The insurance industry has to get leaner and make greater use of technology, according to industry veteran Brian Duperreault.

Mr Duperreault, chairman of Hamilton Insurance Group, said: “Our delivery of our product is grossly over-expensed.

“We are not doing our insureds any favours in how we deliver that service.

“We take too much money out of the premium dollar to cover the cost of actually delivering the service as opposed to the service itself.”

Mr Duperreault was speaking to AM Best TV at the Rendez-Vous conference in Monte Carlo.

He added that his group had teamed up with insurance giants American International Group and Hamilton’s existing partner Two Sigma to create a new insurance platform targeting small and medium-sized businesses in the US.

Mr Duperreault said: “AIG suggested we look at the SME space together which I thought was a great idea.”

He added: “The idea is to get away from everything that has been done and start afresh in this joint venture and create a company that is specially purposed, specially built, to do just this in the new way in a way where we’re using data science, technology capabilities to really provide a better service to the insured, which is ultimately what we do.

“We enlisted the aid of Two Sigma who were and remain our technology partner and investment partner — they got very excited about doing this with AIG.

“We see it as a great way of exchanging information, intellectual property, developing new intellectual property and really making a difference in this area of business.”

Mr Duperreault added: “A lot of companies want to make a change, I don’t care who you talk to, if you say ‘what do you think about technology?’ we’re interested, we’re doing what we can, but I think most companies are trapped in what they are, the existing infrastructure, the company that’s been built over time.

“There’s tremendous value in that and it’s not easy to take that, throw that out and try something completely different.

“The real difference is we will start from nothing, which is a great asset to have, I’ve always said that.

“You start from nothing and build it in a way that makes sense now, with the digital world we are in.”

And Mr Duperreault said: “If you look at our business, and there is much to be proud of in what we do, we provide a tremendous social service, we protect individuals, corporations, countries, but, frankly, it hasn’t evolved in the same way other industries have evolved in this digital world.”

Mr Duperreault said that Blue Marble Microinsurance, set up by Hamilton Insurance Group, AIG, Aspen, Guy Carpenter, Old Mutual, TransRe, XL Catlin and Zurich to provide the developing world with insurance products, could also help regenerate the mainstream industry.

A statement on a partner website said: “We share a vision of collaborating to develop insurance supply to benefit underserved communities worldwide. Blue Marble will incubate the launch and operations of new solutions, including unique distribution methods, local partnerships and product development.”

Mr Duperreault said that “reverse engineering” applied to traditional businesses using lessons learnt from Blue Marble could lead to greater efficiency.

He explained: “It’s being done in a different way ... a virtual company using the resources of all the consortium members.”

And he said: “This is a real effort to do real business, create a for-profit approach, create a market, but really provide a service.”

Mr Duperreault said: “If you can solve the problems of micro, you have got to deal with distribution, you have got to deal with transactions electronically and digitally, you have got to be able to handle claims and do other services all in a way that’s enormously efficient because there isn’t enough money to go around.

“That knowledge, if it doesn’t do anything more than give you an insight into what you’re doing in your existing business, it probably will give you actual solutions to what you’re doing in your existing business along these lines and we’re all trying to solve that.”