CHU goes digital: New arm plants flag in insurtech sphere

THE BURGEONING INSURTECH FIELD IS ABOUT TO become a little more crowded as strata specialist Corporate Home Underwriting (CHU) prepares to debut CHUiSaver, its digital arm.

The new organisation aims to be a “nimble” insurtech start-up that offers quality strata products for commercial and residential clients.

“The impact that digital disruption has had on a number of industries such as taxis, banking, hotels and so on has been well documented” CHU Chief Executive Bobby Lehane tells Insurance News. “I’m keen to ensure the opportunities that digital can unlock are delivered to strata insurance, which includes everything from ease of engaging and doing business with intermediaries and customers to reduction of costs associated with traditional insurance workflow.”

“Through CHUiSaver we will be able to introduce this new way of doing business. We can refine it and ultimately we can choose to adopt what works well for our premium brand.”

Setting up the digital arm underlines CHU’s determination to stay closely attuned to consumer expectations, Mr Lehane says.

“To stay relevant, we need to understand, to meet, to exceed and indeed sometimes to pre-empt the emerging needs of our customers.

“While I believe CHU is among the best at doing so in the strata market, we need to continue to push ourselves, to lead. CHUiSaver will provide us with a vehicle for this.”

The digital arm will transact business online through its inhouse Stratatech platform, a self-service policy and claims management system.

CHUiSaver has chosen as its first product to be a residential strata cover underwritten by QBE, and is all ready to launch it once the agency receives its financial services licence.

“Residential strata is the single biggest product in the strata insurance market, and one we feel would benefit greatly both from the digital toolset as well as the value proposition of this business,” Mr Lehane says.

CHU is part of the Steadfast group, which acquired the strata specialist from QBE in February last year. *

First Published in Insurance News Magazine October 2016 Edition.