Xceedance’s Ryan stokes sees more regulation for insurers, MGAs a net positive

The capital seen pouring into the insurance sector in recent years has attracted more eyeballs from investors and others, including regulators, which Ryan Stokes of Xceedance sees as “totally a positive” for the industry.

“The ultimate goal in claims and in insurance altogether is to take care of the customer,” Stokes, vice president of business development claims at Xceedance, told The Insurer TV. While some industry players anticipate increased scrutiny as a hamper on revenue and bottom lines, Stokes views it otherwise.

“Whenever you're unregulated there, you get people to start taking advantage of customers, you get people that are taking advantage of claim situations,” explained Stokes. “So I believe, the regulation within this space is a net positive.”

In a scenario where more compliance is potentially handed down, Xceedance is focusing on supporting clients through that new workload. In particular, some of that regulation may come through frameworks aimed at artificial intelligence (AI), likely with additional parameters aimed at protecting consumers and potential biases baked into the technology itself.

“So that's a navigation that's constantly changing,” said Stokes. “With the advent of AI – everybody speaks about it, it's the buzzword that's around right now – that's one of the regulatory environments, that we're going to have to navigate very carefully.”

That’s in part due to municipalities addressing AI quite differently nationwide.

Stokes explained that “states – especially whenever you have claims recommendations that are coming through AI or machine learning – is going to be a little bit different there”.

“As claims evolve, as the machine learning and AI evolves, we have to stay in front of it,” he added.

Stokes, a sales and marketing veteran of roughly 15 years, is full steam ahead on scaling Xceedance and its book of business. For that, there’s a unique opportunity with MGA and startups alike, particularly those who consider process of claims in the final steps, he noted.

“Whenever you get to the point where you are processing claims quickly, efficiently, paying the right amount, it puts your best foot forward,” said Stoke speaking about the lifecycle of claims.

Xceedance services a swath of clients, of all sizes at that. And yet “we still customize for them”, Stokes noted.

“We have some of the largest self-insureds, some of the largest carriers out there,” said Stokes. “We have MGAs that are doing 50 to 200 claims a year.”

Xceedance even customises its claims platform, the payment system, and the intake, according to Stokes. “We customize it for them, in the hope and in the knowledge that if we support them correctly, they're going to grow,” he added.

“So it's not, can we get the biggest ones today?” he postured. Instead, Stokes said its “let's get a lot of these people that are trying to do it right, invest with them and invest in them and just grow with them”.