pay Commission represents a steady-as-she-goes approach to the adult rate, after faster increases in the years preceding 2024. 'This caution is warranted given worrying labour market data, which is thanks in part to the Government's increase in employer national insurance contributions in April.'
The Independent
26 minutes ago
- The Independent
Japan tech giant SoftBank Group sees better fortunes on surging AI stocks
Japanese technology conglomerate SoftBank Group Corp. posted a 421.8 billion yen ($2.9 billion) profit in the April-June quarter, rebounding from a loss a year earlier as its investments benefited from the craze for artificial intelligence. Quarterly sales at Tokyo-based SoftBank Group, which invests heavily in AI companies like Nvidia and Open AI, rose 7% to 1.8 trillion yen ($12 billion), the company said Thursday. SoftBank's loss in April-June 2024 was 174 billion yen. The company's fortunes tend to fluctuate because it invests in a range of ventures through its Vision Funds, a move that carries risks. The group's founder Masayoshi Son has emphasized that he sees a vibrant future in AI. SoftBank has also invested in Arm Holdings and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Both companies, which produce computer chips, have benefitted from the growth of AI. 'The era is definitely AI, and we are focused on AI,' SoftBank senior executive Yoshimitsu Goto he told reporters. 'An investment company goes through its ups and downs, but we are recently seeing steady growth.' Some of SoftBank's other investments also have paid off big. An example is Coupang, an e-commerce company known as the 'Amazon of South Korea,' because it started out in Seoul. Coupang now operates in the U.S. and other Asian nations. Goto said preparations for an IPO for PayPay, a kind of cashless payment system, were going well. The company has already held IPOs for Chime, a U.S. 'neobank' that provides banking services for low-credit consumers, and for Etoro, a personal investment platform.
Reuters
27 minutes ago
- Reuters
Global stocks rise, dollar soft on Fed easing bets
LONDON, Aug 7 (Reuters) - Global equities rose on Thursday, with Japanese shares hitting a record high, as tech-led gains on Wall Street, upbeat earnings, growing hopes for a ceasefire in Ukraine and expectations for U.S. rate cuts boosted sentiment. Markets largely shook off U.S. President Donald Trump's latest tariff volleys, including an additional 25% tariff on U.S. imports from India over purchases of Russian oil and a threatened 100% duty on chips. "It's surprising that everything that gets thrown at the market that it just continues to melt-up," said Eddie Kennedy, head of bespoke discretionary fund management at Marlborough. Europe's STOXX 600 (.STOXX), opens new tab rose 0.5%, with major indexes in Frankfurt (.GDAXI), opens new tab and Paris (.FCHI), opens new tab up 1% and 0.8%, respectively. Britain's FTSE 100 (.FTSE), opens new tab was the outlier, dropping 0.3%. Plans for a meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin over the war in Ukraine also helped sentiment in European equities and underpinned the euro. "It (a ceasefire) would be an extra positive," said Emmanuel Cau, Barclays head of European equity strategy. "If there is a de-escalation, it would clearly be supportive. It's not the key driver but it's definitely been a lingering issue for Europe." In Asia, Japan's broad Topix index (.TOPX), opens new tab rose 0.7% to a record closing high, with the more tech-focused Nikkei (.N225), opens new tab also gaining by about the same. Taiwan's stock benchmark (.TWII), opens new tab surged as much as 2.6% to a more than one-year peak. Shares in chipmaker TSMC ( opens new tab, which this year announced additional investment in its U.S. production facilities, soared 4.9% to a record high. The KOSPI (.KS11), opens new tab added 0.6%, with South Korea's top trade envoy saying Samsung Electronics ( opens new tab and SK Hynix ( opens new tab would not be subject to 100% tariffs. Hong Kong's Hang Seng (.HIS), opens new tab rose 0.5%, although mainland Chinese blue chips (.CSI300), opens new tab were only slightly higher on the day. The yuan firmed slightly to 7.1819 per dollar in offshore trading . U.S. S&P 500 futures rose 0.3%. On Wednesday, the cash index (.SPX), opens new tab climbed 0.7%. "Wall Street seems to have gotten its mojo back," analyst Kyle Rodda wrote in a note. "However, there are persistent risks to the downside. Downside surprises in official data are increasing," he said. "Valuations are also stretched, with forward price to earnings hovering around the highest in four years. And trade uncertainty persists." The U.S. dollar remained lower against major peers on Thursday, with expectations of easier policy from the Federal Reserve stoked both by some disappointing macroeconomic indicators - not least Friday's payrolls report - and Trump's move to install new picks on the Fed board that are likely to share the U.S. President's dovish views on monetary policy. Focus is centring on Trump's nomination to fill a coming vacancy on the Fed's Board of Governors and candidates for the next chair of the central bank, with current Chair Jerome Powell's tenure due to end in May. The benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury yield was little changed at 4.2365%. The two-year yield , which is more sensitive to changes in interest rate expectations, was up 1 basis point at 3.7134%, close to a three-month low of 3.659% touched on Monday. The dollar index , which gauges the currency against the euro, sterling and four other counterparts, eased 0.2% to 98.031, extending a 0.6% drop from Wednesday. The euro added 0.2% to $1.1686, following the previous session's 0.7% jump. Sterling rose 0.2% to $1.3378. The BoE looks poised to cut interest rates for the fifth time in 12 months later on Thursday, but nagging worries about inflation are likely to split its policymakers and cloud the outlook for its next moves. Two Monetary Policy Committee members may push for a half-point rate cut, and two may lobby for no change. In commodities, spot gold added 0.3% to $3,376 an ounce, after earlier hitting its highest level in two weeks.
