The insurance industry globally has long relied on conventional tools and techniques for actuarial rate making, but these methods have limitations in handling the vast amount of data associated with millions of customers and their numerous attributes. Artificial Intelligence (AI) has emerged as a game-changer in this arena, offering advanced pricing models that significantly enhance performance.

AI algorithms can sift through extensive databases held by insurers, identifying new risk factors often overlooked by traditional methods. Implementations of AI in countries like the USA, UK, France, Germany, India, and Singapore have already demonstrated marked improvements in actuarial rate making, expediting the pricing model workflow, boosting productivity, and fostering the creation of innovative products to enhance customer experiences.

Actuarial rate making is pivotal in the insurance industry, yet it's an intricate process. The success of an insurance company hinges on determining optimal and competitive rates, which serve as the basis for the final prices offered to customers. This entails analyzing historical data and interpreting socioeconomic trends to gauge fair price indications. However, devising final pricing isn't a solo endeavor; it demands collaboration among a diverse array of professionals, including actuaries, underwriters, marketers, distributors, agencies, claims adjusters, and company management. Together, they consider various factors like competitor actions, growth strategies, and customer satisfaction in setting prices. While actuaries furnish insights and elucidate pricing strategies, it's crucial that all involved parties grasp price indications and the ramifications of different pricing decisions.

AI offers transformative capabilities that streamline this intricate process. Notably, AI aids in processing real-time data, furnishing current market trends and customer behaviors crucial for setting competitive and fair premium rates. AI application can mitigate errors inherent in manual processing, ensuring data accuracy and integrity.

Optimized rate making for insurance products confers several advantages. Firstly, it can bolster profitability by basing prices on meticulous analysis of factors like claim frequencies, policyholder demographics, and historical data. Secondly, it aids in enhanced risk management by setting premium prices that accurately reflect individual customer risks. Thirdly, it fosters competitiveness by offering customized, value-based pricing, setting companies apart from competitors and attracting more customers. Lastly, it boosts customer satisfaction, as customers are more content with insurance coverage when they perceive their premiums as fair and commensurate with the protection they receive.

AI can play a pivotal role in actuarial rate making for the insurance industry in Bangladesh, aiding insurers in data analysis, constructing sophisticated yet comprehensible predictive models, personalizing rates, and streamlining rate-making processes. AI algorithms can process vast amounts of data, including demographic, claims, and policyholder behavior data, to discern patterns and relationships informing rate-making decisions.

In addition to processing large data sets and generating business insights, AI enables dynamic pricing by considering evolving market conditions and customer behaviors, facilitating swift price adjustments based on fluctuating risk factors.

Insurers can develop predictive models to estimate the likelihood of future claims and events, aiding in setting rates that accurately reflect individual or group risks. AI can analyze individual policyholder data to offer tailored pricing options, factoring in variables like age, health status, lifestyle, and driving history. Moreover, AI can automate various rate-making tasks such as data cleaning, feature selection, model training, and evaluation, thereby saving time and enhancing efficiency.

Furthermore, AI offers avenues for improved customer interaction by predicting customer behavior and their likelihood to stay or switch based on their experiences. This enables insurers to deliver proactive customer service, augmenting satisfaction and loyalty.

AI-based techniques are optimizing actuarial rate making globally, and it's inevitable that they will shape the future of the insurance industry in Bangladesh as well. Local insurers must seize this opportunity now to harness AI's power for making well-informed, precise, and competitive rate-making decisions, leading to increased profitability and enhanced customer satisfaction.

Dr. Nurur Rahman is the Founder and CEO of Somikoron, an AI-based insurtech startup in Bangladesh. Somikoron is paving the way for Bangladesh insurance, finance, and retails industries to be compatible with the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Contact: [email protected]; [email protected]