Revealed: Amazon eyeing business insurance

After being spotted recruiting for London-based insurance
professionals late last year, fresh reports have emerged that
suggest Amazon is planning to enter the insurance industry.

The e-commerce giant is in talks to create a credit card geared
toward small business customers that could eventually see it
offer business insurance, according to a Bloomberg report.
Amazon has been in discussion with banks including JPMorgan
Chase & Co on a co-branded credit card for small business
owners who shop on its website, the report claimed.

Further down the line, the credit card could be boosted by
additional offerings, including business insurance, sold through a
specially-designed portal, according to people who asked not to
be named by Bloomberg.

The news may prove an extra worry for the insurance industry,
which is already concerned over its handling of technology and
the threat of external disruptors.
Earlier this month, new data revealed that up to 45% of Amazon
customers would be willing to consider the online retailer for auto
insurance , while 38% would say “yes” to an Amazon-crafted life
insurance plan.

In an interview conducted before the latest Amazon news came
to light, law firm Clyde & Co said that the tech
firm’s assets could prove very valuable in the insurance industry.

“If you have, as Amazon clearly does, a customer base…in the
high millions, and the data behind all of that as to what it is that
you and I are buying, and where we are buying it, etc, you have
two very powerful pieces of information,” Andrew Holderness,

Clyde & Co’s global head of corporate insurance, said.
The retailer now looks to be shifting its sights as to what else it
can sell, and insurance is “clearly just part of that evolution.”
However, Holderness stressed that the highly regulated nature of
insurance means it would be a significant shift from Amazon’s
current core business.

“Insurance is different from selling bits of kit in a huge hangar – it
is a highly regulated industry and we need to tick the relevant
boxes wherever we’re looking to sell insurance,” he said.
“Are they going to move into this space? Certainly they will be
looking at it, clearly they are…They are looking to generate
revenue, and selling insurance is clearly a potential for that
revenue generation.”