US Bank and One Inc Team to Accelerate Instant Insurance Payments

Insurance industry payments network One Inc has launched a partnership with U.S. Bank.

The collaboration, announced Thursday (Nov. 21), integrates U.S. Bank’s money movement and banking capabilities with One Inc’s ClaimsPay and PremiumPay solutions for property and casualty (P&C) and life insurers.

“In the future, the partnership will help accelerate the use of instant payments within the insurance industry,” the companies said in a news release.

“U.S. Bank was part of the first payment on the RTP Network and a launch partner of the FedNow Service. By combining U.S. Bank’s instant payment capabilities with One Inc’s insurance-focused Digital Payments Network, the collaboration will allow insurance carriers to deliver faster payment solutions for outbound claims disbursements,” the release added.

PYMNTS spoke earlier this year with One Inc CEO Ian Drysdale about efforts to bring digitization to the insurance industry.

“Insurance is one of the most complex markets on the planet,” he said, and one where a digital overhaul is sorely needed, as there are still $500 million worth of paper checks circulating just in the United States.

For companies like his, the goal is to transform those paper payments into electronic ones, automatically reconciled in back offices. In the meantime, the rise of the One Inc digital payments network, connecting far-flung stakeholders, also bolsters the user experience.

The insurance world has made some strides, Drysdale said, noting that as recently as five years ago, insurers were two decades behind other industries in terms of entering the eCommerce, mobile-focused world. InsurTechs have helped improve digitization, though the insurance sector is still far from offering an “Amazon or Netflix-like experience.”

The digital shift has a major touch point: payments. Embedded payments can improve the overall user experience while helping to lift corporate margins, Drysdale told PYMNTS.

“You might pay your auto insurance 12 times a year, or you might pay for other insurance several times a year,” he said. “That’s when you really ‘experience’ your insurance company.”

And with a nod to payments, Drysdale added: “We make sure that modern wallets are there, we make sure it’s completely embedded in their core system” and that claims submissions and sign-offs are carried out digitally.