A paperless world might not be a reality in the next five years, or even the next decade, but insurers are adapting new technology that’s moving claims payments in that direction.
One Canadian insurer has revealed its plans to digitize this often slow, tedious, and paper-filled process. Northbridge Financial, a Fairfax company, will be the first insurance provider in Canada to put the Mastercard Send platform, which is integrated with the Dream Payments Hub, to work.
The newly announced global partnership between Mastercard Send and Canadian-based Dream Payments came from a shared vision between the companies to see insurance policyholders get paid faster into the financial accounts they choose. No more waiting around for mailed cheques – sorry, Canada Post.
“At Mastercard, we are focused on improving the ways people and businesses pay and get paid, and aim to provide more choice, security and convenience,” said Zahir Khoja, senior vice president, global acceptance and solutions, Mastercard. “This collaboration with Dream Payments demonstrates our commitment to expand the reach and depth of digital payments, enabling insurance companies to transform the customer experience.”
The advantages for Northbridge to bring digital payments to its customers were obvious, especially as they were left wondering why they could pay their monthly premiums via automatic withdrawals, but not receive claims payments digitally.
“We also know from customer feedback that many of the issues people experience with the claims process are related to how they get paid – whether it’s how long it takes, or other payment challenges such as a lost cheque, or the bank putting a hold on the funds for several days after a cheque is deposited,” explained Ilda Dinis, senior vice president, customer experience and innovation, at Northbridge.
This past year’s less-than-ideal weather events that led to billions of dollars in losses for customers across North America and affected many insurance companies’ financial performances were yet another reason to move faster towards digital payments.
“Relying on a paper cheque that you need to send to a home address becomes a real challenge,” said Dinis. “Getting people money directly into their bank accounts when they need it most will go a long way in helping us better respond to our customers’ needs in crisis situations.”
