Kathmandu. Despite significant investments in digital transformation across the insurance industry, only 7% of the world’s largest companies qualify as top-tier “digital competitors”.
Accord’s 2026 Insurance Digital Maturity Study analyzed 210 large insurance companies across the property and casual, life and reinsurance sectors. The analysis found that nearly a third of insurers have fully digitised their value chains, but less than 1 in 10 have reached the highest level of digital maturity.
According to the report, most insurance companies are still in the mid-stages of their digitalization efforts. “The growing gap between leading and lagging insurers is primarily due not only to cost levels but also to how companies effectively translate digital capabilities into operational results,” Accord said. ’
Dave Sterner, senior vice president of research and development at Accord, noted that many insurers still rely on manual and separate back-office systems. “While digital initiatives are often managed as stand-alone projects rather than as part of enterprise-wide transformation programs,” he said, insurance companies that integrate technology, data, operations models, governance and workplace culture into a coordinated strategy are well-positioned to compete in a more complex market environment. ’
The study has divided insurance companies into 5 categories based on digital maturity. Of the firms studied, 7 percent were digital competitors. While 23 percent were classified as digitized firms.
Another 43 per cent fall into the digital aspiration category. This indicates that they are actively investing in digital capabilities but have not yet fully realized the benefits.
Localized digitalization firms represented 20 percent of the market. While 7 percent were classified as digital backwards.
According to Accord, the only digital competitors were the group. They outperformed the average profit levels of the insurance companies included in the study. They also recorded the strongest long-term shareholder returns.
According to the report, digital competitors have achieved 254% of total shareholder returns over 10 years. Whereas digitized firms have achieved 180 percent returns and insurance companies classified under digital aspiration have achieved 154 percent returns. –Agency
