Insurance has always been a numbers game. But in 2025, it’s not just actuarial tables and historic claims driving decisions, it’s a flood of real-time data reshaping how insurers underwrite risk, price policies, and serve customers.
FinTech Global sat down with a pair of industry leaders in the form of Vikas Acharya, CEO of ChainThat, and Paulo Ferreira, CTO of KYND, to explore how data is transforming the insurance chain, what obstacles remain, and why the quality and reliability of data may matter more than the sheer quantity of it.
Overall, the global insurance market is expected to grow at an annual rate of 5.3% over the next decade, slightly outpacing global economic output. In absolute terms, that translates into an additional €5.3tn in premiums by 2034
Underpinning this projected growth is the aforementioned decisive shift from traditional methods to data-driven decision-making. Real-time data, predictive analytics and AI have moved from hype to the very cornerstones of modern insurance practice.
Vikas Acharya, CEO of ChainThat, opened up on this development, stating, “In the past year, we’ve moved decisively towards data as a strategic asset, designed into every stage of the policy lifecycle, from product configuration to claims, rather than captured as an afterthought,” he said.
For Paulo Ferreira, CTO of cyber-risk specialist KYND, the story is similar.
“High-quality, broad and timely data has always been at the core of our business. As a cyber-risk management provider, at KYND we use a combination of Open Source Intelligence (OSINT), commercial datasets and a wide range of networking and infosec tools and protocols to identify as many digital assets as possible that are owned by, managed by or associated with an organisation,” he explains.
This approach allows KYND to move from raw data to actionable insights, surfacing only the factors that are directly relevant to underwriting decisions.
Both agree that data is no longer just an operational tool for insurers, instead capitalising on it is set to lead insurers into a brave new era.
From afterthought to strategic asset
Data is everywhere in 2025, but understanding it, particularly when it’s so complex and all encompassing, is another matter. For ChainThat and KYND, the challenge is turning it into intelligence that can guide real-world decisions across complex insurance workflows.
For Acharya’s ChainThat, this philosophy is put into practice through its Beyond Policy Administration platform, which provides insights that seamlessly guide underwriters’ decisions with the use of more than 40 prebuilt integrations.
These feed live rating services, hazard data, sanctions checks, and geospatial intelligence directly into the platform, ensuring that insights flow seamlessly into everyday underwriting processes.
“Our competitive advantage comes from how we unify, govern, and operationalise multiple datasets within BPA – ensuring they are consistent, secure, and real-time across all workflows,” explains Acharya.
Ferreira sees a similar dynamic in cyber insurance at KYND, though the challenge there lies not in acquisition, but translation.
“Historically, our dataset focused on a single-organisation view… Over the past year, we have seen rapid growth in cyber insurance use cases requiring portfolio-level analyses, covering trends and insights across tens, hundreds, thousands, or even tens of thousands of organisations,” he explains.
The key, he adds, is relevance over volume. “Finally, we filter and present the findings in a way that reduces noise and surfaces only the most relevant, context-specific insights, for example those directly actionable in cyber insurance underwriting to support consistent, well-informed decisions,” Ferreira notes.
“A lot of the time, insurers are faced with fragmented, inconsistent, or overly technical cyber data that doesn’t translate easily into underwriting action. Our focus is on turning that complexity into clear, usable intelligence that drives confident decisions.”
Acharya echoes this focus on actionable clarity. “Every change to rating rules, workflows, or mappings is logged and attributable. BPA doesn’t just deliver an answer — it shows precisely which rule or data point triggered it.”
The effect is to make data not just available, but embedded into every decision, turning it from a passive repository into a strategic engine for insurers.
The trust equation
In this modern world, trust has become a linchpin for the sector.
A recent survey revealed that respondents who place high trust in their insurers show outstanding loyalty, with 81% expressing a firm intention to renew, and 79% saying they “definitely will” recommend their provider.
For insurers, the ability to earn and maintain trust now directly translates into retention, recommendation, and competitive advantage.
For both KYND and ChainThat, this challenge is sitting on top of their respective priority lists.
“If underwriters can’t see where data comes from or how it’s been derived, they’re right to question it,” says Ferreira.
KYND addresses this by building on proprietary intelligence rather than patching together disparate third-party feeds, ensuring the insight underwriters rely on is consistent, current, and relevant.
ChainThat takes a parallel approach, embedding explainability into the very architecture of its Beyond Policy Administration platform.
“Every change to rating rules, workflows, or mappings is logged and attributable,” Acharya explains. “BPA doesn’t just deliver an answer, it shows precisely which rule or data point triggered it.”
This level of transparency allows insurers to act with confidence, rather than second-guessing opaque algorithms.
The pressure to modernise is only increasing, with regulators demand transparency, customers expect speed, and cyber risks are multiplying.
In this environment, the race isn’t about who has the most data, but who can make it trustworthy, transparent, and decision-ready.
“Meaningful value is created when the data doesn’t just exist, but drives confident, well-informed decisions,” Ferreira adds. For these innovators, trust is the product.
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